THE SCARPETTA FACTOR
It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta. . . despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN. . . to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events, culminating in an ominous package. . . possibly a bomb. . . showing up at the front desk of the apartment building where she and her husband, Benton, live. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaire with whom her niece, Lucy, seems to have shared a secret past. Scarpetta's CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a special factor, a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.