An email sent directly to the Cambridge Forensic Center, addressed to Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, contains the photo of a severed ear that may belong to Emma Shubert, a paleontologist who had been unearthing dinosaur bones in Canada’s Peace Region and who has recently gone missing. Kay has no idea why this would be sent to her office, since she would have no jurisdiction in the case if death or foul play was involved, and especially since no body has been found. Included with the image of the ear is footage of a jetboat skimming over a river, presumably in the area Emma Shubert was excavating. Meanwhile, Kay is due in court and reports have come in of a body in the water, attached to a leatherback turtle who has been tangled up in fishing net and must be rescued. Concerned about the indignity of a body being pulled out of the water with gawkers looking on, and stressed about having to appear in court for a comment she made in an email, the headache Kay has been nursing all day is about to get much, much worse.
In the 20th Kay Scarpetta novel, what starts as a missing person’s case with no body quickly turns sinister when Kay begins to examine the body of a woman that she personally pulls out of the water. It is desiccated, almost mummified, and the woman has obviously been dead for quite a while. A possible connection to Scarpetta’s head investigator, Pete Marino, has her worried that there’s much more to this case that she’s missing. Her niece Lucy also seems worried and on edge for some reason, and Kay’s FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, also seems to be keeping something to himself. The demands of her job and Benton’s have them spending less and less time together, and Kay finds herself having thoughts that she never thought she’d entertain, especially about her attractive new employee. Meanwhile a brash, beautiful FBI agent working with Benton has Kay even more frazzled. This becomes a perfect storm of insecurity and paranoia for Kay.
Soon, Kay realizes she may be tracking a diabolical killer more treacherous than anyone could have imagined. Told in Kay’s voice, The Bone Bed is an involving murder mystery, but what sets this series apart is Scarpetta herself and her complex relationships with Benton, Lucy, Pete Marino, and her staff. A tangled web of clues all tie together eventually, but it probably won’t be what you expect. Patricia Cornwell is supremely good at what she does, and, after 20 books in this series, certainly hasn’t lost her touch.
