Part of Kay Scarpetta, book 24
First published 2016
Dr. Kay Scarpetta arrives at a puzzling crime scene on an autumn evening along the Charles River. Twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel lies dead beside her bicycle, apparently struck by lightning during perfectly clear weather. As director of the Cambridge Forensic Center, Scarpetta immediately suspects foul play. Her investigation takes a disturbing turn when anonymous poems arrive from someone calling himself Tailend Charlie. The cyberbully seems to know private details about the case and continues sending threatening messages. Scarpetta calls on her investigative partner Pete Marino, her FBI analyst husband Benton Wesley, and her tech-savvy niece Lucy to track down the harasser. Even Lucy struggles to trace the elusive Tailend Charlie or explain how he accesses confidential information. Meanwhile, media coverage turns hostile, attacking Scarpetta's professional judgment and comparing her conclusions to spontaneous combustion. The poems arrive on a precise schedule, with the tenth message appearing exactly twenty-four hours after Elisa's death, convincing Scarpetta that the anonymous tormentor is connected to the murder.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Cambridge, Charles River
Period: Autumn
400 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: violence