The Last Precinct: Summary and book reviews of The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell, plus links to an excerpt from The Last Precinct and a biography of Patricia Cornwell.

Continues the story begun in Black Notice "A character as strong as any in popular fiction, Scarpetta knows the world is evil and often overwhelming, but she continues to rail against it with all her endearing and humane self-righteousness," wrote The Wall Street Journal about Black Notice, the latest in a hot streak of number-one New York Times bestsellers by America's top crime novelist. Now Patricia Cornwell delivers a profoundly original novel that takes her readers deeper into Scarpetta's heart and soul than ever before. We enter The Last Precinct through the reverberating aftershocks of Black Notice, inconceivably finding Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta an object of suspicion-and criminal investigation. And the nightmare perpetuated on Scarpetta's doorstep continues as she discovers that the so-called Werewolf murders may have extended to New York City and into the darkest corners of her past. When a formidable prosecutor, a female assistant district attorney from New York, is brought into the case, Scarpetta must struggle to make what she knows to be the truth prevail against mounting and unnerving evidence to the contrary. Tested in every way, she turns inward to ask, where do you go when there is nowhere left? The answer is The Last Precinct. By the end of the novel, it is clear that Scarpetta's life can never be the same. Woven through with extraordinary forensic detail, the larger-than-life presence of Scarpetta's niece Lucy and her colleague Captain Pete Marino, and a palpable sense of fear that keeps readers looking back-into the past for clues, and over their shoulders for the next enigmatic act of violence-The Last Precinct marks a new era for Kay Scarpetta and a triumphant achievement for Patricia Cornwell.

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly Cornwell will win few if any new fans with this overlong, sluggish offering, but her giant readership is so hardcore and so enamored of Kay that the publisher's first printing of one million seems, if anything, conservative.   Library Journal [R]eally Part 2 of Black Notice, her previous work in this series.... This may be Cornwell's least action-oriented, most reflective work featuring Scarpetta. Readers unfamiliar with the series may find it confusing, but fans will want to read it.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by auntbee
The Big Whine
I've really enjoyed the Scarpetta series, mostly for the interesting characters and the amount of education I get from them. Black Notice was riveting, but seemed to begin a decline in the strength of the characters and a fascination with the...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Ryan
I am 13 and I found The Last Preicinct to be one of Patricia Cornwells best books, I have admired the way that she writes about the legend that is Dr Kay Scarpetta for ages now and I think The Last Precinct was one of the most moving books which I...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Tabatha
I think that the book showed great emotion. It was a compelling sort of life story that makes you want to live with them. I've read thousands of books and very few are moving. Very few make you feel the compassion of the writer. But I think that...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Lynda
I have read, no devoured, the entire Kay Scarpetta series over the past year. I have enjoyed Kay as a character who is smart, caring, assertive, honest - possesses all the qualities that every woman could want. Here, with what could possibly be the...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Shelli
I am one of the more avid readers out there... at least I think so. I am a married, mother of four with a full time job as a Sr. Loan Closer for Washington Mutual Bank. HOWEVER.... Patricia Cornwell is one of those authors that I find myself making...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Niki Gilmore
Unbelievable detail! All of Patricia Cornwell's books have captivated me! I am a college student planning to graduate this May with my teaching degree and I can't seem to find interest in my homework! I cannot put her books down once I get...   Read More

...12 More Reader Reviews

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