'Blow Fly' by Patricia Cornwell, 10/17/09

This is the 11th book in her Scarpetta series. If you have never read one of these books, allow me to give a brief overview.


Kay Scarpetta starts off as the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is not only a doctor, but as a law degree as well. She is incredibly intelligent and genuinely kind.

There are several main characters that return throughout the books. Scarpetta, Detective Pete Marino, her niece Lucy and an FBI profiler named Benton Wesley. The stories are generally the same…dead body turns up and they find the killer.

There are several common themes. People hate Scarpetta. They are jealous of her intellect, money, position, and friends. This tends to make Scarpetta the center of their murderous focus.  She also has an ongoing tenuous relationship with Marino, her niece and Benton.  In the end of every story, she is forever changed and has to make sacrifices to her life in order to bring peace.

In ‘Blow Fly’ one killer that had actually tried to kill Scarpetta in a previous novel is in jail and will only talk to her about other victims. Although she is afraid of facing this person, she feels it is her duty to speak for the dead and to bring peace and closure to their families. There is tons more to each story in the series, but in the end of this one, the killer escapes, old loves are found and friendships are made stronger.

It’s hard to totally describe what happens in this book if people don’t know the back-story. But if you enjoy murder mysteries with a character you will actually like, I highly recommend this series. I plan on reading every single one because I must know how Scarpetta does in the end, if all her ghosts are laid to rest and if she gets everything she has worked so hard for.