Trace - Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta #13)

Five years after being sacked as Chief Medical Examiner Dr kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond, Virginia, and she is back with a vengeance. A vengeance not of her own making. 

Her return, as consultant pathologist in the mysterious death of a teenage girl, ruffles a few feathers - her own included. Yet Gilly Paulsson's death has stumped the best in the business. There is no obvious cause: nothing suspicious  except for the fact that Gilly shouldn't be dead. The case has also stumped Dr Joel Marcus, the new Chief Medical Examiner - who is not the best in the business. Scarpetta knows as much. Pete Marino, accompanying her, says as much. And soon there's evidence to prove it - trace evidence uncovered by Scarpetta. Gilly Paulsson was murdered. But why? 

Scarpetta's niece. Lucy Farinelli, doesn't want her aunt to get involved. Nor does her lover Benton Wesley. Yet with the former in Florida and the latter in Aspen, distance divides them. Andy Lucy, head of a hugely successful international investigation firm, has troubles of her own. One of her operatives has been attacked in her home. And whoever attacked her has left evidence of his presence. Very clear evidence. It's as if he deliberately left traces...

For Scarpetta, what began as a forensic puzzle expands into a larger, far more alarming picture. But still the vital pieces are missing. Who is the person tightening a web around Aspen, Florida and Richmond, drawing her and her loved ones towards danger and death? There's mystery behind his methods - but not his murderous methods. 'Revenge' is stamped all over this one...