Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990                   TAG: 9004010253
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: F4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by SHARYN McCRUMB
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RICHMOND-SET MYSTERY AS INFORMATIVE AS IT

Richmond is the setting for this gripping thriller about a woman medical examiner on the trail of a serial killer.

Award-winning crime writer Patricia Daniels Cornwell wanted to write mystery fiction, and she wanted to be accurate, so she took a job as a computer analyst in the office of Virginia's chief medical examiner. This firsthand knowledge of the subject is evident on every page of "Postmortem." Daniels combines the gritty realism of Thomas Harris with a sensitivity and literary style all her own to make this one of the most outstanding first novels of the year.

A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond. Three women have been brutalized and strangled in their own bedrooms, and the murders seem completely random. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner for the commonwealth of Virginia, fears that there will be more victims unless she can come up with new scientific evidence to help the police.

Here is where Cornwell's expert knowledge sets the novel apart from other procedurals. She knows firsthand what the routine is in a murder investigation; she has witnessed autopsies and she relates all this information with confidence and compassion. The reader learns about FBI profiling, DNA printing and the uneasy relationships among state, federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The author's grasp of bureaucratic politics is as sure as her medical facts.

One Richmond bookseller has banned this book, claiming that it might offend the families of the victims of a similar Richmond murder case. Her fellow members of the writer's organization "Sisters in Crime" called Daniels to congratulate her as sales went up. The banning was undeserved.

This is not another female exploitation book with gratuitous violence. It is a chilling tale, told in spare and articulate prose, and it introduces a strong female protagonist who is sure to become a favorite with mystery readers.