Dust

At the start of bestseller Cornwell's 21st novel starring Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after 2012's The Bond Bed), Scarpetta, now the director of the Cambridge Forensic Center and chief medical examiner of Massachusetts, receives a call from Det. Pete Marino, who like her has relocated from Virginia, about a body found on the MIT campus. Scarpetta is quick to recognize similarities between this killing and ones her husband, Benton Wesley, and his FBI colleagues at the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Washington, D.C., are investigating. The Cambridge victim, Gail Shipton, was suing a powerful international company, Double S, and her former financial manager, Dominic Lombardi. Aided by Benton, Scarpetta soon realizes that Benton's boss, Ed Granby, will do anything to thwart their investigation. One of Scarpetta's former bosses tells her that it's "not the job of a forensic pathologist to make deductions," but she does that as well as the best detectives. Cornwell's strength remains the intricate details of forensic examinations as her heroes fight to uncover both a serial killer and a high-level cover-up. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Nov.)