In her best-selling novel HORNET'S NEST, Patricia Cornwell displayed her intuitive understanding of policemen and women and introduced her readers to Judy Hammer, Virginia West and Andy Brazil. In this fast-moving sequel she again portrays this trio——sometimes passionate, vulnerable or heroic, always professional.

This time the setting is Richmond, Virginia, and Patricia Cornwell takes us even closer to the personal and public lives of a big city police force where corruption, scandal and robberies escalate into murder. Police Chief Judy Hammer has been hired to clean up the crime rate. Reeling from the recent death of her husband, and resented by her staff and the city's establishment, she is joined by West and Brazil on the most difficult assignment of her career. In the face of overwhelming public scrutiny the trio must bring order and sanity to a city in trouble.

The roller-coaster new novel from one of the world's best read story-tellers is fast, funny and fantastically entertaining; a mélange of personal conundrums, police procedures, high drama, low life——topped off with an intoxicating dash of comedy.

Leaving on the bookshelf

Caught today.

Very corny writing. The "plot" is a mishmash of nonsense that depends upon absurd coincidence and supposedly intelligent characters making genuinely idiotic leaps of let's-call-it-logic that none of the people around them bother to question or even wonder about. Because they're so implausibly dim, none of the protagonists are even remotely sympathetic or interesting. Don't bother

On to the shelves.

Taken from the bookshelf last month as an intended themed release. In too much of a hurry going through the station and forget to leave it.

Lent it to my mother, and her review was similar to the one above.

Remembered to take it to the train station this month.

Left on a bench in the Passenger Lounge.