Fiction

Cornwell, Patricia. Point of Origin (1998)   G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 356 pages, $25.95 hardcover    ISBN 0 399 14394 7 I’m getting really sick of Kay Scarpetta. At least in Patricia Cornwell’s earlier novels Scarpetta waited until the plot began to develop before beginning her self-centered, self-righteous lamentations. But in Point of Origin Scarpetta starts […]

Woods, Stuart. Chiefs (1981)    Avon Books, 427 pages, $5.99 paperback   ISBN 0 380 70347 5 Recommended One benefit to discovering a prolific author with one of his later works is that you then have the pleasure of going back and reading all his earlier books as well.  I first discovered Stuart Woods in

Cornwell, Patricia. Unnatural Exposure (1997)   G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 338 pages, $25.95 hardcover    ISBN 0 399 14285 1 After Cornwell’s two recent disasters, Cause of Death and Hornet’s Nest, I approached Unnatural Exposure with trepidation. Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns in a novel that doesn’t exhibit Hornet’s Nest’s lack of focus but that does, like

Sandford, John. The Night Crew (1997)   G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 371 pages, $23.95 hardcover   ISBN 0 399 14237 1 The action has moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles and the protagonist is a woman, but otherwise fans of John Sandford’s “Prey” series won’t notice much difference between the earlier novels and this one. The

Sandford, John. Mind Prey (1995)Berkley, 354 pages, $6.99 paperback  ISBN 0 425 15289 8 Mind Prey opens with a memorable simile: “The storm blew up late in the afternoon, tight, gray clouds hustling over the lake like dirty, balled up sweat socks spilling from a basket” (p. 1). Soon Andi Manette, a psychiatrist, and her