" My favorite Kay Scarpetta book from Patricia Cornwell, largely because the real-life events on which the plot is based happened in our backyard, the still-unsolved (Colonial) "Parkway Murders." The newspaper for which I worked for 20-odd years (some of them very odd years) burned a lot of ink on the four double murders. Scarpetta's Richmond setting appeals to me for a similar reason: geographical familiarity. Every now and then it's nice to turn a corner and see a familiar river view or skyscraper. I like the early Scarpetta books better than the later ones, with Blowfly being the most recent of the books I liked. Cornwell's immersion in forensic sciences predates (and maybe sparked) its mass-market, televised popularity. Her research is meticulous. My only criticism of the early books is that her characters occasionally take themselves too seriously. The later books didn't engage me; I turned to other authors. I haven't tried Cornwell's other series. "
— Marguerite, 2/17/2014