Body of Evidence (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Body of Evidence
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Patricia Cornwell
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States of America
language = English
series = Kay Scarpetta
genre = Crime fiction
publisher = Sphere
release_date = 1991
media_type = Print (hardcover, paperback)
pages = 381
isbn = 978-0-7515-3042-1
preceded_by = Postmortem
followed_by = All That Remains

"Body of Evidence" is a crime fiction novel and the second book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author Patricia Cornwell.

Plot summary

Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia, gets involved in the case of a brutal stabbing death in Richmond of romance writer Beryl Madison. Then Madison's greedy lawyer accuses Scarpetta of losing his client's latest manuscript, an autobiographical expose of Beryl's early life as protege of a legendary novelist. As more deaths occur and the killer closes in on her, Kay finds herself also having to deal with the unexpected reappearance of long-lost lover Mark.

Characters in "Body of Evidence"

*"Kay Scarpetta" - Chief Medical Examiner.
*"Benton Wesley" - FBI Profiler. "Benton Wesley could be as Prussian as the rest of them, but over the years he had won my respect. Beneath his Bureau boilerplate was a human being worth knowing. He was brisk and energetic, even when he was sitting, and he was typically dapper in his dark suit trousers and starched white shirt. His necktie was fashionably narrow and perfectly knotted, the black holster on his belt lonely for its ten-millimeter, which he almost never wore indoors. I hadn't seen Benton Wesley for a while and he hadn't changed. He was fit and handsome in a hard way, with premature silver-gray hair that never failed to surprise me." [Body of Evidence, p.43.]
*"Pete Marino" - Recently promoted to Lieutenant in the Richmond Police Department.
*"Mark James" - Kay's ex-lover whom she met when she was enrolled in law school at Georgetown. "He was going to be a lawyer because his father and grandfather were lawyers. I was Catholic, Mark was Protestant. I was Italian, he was as Anglo as Prince Charles. I was brought up poor, he was brought up in one of the wealthiest residential districts of Boston." [Body of Evidence, p.33.]

Victims

*"Beryl Stratton Madison"
*"Cary Harper"
*"Sterling Harper"
*"Al Hunt"

Major themes

* The hunt for a killer
* The lost manuscript of author Beryl Madison

Literary significance & criticism

Following the success of "Postmortem", with which Cornwell became the first author to receive the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity Awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure in a single year [http://www.246.dk/cornwell.html Biography of Patricia Cornwell] ] [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=6032 Dauncey, S. University of Warwick. "Patricia Cornwell." The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 Nov. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company. 22 April 2007.] ] , the price of Cornwell's book deals went up quite a bit from the $7,500 or less which was paid for "Postmortem". In March 1991 she signed a $385,000 deal for the paperback rights for "Body of Evidence".

References

External links

* [http://www.patriciacornwell.com/ Author's Official Website]