3.5/5 rounded up

i wasn't as interested in this case but the scarpetta series is as readable as ever.

what i really enjoyed was the further development of and insight into the characters' personal lives- scarpetta and wesley, who had ended their affair, resume it yet seem no closer to a decision whether or not they should continue seeing each other and if wesley should divorce his wife. scarpetta also becomes angry and depressed when a worker in her lab is murdered as part of the case she's working. marino is struggling emotionally as he reveals his ex-wife has remarried and a girlfriend has dumped him because he can't perform sexually. lucy struggles when her girlfriend janet comes out to her family and they don't react well, threatening to send her to therapy, which puts a strain on their relationship. the characters' emotional upheaval and struggles serve the story well. the characters never feel like plot devices used to move the story along; rather they feel like actual people whom the story affects.

Me encantó la historia, los casos de la Dra. Kay siguen sorprendiéndome y eso que soy fan de Mentes Criminales que casi es lo mismo que esta saga de libros.

Lucy la sobrina de Kay sigue sorprendiéndome pero para mal por la actitud de niña berinchuda que tiene a veces.

Causa de muerte es un libro que no podrás dejar de leer, hasta saber que es lo que está pasando con los personajes y sobretodo descubrir quién es el verdadero asesino.

I think by the time I read this book, I was completely tired of Kay Scarpetta and her pathetic ways. I thought this was a to set an example of being a strong woman in a male dominated field and how her experience and intelligence would show them all. BUT!!! She is so week and can hardly defend herself without crying. She drives me nuts. I like the premise of finding out how someone died and the science behind it.

Why is Lucy still so angry?? Grow up. Why is she so irresponsible?? Why do they both insist on finding happiness in others?? At some point get some counseling.

Now about the book; it was okay.... tired of these books.

Kay Scarpetta is my hero. She did another great job in helping solve yet another case. I just love how Marino looks after her. I wonder where her relationship with Benton will go now that he is separated from Connie. Looking forward to being with her and the crew in their next adventure.

Avoid at all costs! I would love to never have to read another page of conversation between Lucy and Kay. It drove me crazy and was endlessly irritating. I also have a hard time believing in a main character who committed affairs with married men. How am i ever supposed to believe what she says after that? Marino was cool and funny too. He is the only character worth anything in the story. The first half of the book was great and built up nicely. But the second half of the book was horrible and it has one of the worst endings in the history of books. It left me laughing it was so bad.

n  n    Book Reviewn  n
Cause of Death is the 7th book in the "Kay Scarpetta" thriller and mystery series by award-winning author Patricia Cornwell. I've read about 2/3 of the series and now returning to write reviews on everything I've read in the hopes it'll push me to pick up the series again in the coming weeks.

For those new to the series, Scarpetta is a Virginia-based medical examiner, but eventually she moves around a bit over the course of the 20+ book series. She's sharp, witty and tough. She's had strong ties with the police and the FBI, as well as been on the outs with them over her career. She's been the targeted victim by a few of the serial killers she's helped to trap and capture. She's not married for most of the books, but has a boyfriend for a while. Her niece Lucy helps her solve crimes on occasion. And her cop friend Pete Marino was in love with her at one point. Some of this may have changed after book 13/14 when I temporarily stopped. I stopped because I felt like I needed a new character to focus on, a different set of stories in a different place, but they are still all generally good books.

Cause of Death was one of the average books. Scarpetta's involved in more intrigue than usual, with international situations, and she's also filling in for a fellow ME on New Year's Eve when she is summoned to look at a dead body. The funny thing... she knows about it before the police do. Now who is after her? There are multiple story angles in this one, and Cornwell got too technical for me. I love to learn when I read, but I also don't want to have to look stuff up in an encyclopedia or online. By today's standards, some of this is more common knowledge, but over a decade ago, she was ahead of the curve.

While still a good story, it's not my favorite and I wouldn't recommend this one to start with if you're interested in the series.

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

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This was the most ridiculous of the Patricia Cornwell books I read, one of those which had me lamenting the loss of time involved in reading it. The best thing was that it wasn't long so I didn't suffer but the whole hostage drama left me hanging on the edge of my seat... as I dozed off.

Sometimes things start out as a good idea or as a concept one likes, and then gradually they become less pleasing, then annoying, and then "I can't even" with them? For some reason this seems to be the case for me with series mysteries. I don't know if the problem is constant exposure to small irritations, if the series becomes too formulaic, if the series arc becomes too big a component, or what.

Even the less attentive among us would notice if everywhere someone goes a murder victim is found, or a valuable treasure goes missing. Clearly that nice writer is a serial killer making bank from the publicity of her "crime solving" exploits. It's suspicious even when the character is a law enforcement pro, with the corpses all over their. vacations. I think it works better in Nancy Drew where there is no series arc and she remains perpetually eighteen and no one comments on how many times her car is replaced.

