痕跡 (上) (講談社文庫) [文庫]

   第1作『Postmortem』（邦題『検屍官』）が批評家たちの賞賛と記録破りの5つのミステリー新人賞を獲得して以来、「スカーペッタ」シリーズには数多くの類似作品が生まれたが、同シリーズを凌ぐものはいまだ登場していない。5年前に辞めた検屍局から協力の要請を受けたスカーペッタは、自身の判断にも、ベントン・ウェズリーと姪ルーシーの忠告にも反して、14歳の少女の死をめぐる事件の顧問病理学者としてヴァージニアに戻ることにする。ピート・マリーノとともに古巣を訪ねると、馴染みのモルグや部署はすっかり様変わりし、スカーペッタの手腕を頼みにしているはずの新しい検屍局長からは、なぜか侮蔑的な扱いを受ける。だが相変わらずプロ意識の強いスカーペッタは、さっそく証拠を洗い直し、くだんの少女が何者かに殺されたことを突き止める。さらに彼女はある痕跡を発見するのだが、同じ痕跡が別の事故の犠牲者の遺体から、またルーシーの同僚が襲われた現場からも見つかった。それは単なる捜査上の謎ではなく、スカーペッタのごく身近な人々を誰かが狙っている可能性を示すものだった。 --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

検屍官シリーズ、驚愕の新展開で登場！フロリダに落ち着いたスカーペッタに古巣バージニア州検屍局からの依頼が届いた。自宅で独り変死した少女は病死が他殺か。わずかな痕跡が新たな事件の幕を開く。

Break out the champagne: Patricia Cornwell has thankfully moved on from her controversial campaign to lay the Jack the Ripper murders at the door of the painter Walter Sickert, and in Trace is again raising our pulse rate by taking us into the dangerous world of consultant pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta.

In this latest outing, Kay finds herself back in Virginia examining a curious death, that of the youthful Gilly Paulson. Joel Marcus, her successor as Chief Medical Examiner, has summoned a reluctant Scarpetta to help out, but her professional work is compromised by her unhappiness at the radical changes occurring in her old territory: Scarpetta's old morgue has been bulldozed, and she isn稚 happy working with the man who took her job. Other members of the familiar Scarpetta crew make an appearance: her partner Benton Wesley and her niece Lucy Farinelli are tracking down an assailant who has nearly ended the life of one of Lucy痴 colleagues. The two cases turn out to be connected (surprise!), and soon several lives are at stake.

After the recent misfires, it痴 a relief to note that Patricia Cornwell is back on track, dealing comfortably with her most familiar protagonist and a plot that yokes in bomb-makers and some bizarre sexual practices. A resounding welcome back, to both Ms Cornwell and Ms Scarpetta.--Barry Forshaw --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

Cornwell's latest after the disappointing Blow Fly has indomitable medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning to her office in Richmond five years after being fired. This homecoming will cheer fans: not only does the move put Scarpetta on her own turf, it reinvigorates Cornwell's storytelling, restoring some of the spunk lately lacking in her lead character. Dr. Joel Marcus, Scarpetta's replacement as Virginia's chief medical examiner, has summoned her back to help him puzzle through the mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl. Marcus is generally loathed: he's petty, inept, has a secret garbage-truck phobia and harbors an intense hatred for Scarpetta. Meanwhile, Scarpetta's niece Lucy, owner of a fabulously successful private-eye firm, has her own troubles trying to sort out who attempted to kill her friend Henri (short for Henrietta), who's now under psychiatric treatment by Scarpetta's lover in Aspen, Benton Wesley. Lurking in the background is Edgar Allan Pogue, a nutcase who has a thing for dead bodies and a grudge against Scarpetta. It's her job, as always, to connect all the puzzling forensic dots and identify the killer in time to save herself and her loved ones. She does this, mostly, but leaves the reader to puzzle out a few salient points on his or her own. Cumbersome backstory slows the action, but in general the old Scarpetta comes through, at least in the main, and this will be enough to reassure her many fans and carry them over until her next appearance. BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

Since POSTMORTEM garnered critical acclaim and a record-breaking five awards for a first crime novel, the Scarpetta novels have often been imitated, but never bettered. Against her own judgement and the advice of Benton Wesley and her niece, Lucy, Scarpetta agrees to return to Virginia as a consultant pathologist on a case involving the death of a fourteen-year-old girl. Accompanied by Pete Marino she finds the once familiar territory of her morgue and her department much changed, and the new Chief Medical Examiner treats her with disdain despite the obvious fact that he is in desperate need of her expertise. But professional as ever, she re- examines the evidence and proves the girl was murdered. She also finds trace evidence which matches that found on an accident victim and at the scene where one of Lucy's operatives was attacked. It is not only a forensic puzzle, but opens up the probability that someone is after those closest to Scarpetta. --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

Since the first novel was published in 1990, Patricia Cornwell and her creation, Kay Scarpetta, have become household names & she has earned widespread critical acclaim. She helped to establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science & Medicine & serves as Chairman of the Board. --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。