The "book of the dead" is the morgue log, a ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to take on a new meaning. Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it's time for a change of pace, not only personally and professionally but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues-including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy-offer expert crime-scene investigation and autopsy services to communities lacking local access to modern, competent death investigation technology.It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start-with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run Scarpetta out of town. And that's before the murders and other violent deaths even begin.A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multimillion-dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible.Kay Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones confronting her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write in her own.

Wymagająca i stanowcza Judy Hammer jest szefową policji w Charlotte, rozwijającym się centrum bankowo-przemysłowym w Karolinie Północnej. Nie wszyscy akceptują fakt, że kobieta zajmuje stanowisko tradycyjnie przeznaczone dla mężczyzn. Burmistrz Search wolałby zamiast niej ugodowego funkcjonariusza, którym łatwiej byłoby manipulować. Judy musi się zmagać nie tylko z przestępcami, lecz również z uległymi wobec lokalnych notabli władzami miasta, napastliwą prasą i nielojalnymi pracownikami. Pojawiają się także kłopoty rodzinne. Ale wszystkie problemy muszą odejść na dalszy plan, gdy nieuchwytny psychopata, nazywany przez dziennikarzy "Czarną Wdową", zaczyna mordować przyjeżdżających do miasta biznesmenów.

Kay Scarpetta, costretta alla libera professione in Florida, viene richiamata con grande urgenza a Richmond, in Virginia, la città che cinque anni prima le aveva voltato le spalle. Chi dirige ora il Dipartimento di Medicina legale è un presuntuoso incompetente e Kay Scarpetta ha la brutta sorpresa di trovare i suoi laboratori in uno stato di completo abbandono. E’ questo il motivo per cui i colleghi di una volta non riescono a venire a capo della morte di una quattordicenne…

Po Richmond krąży zabójca – w okrutny sposób morduje młode, mieszkające samotnie kobiety.Na pozór ofiary nie mają ze sobą nic wspólnego. Doktor Kay Scarpeta, naczelny koroner stanu Wirginia, oraz Pete Marino, sierżant z wydziału zabójstw policji Richmond, muszą pokonać wzajemne animozje, by ująć zbrodniarza. Nie będzie to łatwe, tym bardziej że ktoś sabotuje dochodzenie od wewnątrz.

Determined to find out what happened to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, murdered six months earlier, Kay Scarpetta travels to the Georgia Prison for Women, where an inmate has information not only on Fielding, but also on a string of grisly killings. The murder of an Atlanta family years ago, a young woman on death row, and the inexplicable deaths of homeless people as far away as California seem unrelated. But Scarpetta discovers connections that compel her to conclude that what she thought ended with Fielding's death and an attempt on her own life is only the beginning of something far more destructive: a terrifying terrain of conspiracy and potential terrorism on an international scale. And she is the only one who can stop it.