Dr. Kay Scarpetta is a solitary, independent woman, about age forty, divorced, and living at some distance from her family. She holds a leadership role in a traditionally male profession: She is the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Most of her superiors and peers are men. She is tough and self-confident but also aware that the men around her often second-guess her decisions. A crisis arises that tests her knowledge of her field and her abilities to protect her position. On the job for under two years, she must weather the emotional and political pressures when a serial killer violates and strangles several young women in their Richmond homes.

The novel obviously appeals to the contemporary fascination with serial killers. Robert K. Ressler, the FBI agent who studied the psychology of such murderers, argues in his book Whoever Fights Monsters (written with Tom...