This is a well-written, entertaining, fast paced police procedural. It has an intelligent, strong and capable female protagonist, murder, mystery, wit, a touch of humor, twists and turns, and a satisfying conclusion. This novel can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone, but it is better when read in order for continuity. I listened to the audio version of this novel, and the narrator, Ms. C. J. Critt, does an excellent job voicing the characters.

Štagod da sam sad pročitala, nije mi se svidjelo. Kao da je u sred knjige počela neka potpuno druga. I to apsolutno bezvezna.

This book took me far longer to read than anticipated. Not a particular page turner, but enjoyed the continuation of the character relationships.

This is another oldie I missed but thanks to the book huts in my development there was a jacketed, hardcover, 1st edition just waiting for me a few weeks ago when I was out walking my dogs. Thanks to whatever neighbor shared!

Unfortunately, this is not one of Cornwell’s better efforts. Kay comes off as superwoman bouncing from one absurd physical feat to the next. At the same time, she’s an emotional infant. I found it really hard to muster up any sympathy.

Lucy is tortured, Benton is dealing with a guilty conscience and Marino is, well, he’s the only character that seems to be himself. He’s complex but obvious and has secrets that are yet to be revealed, at this point in the series. None of the other characters that were part of this storyline were anything special.

Nothing special is the basic sun total for CAUSE OF DEATH. That holds true right up until the last chapter. At that point, either Cornwell had a family emergency or she decided to completely abandon the book. It just stops with no

DNF

I'm attempting to read authors who have popular followings. This was a no-go. I might dig for a Cornwell book with better reviews.

Dit is het eerste boek dat ik las van Patricia Cornwell. Ik zag dat het over het algemeen geen denderende reviews had, maar ikzelf vond het best wel goed.

**spoiler alert**

Dokter Kay Scarpetta wordt opgebeld met de boodschap dat eer blijkbaar een man een duikongeluk gehad heeft op een werf van afgedankte schepen. De dode is een journalist die Carpetta kende. Ze gelooft niet dat het een ongeluk was. Vanaf dan krijgt ze de indruk dat ze in de gaten gehouden wordt. En op een morgen vindt ze haar banden stukgestoken. De man die na het herstel de auto terug bij haar zou afleveren, een jonge assistent-collega van haar, wordt vermoord. En in zijn huis wordt een soort Bijbel van een sekte, de Nieuwe Zionisten, gevonden.
Als de onderzoekers uiteindelijk ongeveer uitgeknobbeld hebben waar alles om draait, is het eigenlijk te laat: de sekte heeft een terroristische inval gedaan in een kerncentrale.

Best wel spannend dus, alleen was het laatste deeltje nogal technisch, al die uitleg over het uranium en over de technologie die het team moet gebruiken om op een veilige manier de zaak proberen op te lossen.

I would love for Scarpetta’s wild leaps of logic to be incorrect, just once.

Otherwise, Marino was damn near tolerable. I am liking Lucy more but her responses still seem like childish tantrums

[to review at a later date - maybe even re-read at a later date as well, though not urgent]

tIt was an ok afternoon read, but lacked cohesive style. Her intro discusses her fear of scuba diving, but the one scene in the book about scuba diving was bland and unimpressive. She goes a little overboard with the descriptions of food and cooking in the first couple of chapters and then abandons the topic. I don’t know how much of the relationship stuff is part of the series so that part may have been fine, but I felt just a touch lost – especially some of the stuff with her niece. I felt the whole book overall was anti-climatic. Not enough build up of the suspense at the right times. It made the story less than believable.

Kay is called to a recovery of a diver, is it a sad accident or a homicide?

In this 7th novel in the series we have the usual forensic pathology but there is a lot more going on. Could the diver be involved in a conspiracy? And then more deaths come to light which ask yet more questions. Could Kay be frightened off investigating more than the death of the diver? Certainly not as Kay and her many contacts get to the bottom of what happened and why.

Jumping from the first novel to the seventh was easy for me. Many of the characters from the brilliant first novel were carried over and I felt very comfortable following their lives in and out of work. The computers that Lucy, who is Kay’s niece, works on have progressed to 486 PC’s running DOS 6 which was a refreshing trip down memory lane for me!

I did not enjoy Cause of Death as much as Postmortem because it was less forensic pathology and more crime thriller - the usual detective skills to capture bad guys. The conspiracy was interesting but not mind blowing and the intense action towards the end rather tabloid.

I did enjoy the technical bits about chemicals and guns with their bullets leading to how the forensic evidence can be interpreted. But the big surprise for me was the diver who had hypospadias. Kay explained this to the reader and I thought WTF? - so I googled it and it is true!

I think Cause of Death is an OKAY 3 star read that is fine to have on the go rather than page turning obsession.

Well. That ended weirdly.

The back cover blurb tells you this is about a body fished out of the Elizabeth River who turns out to be an investigative reporter Scarpetta knew. The investigation starts looking more like murder than an accidental drowning. Before you know it there's a creepy Chesapeake cop groping Kay; Merino's in danger of stroking out; two of Kay's co-workers go missing; there's a pseudo-Satanic bible; the entire Medical Examiner building is doused in chemicals; radioactive material turns up in Kay's Mercedes; a weird cult is somehow involved. Oh, and I forgot to mention her yawny and regrettable (but ongoing) affair with Bentley Weston. Or is it Weston Bentley?

Sheesh, all I wanted was a drowning mystery.

The ultra-contrived nature of Dr. Kay Scarpetta is on full display here - I mean, is there anything she isn't qualified to do? She's a certified SCUBA instructor, she's a licensed ME in 3 states, and apparently she has a Law degree... I mean, really! It's getting ridiculous. Oh well, onward I go with this series!

Another well thought out book starring Kay Scarpetta, it is both intriguing and exciting as she yet again gets in harms way