All this to say I don't really know why Scarpetta went from enjoyable to maddening. But she did. Does that happen for you?

Likewise I am increasinly annoyed with Goodreads. I would rage-founce off again if there were anywhere else to go.

It annoys me that they provide three named shelves with capitals and spaces, but won't permit capitals or spaces in the names of any other shelves. What the hell? Does that bug you? Or does something else grate on your nerves?

Perhaps that you can't filter shelves?

Or that Help is a hidden (on desktop version) hot mess?

Or reviews that get all ranty and off topic?


Loaner from my beloved MIL

It seems churlish to give this a 2 since it opened so well. The first 80 pages were excellent.

Spoilers.

I have read a lot of mysteries with female protagonists. I enjoyed reading about their solo independent professional lives. i started reading these when i was about 10-15 years younger than the characters and now i am 10-15 years older. Luckily I feel like i have accomplished some measure of the same in that time! yikes! this one was different in that it gave or showed very little of that lifestyle/character. This is the first of this character that i have read so perhaps the earlier novels covered that. (Actually i don't think it is the first one. I think i have tossed this series/character before...the name kay scarpetta seems familiar).

thanks for the lasagna lesson. using the word lasagne (plural form of lasagna since you use more than one noodle.) just came across as pedantic.

and then the novel plunged into ridiculousness...

On what planet would Kay be in charge of any deaths caused by a similar attack in another country? All of a sudden things went from a local death to an international incident where she was the expert due to very limited involvement in one death. and the Navy and FBI seemed to already know everything and be on top of everything. why was she there? and OMG OMG why would she be onsite at the end and go in with her niece who is junior? The niece controls the robot but no programming skills help you be a good person the ground like that. Its like the beginning and the ending weren't part of the same novel. The attackers were supposed to be so sophisticated and they turned into total duds. And why would they sell to a foreign power? If they dont like the American govn why would they like giving power to authoritarian North Korea? or whoever.

It was a weird book in that the ending that was supposed to be a crescendo to climax instead turned into a ridiculous obvious conclusion. Oh and ah poor Kay felt faint.....cue curtains...

I will try one more but will read reviews first and see how others felt...

This book was just missing an ending. We had this huge long lead up that was AMAZING. It ended just so abruptly that I felt jipped. This story was so unique and had so many different layers that it made it so addicting! I truly think this could have been a 5+ star book if it had a more finished end.

Kay really put herself out there at a completely different level in this one. It was really exhilarating!! I loved seeing so much more of Lucy and Janet too. Their part in Kay’s life is so crucial, so I love that Lucy is in this book more. I also loved seeing this more vulnerable side of Marino too, it was interesting to see!

J'aimais beaucoup les enquêtes de Kay Scarpetta quand j'étais bien plus jeune ("jeune adulte", comme on dit), alors je ne sais pas si:
1/ j'étais une lectrice plus naïve à l'époque, ou
2/ la qualité se détériore avec chaque tome,
3/ un peu des deux,
4/ bon, en vrai, c'est sûr, j'étais une lectrice bien plus naïve à l'époque,
mais en tout cas pffff je n'ai pas vraiment accroché.
Il y a bien sûr, cette écriture qui reste la même, très détachée, presque froide, parfois en complet décalage avec les évènements et les sentiments des personnages - mais ça, ma foi, ça passe, ça donne un style particulier mais pas désagréable.
Il y a aussi un scénario complètement irréaliste, je pense que c'était déjà le cas dans les tomes que j'ai lus avant, mais à ce point? Je crois que non.
Et puis la coroner, héroïne absolue, tellement balèse qu'on ferait appel à elle en Europe! Parce que, bien sûr, l'Europe est perdue sans cette coroner super star de Virginie... Mouaimpf.
Il y a surtout beaucoup de puritanisme, de bien-pensance, on critique le policier qui mange mal et fume (perso c'est mon personnage préféré, le bougon de service au grand coeur!), on va à l'église quand on a des doutes, et on dit des choses comme ça:

pour elle, le bonheur était d'être jolie, ce qu'elle ne serait jamais.

Pourquoi tant de haine inutile? On est dans un bouquin policier, ou pas? Pfff...

Et pour couronner le tout, la traduction laisse à désirer, j'ai repéré quelques expressions un peu bancales qui ressemblent violemment à de l'anglais traduit littéralement.
Bon, et franchement, appeler un tuyau de plongée "narguilé", même si apparemment c'est bien le terme technique habituel, je trouve ça discutable. J'ai passé un bout de temps à me demander ce que venait faire une pipe à chicha dans une barque de plongeur!

Sinon l'intrigue reste assez plaisante à suivre, c'est pourquoi j'ai tenu jusqu'au bout.

Plot was still excellent but the Kay Scarpetta character is depressing which really distracted me from enjoying it as much as the previous books in this series.