Trace by Patricia Cornwell

Typical Cornwell with all our favorite players in different places...Scarpetto and Marino are back in Richmond on an ill-advised consulting case; Benton is stuck in Aspen with an reluctant patient and Lucy is in Florida working an attempted murder.  The underlying story was a stretch, the tenuous ties that hold it together stretching even my willing suspension.  And though the main mystery was of course solved by the final page, I was still left with too many unanswered questions to feel fully satisfied-did Dr. Touchy-feely ever get his comeuppance?  Did Mrs. Wacky Sex Life ever face reality?  How did Chief I Suck At My Job really get his position, and did his ghosts ever come home to roost?  I suppose these could be setups for future books but its a stretch to expect that readers will maintain that sort of active curiosity until the next book comes out.

Overall, the book was exactly as expected when I grabbed it out of the basement (another one of the trove I inherited from my father-in-law when he cleared out his bookshelves a couple of years ago).  Decent way to pass the time but no greatness here.  As an aside, my teenager was looking for a mystery to read for school and I pointed her to one of the earlier Scarpetta books...her review was that it was "good".

Rating:  #5 Good Enough