Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

I waited 6 months on the library reserve list to read this book; thank goodness I didn't run out and buy it in my eagerness to read it. I would have slapped myself for spending the money. I'm even sorry I took up the space on the reserve list. In short: when an author runs out of ideas for her character, especially when the character has appeared in a series of novels, then the author should definitely not try to squeeze out a 495 page book. Cornwell should have stopped with the last Kay Scarpetta novel; this one is weak and reads like a beginner's effort, certainly not one with as much skill as Cornwell has demonstrated in past books (except for The Hornet's Nest, maybe, which was awful). It's as if Cornwell thought she could combine a well known heroine with a military backdrop, throw in some of her techno-speak, add an almost-murder, and bam! she'd have a great book. This book doesn't even come close to good, much less great. One of the best things about any good mystery story is trying to figure it out with the protagonist as you read. There's just no figuring out this plot because 2/3 of the book is just mundane conversation or repetition of information already presented. Worse, sometimes Cornwell just flat out skips significant parts, only to have a character "remember" them later. The bad guy in the book isn't even in the story. Scarpetta "remembers" everything divulged about him, and she only "remembers" at the whim of the author. I won't even begin to rant about using an evil never-before-mentioned illegitimate daughter of the bad guy at the end. Talk about deux ex machina; here is one. Further, it's just totally aburd for Cornwell to invent a troubling past event for Scarpetta from 20 years ago--we readers would have expected the good doctor to have at least fretted over the incident in one previous book!