Post Mortem Book Report

Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell is a crime-fiction novel that follows the personal life and career life of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist and the Chief Medical Examiner of Richmond, Virginia.
Kay Scarpetta is a pure-blooded Italian, light blonde hair, divorced professional who lives in the west end of Richmond. Throughout the book, Kay shares her home with her 10-year-old niece, Lucy. Lucy is a very intelligent and precocious but is troubled by the upbringing she receives from her mother, who is a writer who is more interested in finding love and creating fictional characters than she is Lucy. Kay attempts give Lucy the attention she needs although it problematic since Lucy and her mother live in Miami.
Post Mortem involves the

pitiless rapes and executions of five women all over the Richmond area. Each woman is shadowed, smothered, raped, and asphyxiated. There seems to be no discernible pattern in the killings and no harmony between the victims. As Chief Medical Examiner, it is Dr. Scarpetta's job to absorb as much as possible from the victims' leftovers in hopes of capturing the assassin.
During the investigation into the ghastly murders, Scarpetta must deal with the fury of her official boss, the Dr. Alvin Amburgey, who serves as the Commissioner of Health and Human Services. It is clear that Amburgey loathes Scarpetta and the whole shebang the Chief Medical Examiner represents. Both doctors are new to their individual jobs and already Kay can tell that the tenancy under Amburgey, who she refers to as an envious doctor, will not be enjoyable.
The case progresses with clues beginning to draw together. Kay is shocked to find out who was responsible for date rape involving a local reporter, but he is not the slaughterer.
Kay and her team crack the final clue and are ready when the killer breaks into her house. During an attempt on taking Scarpetta's life, Scarpetta’s co-worker shoots and kills the rapist, a young man who chose his victims through calls made to the 911 emergency dispatcher.
One of the Scarpetta's technicians uncovers sabotage enacted by another co-worker in an attempt to have Scarpetta fired. Reporter Abby Turnbull who impends to reveal his illegal acts, eventually challenges the co-worker.
I think that the novel Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell was very unpredictable, and it was very good at keeping me intrigued. I was very intrigued when the killer tried to break into Scarpetta’s house, but her co-worker saved her. In my opinion, this story was realistic because there are very commonly workplace conflicts such as the one where Scarpetta’s assistant uncovered the sabotage and the reporter tried to unveil it.
I feel that the authors main purpose of writing this book was to give readers an insight on what it is like to be a forensic pathologist