Body of Evidence

My first one of Patricia Cornwell. Dr. Kay Scarpetta is a Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia called upon to examine the body of one Beryl Madison, a gruesome murder victim. As a forensic pathologist her job is only to examine the bodies for various clues. But she goes beyond that and delves into the reason for the murder of the writer Beryl. One murder leads to another that of Cary Harper the mentor of Beryl, followed soon by the death of Cary's sister. Patricia's throws clues here and there and finally manages to connect all of them together. There is edge of seat suspense in the book, probably because Patricia brings in a lot of events and incidents not within the original realm of thought but brings them together spectacularly. There is sleaze lawyer Sparacino out for his two cents worth of glory and a suspense. There is Al Hunt a young kid with clairvoyant thoughts and his own story. Nice racy read. Goodreads 4/5

Echoes in the Darkness

Just finished reading a true crime story by Joseph Wambaugh - "Echoes in the Darkness". This book is regarding the murder mystery of Susan Reinert a divorced school teacher and her two children Karen and Michael who were never found since that fateful day in June 1979. She was having a secret affair with another school teacher William Bradfield who was famous for his numerous flings with women. He was having another secret affair with another teacher Sue Myers and this after having two failed marriages in the past. Whilst he was juggling with the two teachers he started and successfully carried two more affairs both with students of the Upper Merion High School in Main Line, Philadelphia where they were all enrolled. One of the student was a minor when he started his affair, but all his women swore by his affections. The principal of the school was Jay Smith an ex-army officer and quite a character in himself with revelations of sexual escapades and fantasies, shoplifting and his own daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Eddie Hunsberger were never found – it was alleged that Smith had murdered his daughter and son-in-law but they just vanished from the face of earth and were never found to this day. The prosecution had to rely on circumstantial evidence in this case. Much of the book in the first half is devoted to the peccadilloes of William Bradfield and Jay Smith in conjuring up their images as crazy, demented individuals. Goodreads 5/5 

Death is now my neighbour by Colin Dexter

Just finished reading "Death is Now my Neighbour" by Colin Dexter, a Inspector Morse murder mystery. Morse and his assistant Lewis are on the trail of a murder of a woman and their prime suspect is her next door neighbour. Investigation progresses when another murder takes place in the same neighbourhood. Also suspects are two individuals who are contesting for the position of a Master at a Local college, which is supposedly a prestigious post for both of them. The plot unravels slowly and in between Morse has had to be confined to hospital for his usual health problem. Colin Dexter is a fascinating writer and i particularly liked the way in he introduced each chapter with a quotation from the classics or mundane which might or might not have been relevant to the case.