The Scarpetta Factor

In this provocative thriller, forensic expert Kay Scarpetta is surrounded by familiar faces, yet traveling down the unfamiliar road of fame....

It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta--despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN--to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events, culminating in an ominous package--possibly a bomb--showing up at the front desk of the apartment building where she and her husband, Benton, live. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaire with whom her niece, Lucy, seems to have shared a secret past.

Scarpetta's CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a "special factor," a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.

Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 08/31/2010
Pages: 592
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 7.54h x 4.24w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780425236284
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6.4
Point Value: 24
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 134976 / Scarpetta Factor

About the Author
Patricia Cornwell is considered one of the world's bestselling crime writers. Her intrepid medical examiner Kay Scarpetta first appeared on the scene in 1990 with Postmortem--the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year--and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author. Ms. Cornwell's work is translated into 36 languages across more than 120 countries.