Scarpetta is now set up in Charleston with a new business as a private forensics lab, somehow still working with Lucy and Marino, although I was a little confused. It’s not the Last Precinct, the business from a few books ago. But it’s similar. And I’m a bit confused about why, and why Charleston. Anyhow, there is a murder in Rome, and then there are other things happening in Charleston, and why Scarpetta happens to be involved in both seems a bit farfetched, but she is. Marino is being terrible, but not that much more so that previously. He’s such an annoying character, there really is little reason for Scarpetta to remain in company with him, but she does.
Despite the flaws pointed out, this wasn’t a bad Scarpetta book. There’s some gory violence, and I feel as though the whole thing with the sand wasn’t really explained. But not bad for a quick crime read.