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Cornwell is a master of detail
Book Review
By Derryll White
Cornwell, Patricia (1990). Postmortem.
This is the first volume of a virtual empire. Cornwell, a former crime reporter and worker in the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office of Virginia, writes about what she knows. She creates an alter ego, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who eventually cracks open the world of forensic science for a host of following authors.
I ran across Patricia Cornwell a long time ago, picking up a book here and there, out of sequence. She is a compelling writer with richly developed characters. I soon realized that while each novel was interesting in itself, to read the series in sequence would provide a much clearer understanding of the characters and what motivates them. I also figured it would give me a clearer take on just what it is Cornwell is saying about contemporary American society. And that is what drew me to her, her need to say more than just the story, to pry into what is broken in the medical/legal underpinnings of American democracy.
Pete Marino appears on page one of ‘Postmortem’, a police sergeant and already striking sparks with Dr. Scarpetta who is newly-appointed chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kay Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy, a driving force in many of the later works, is 10-years-old here, while Scarpetta is 40. This is where the journey begins.
Cornwell is a master of detail. She crafts exquisite pictures of her characters, even the most fleeting ones. A murder victim is described as “She. Lori Petersen Brown. Harvard. Brilliant. Thirty years old. About to have it all realized, her dream. After eight grueling years, at least, of medical training. A physician. All of it destroyed in a few minutes of a stranger’s aberrant pleasure.”
The reader gets to know the intricacies of the lives of Cornwell’s characters. She has a clear sense of what is right and wrong, good and bad, but she is not afraid to explore the cross-overs, the anomalies. Scarpetta is a doctor, a smart woman, yet she drinks, smokes, enjoys food exuberantly – and never exercises. Cornwell is comfortable with paradoxes.
The novel is a bit of a time capsule. Written in 1990, DNA evidence is still circumspect. “I’ll be lucky if I can find a jury who can spell DNA,” says the Crown Attorney. It makes one reflect on how fast things change.
This novel reads as a very good start to an illustrious career. I suggest it to all potential Patricia Cornwell fans.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
