Book Review: Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 10)

A ship that docks in Richmond from Belgium is found to contain the remains of a stowaway, in a locked and sealed container. Kay Scarpetta does the autopsy but this does not identify the cause of death or the John Doe. However, a tattoo on the victim leads Scarpetta to Interpol and their headquarters in Lyon in France. She is told there to go to a Paris morgue where she receives more evidence.

She then has to return back to Virginia to carry out a mission that could scupper her career and puts her and her closest friends and family at risk.

Scarpetta has immersed herself in her work since her lover Benton Wesley was killed. It appears that her life is in chaos with Marino taking a walk on the wild side and her niece Lucy also living outside the norm too. Scarpetta's office is subject to some political shenanigans and also some mysterious thefts have occurred around the morgue.

There are many matters for Kay Scarpetta to contend with and this is a better novel, especially without Benton.

7/10 for me.