Point of Origin: Summary and book reviews of Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell, plus links to an excerpt from Point of Origin and a biography of Patricia Cornwell.

From the author of Unnatural Exposure and Cause of Death comes a new Kay Scarpetta novel that pits Virginia's chief medical examiner against an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his crimes. And when Scarpetta learns that her old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, is somehow involved, the investigation gets personal and tragedy strikes closer to home.

Media Reviews

People Magazine Her hottest adventure!   Library Journal Cornwell is so hot that in this new outing she pits Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta against a murderer who uses fire to cover his tracks.   Kirkus Reviews Does Kay Scarpetta ever have a nice day? No sooner has she been taken from the arms of her FBI lover Benton Wesley by a disquieting note from her niece Lucy's murderous ex-lover Carrie Grethen, locked up ever since The Body Farm (1994), than she gets called to the scene of a particularly horrific arson. Nineteen horses are dead at the farm of black publishing mogul Kenneth Sparkes, a longtime adversary of Scarpetta's, along with what looks like the body of Sparkes's onetime lover Claire Rawley. All indications are that the fire started in the commodious master bathroom, but since there''s no sign of accelerant or fuel, Scarpetta's forced to fall back on her specialty, testimony from the corpse, which eventually leads her back in time to a series of equally inexplicable arson-murders. By now, Carrie Grethen has escaped and written to every newspaper on the East Coast that she was seduced by Lucy and framed by Scarpetta and Wesley; Scarpetta is at loggerheads with Teun McGovern, Lucy's new boss at Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and Scarpetta's irascible buddy Capt. Pete Marino is indulging himself in intimations of mortality that turn out to be only too well-timed. As in Scarpetta's recent cases (Unnatural Exposure, 1997, etc.), the final face-off between good and evil comes as something of an anticlimax after the trademark grueling forensics, showing once again that Cornwell's most compelling characters tend to be dead.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by bonnie
Killing off Benton was a bad idea. He would be smarter and more cautious than she gave him credit for.

Rated of 5 by sherrie
I recently read Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell and I thought it was excellent! I had a very hard time putting this book down. I recommend this book to everyone!

Rated of 5 by Ken
This book is awesome patricia is great

Rated of 5 by Gorana
THE BOOK WAS WONDRFUL

I just read the book over the weekend and i loved it. I went and bought two more books. I read another book too. It was called Postmortem. That book is good too. She is one of the best writers and i will continue...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Stacy
Loved this book! it was absolutely amazing! I cried so much when Benton died, oh Lord that was so sad.
Kudos to Patricia Cornwell.

Rated of 5 by faltys
Definately miss Benton. I feel like I know all of them so well!
Cornwell is so great at getting us really into the story.

...3 More Reader Reviews

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