crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
After her resignation as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and the horrifying events which threatened her life in ''
The Last Precinct
''The Last Precinct'' is an American sitcom television series that premiered on NBC January 26, and then aired weekly from April 11 to May 30, 1986 on Friday nights at 9:00pm. The series stars Adam West as Capt. Rick Wright, leading a group of ...
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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, and is quietly living in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, beginning to get some balance back in her life and slowly establishing herself as a private forensic consultant. (Her first class involves the blow fly, which sometimes lays eggs on corpses.) But her past will not let her rest, and her grief for Benton Wesley continues to grow, not diminish, as does the rage within Lucy, her niece. Then the architect of her changed fortunes contacts her from his cell on death row: deformed, blinded by Scarpetta's own actions, incarcerated in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
' strongest prison, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne still has the ability to terrify. But, unknown to Scarpetta, there are other forces behind the wolfman's apparent actions, invisibly shepherding her and those closest to her towards eliminating those who threaten them all. It is all orchestrated by the one man in her life who knows every nuance of her soul. In Szczecin, Poland, Lucy and a colleague apparently commit a premeditated murder, using blow-fly larvae to alter the perceived time of death. The novel then ends with the killing of four further people by Scarpetta's associates.
Characters in "Blow Fly"
* Kay Scarpetta — Former Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia.
*Jaime Berger — New York Assistant District Attorney.
*Lucy Farinelli — Kay's niece, a software wizard/entrepreneur and criminal investigator.
*Pete Marino — Detective.
*Rocco Caggiano — Marino's estranged son and Chandonne's lawyer.
*Jean-Baptiste Chandonne — Killer imprisoned in the
Polunsky Unit
Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. - Note the 2010 U.S. Cen ...
in
West Livingston, Texas
West Livingston is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Polk County, Texas, United States, located along the eastern shore of Lake Livingston west of central Livingston.Zachary, LA, police detective, NFA trainee.
Major themes
* The hunt for a killer
Literary significance & criticism
Some reviewers considered this to be a ''"highly suspenseful read in which surprises explode and the characters move to another level of believability."'' One finds that the book,''"while not for the squeamish... is a tremendous read."''Fraser, A. 2003. Review of ''Blow Fly''. The Telegraph. /ref> Others, however, as also noted in reviews for later books in the series, such as
Trace
Trace may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995
* ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993
* Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band
* ''The Trace'' (album)
Other uses in arts and entertainment
* ''Trace'' ...
, considered it to be disappointing. Gail Pennington of the St Louis Post Dispatch states that ''"even the most ardent Cornwell fans may reluctantly realize that enthusiasm for the Scarpetta series is mainly a relic of books past."''Pennington, G. 2003. Review of ''Blow Fly''. St Louis Post Dispatch. /ref>
In ''Blow Fly,'' we see a change in narrative style from the first-person narration of Kay herself to a third-person, omniscient, narrator. This device not only allows for more characters and their perspectives to come to the fore, but also marks a significant transformation in the way that the novels represent the criminal. Where previously the criminal's mind was never made available to the reader—thus intensifying their "otherness"—the later novels allow space to explore their point of view and uncover their motivations.Dauncey, S. University of Warwick. "Patricia Cornwell." The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 Nov. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company. 22 April 2007. /ref>
This approach does, however, come in for criticism. One reviewer notes that "''Blow Fly'' is written in 124 chapters, some as short as a few paragraphs, with close to a dozen shifting points of view. Everyone, it seems, has something to describe, and every bit of description gets equal weight, from a new outfit bought at Saks to a highly technical selection of handguns to the leisurely, sexually charged torture of a young woman. ("Every female character in "Blow Fly" is either miserable or doomed, adding weight to the frequent argument that Cornwell is not just anti-feminist, but anti-woman altogether.")
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
* Mostly set in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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, and
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. Short scenes set in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...