The Last Precinct

Wonderful Eleventh Book in The Scarpetta Series. This book is about the aftermath of Jean Baptiste Chandonne's attempt to bludgeon Kay Scarpetta to death. He arrived at her house, lied his way in and tried to attack her, but before he could attack her with his chipping hammer she ran away, picked up the container with a tattoo from his brother Thomas, who he murdered and splashed formalin in his eyes and then ran for help while he tried to clean the caustic chemicals out of his eyes. Unfortunately they only found the chipping hammer brought by Chandonne to her house and not the one Scarpetta purchased so she is being investigated for the murder of Diane Bray, who had been doing everything possible to harass her, and they brought down a special prosecutor from New York, Jaime Berger, to interview her and pursue the case against her.

That over-used phrase has got to go. It's actually become distracting.

The Last Precinct keeps you wondering what really happened until the very end. I stayed up all night to finish it!

Dr. Kay Scarpetta was attacked in her home and framed for murder. In this book, she fights to take back her name and her life while also following another string of murders.

I read this when it was first published, over twenty years ago. It's nice being reacquainted with Dr. Kay Scarpetta, along with Pete Marino, Lucy Farinelli, and all the other "regulars."The storyline is solid and really creepy, the characters are believable and well described. There are some slow parts that are just a bit wordy....but all in all, a good book!

An exciting thriller with Kay Scarpetta as scientist, suspect and victim.The ultimate truth is fascinating. The outcome is satisfying. And you are left longing for the next story.

Another great book from Ms. Cornwall but I’m still wondering how she’s going to bring the one character back. Thank you.

Great to not have any other questions about this morning but we are going from here on out with a couple

**spoiler alert** This is probably the point I should have decided "No more", when it comes to Kay Scarpetta books, because this book is irritating. Really, really irritating. More than that. Phenomenally irritating.First the dedication to Linda Fairstein. I always... feel a little queasy about dedications to famous people in books, because they seem a little like they're tempting fate? If Joe Blow from a dedication tarnishes their reputation, we'll never know. If someone famous does the same, then it raises questions. If an author introduces a new character who echoes the dedicatee is introduced and that character becomes incongruous to said dedicatee, I start thinking "that really didn't age well".The book is a continuation of book 10 in the series. In that book a crazed Frenchman goes on a killing spree in the US, culminating in an "unexpected home attack" on Kay Scarpetta. Setting aside that the home attack is now a regular thing in this series, we get the attack on Scarpetta's professionalism lifted to another level too in this book, because Cornwell wanted to echo what was happening to her best friend (Fairstein) too maybe? The result is that the esteemed Chief Medical Examiner is accused of murder, and taken to a Special Grand Jury, by the Virginia Attorney-General because that makes complete sense.At the same time, Scarpetta investigates the death of two men in Richmond VA, and deals with the continuing fallout from the events in book 10. She's allowed to do these things, despite being a murder suspect, because without it there'd be no story. Forget about realism. Forget about having a book series that makes sense. Let's stretch credibility to the point where people who enjoy stupid ideas think "Oh my gosh that is SO dumb I can't believe it."The sad thing is even Cornwell knows that things are getting daft, with Marino (one of her characters) raising issues that the reader will be thinking on occasion. When that starts happening I honestly think authors should asking "Is this credible?" about their books.In short, this book could have been better written if this book had been better written if it had been merged into book 10, heavily edited, and had the legal proceedings about Scarpetta removed.

This one seemed to finally the up some loose ends coupled with a few twists as just when you think you know what happened and why in the previous books a big curve ball is thrown our way and a new contract understanding arises. I do however find sometimes it dragged a bit especially when all the characters seem to do is get too hard headed at each other for what to me doesn't always seem realistic. Will definitely read more.

I'm currently reading Last Precinct, having read all of the previous books in the series, but I am seriously considering just giving up and not bothering with the rest. There's no real plot and what there is is boring and unbelievable. I'm also becoming rather tired of the main characters, who all seem to deify the 'can do no wrong' Scarpetta. Even the serial killers lust after her. As for the other regular characters, Lucy has always been irritating, but is now turning into a caricature of a superhero with Rudy following her like a puppy dog. He'll turn into another Marino if he's not careful. And speaking of Marino, he's on his usual path to self destruction and is a totally pathetic figure, destroyed by his unrequited love for Kay. Depressing.

All of the books in this series are excellent, but this book stands above the rest.We feel as one with the mark character as different plots and story lines come together for a dramatic ending.

The present tense first person writing style is really difficult to follow. Why has the author changed a winning formula 😩