Postmortem

Ooops, I did it again...

(stuck in your head? I hope.. teehee)

I started another series.  I've heard about Patricia Cornwall's series for like ever and I mean, why not? I almost picked up Postmortem from the used book sale last month but wasn't sure if it was the first book or not, but the time I got back to that pile someone else snatched it up.  So I waited a month and checked it out from the library.

Description: Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it's being sabotaged from within and someone wants her dead.

The thing I found interesting, kind of like when I started Johnathan Kellerman's series, is that this series started way before our current technology.  This started in 1990.  So imagine no cell phones and the introduction of DNA and computer technology to crime solving.  It makes for a neat read in that perspective.  I did enjoy this book more than I liked the first book in the Kellerman series so that has me happy for the next one! ;) It wasn't too gory but it DID make me think about my open windows as I slept at night!!!
 
I also thought it was interesting that the lead character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, feels she is being discriminated by all the males around her because she is female (good observation ha) but then judges some other people herself.  For example, asking a black woman if her sister talked as good as she did, meaning did she talk 'white' and then admitting if she knew one of her assistants was gay when she hired him she probably wouldn't have.  It did make her a real person and for an intriguing character.

Dr. Kay definitely puts herself into an investigation and was acting like a detective more so than a medical examiner, but that's what makes it a book.  She clearly has horrible taste in men and is a very strong woman, that is evident in this first book.

Basically, I liked her characters and I will be checking out the next in the series.

Have you read any books by Patricia Cornwall? Have you read the Scarpetta series?