The principal technique of the novel is the spare yet resonant voice Cornwell has evolved for her character, as passages quoted and discussed earlier in this article show. Three more passages can elaborate particular traits of this voice. Her description of Mrs. Steiner echoes the style of Chandler's Marlowe: "She unbuttoned her coat and lightly shook her shoulders to get out of it. She glanced away as she took it off as if she were accustomed to giving anybody interested an opportunity to look at breasts no matronly clothing could hide . . . Denesa Steiner was flaunting herself. She was very competitive with women and this told me more about what her relationship with Emily had been like." Scarpetta goes beyond the Marlowe-like, sardonic attention to the body to process how the information relates to the case.

Scarpetta is always working, always alert to the revelatory specific. While keen in...