Cruel and Unusual

Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralysed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman.

Dublin, Ireland and Richmond, Virginia: separated by thousands of miles - linked by murder. Five dismembered, beheaded bodies were found in Ireland five years ago - now four have been discovered in the States. But the tenth corpse in Virginia is different. A copy-cat killing. Ghoulish, perhaps, but not unusual. Then abject terror grips Scarpetta and her colleagues when the next body is found with a clear and horrifying message: the killer is armed with the most lethal weapon on earth - smallpox.

Der grausame Mord an der elfjährigen Emily Steiner schockiert die Kleinstadt Black Mountain. Die Gerichtsmedizinerin Kay Scarpetta steht zunächst vor unlösbaren Rätseln. Doch dann deuten Spuren an der verstümmelten Leiche auf einen Täter hin, der aus Emilys engstem Umfeld stammen muss. Wurde das Mädchen Opfer einer düsteren Familientragödie? Kay Scarpettas Untersuchungen in dem Mordfall des elfjährigen Mädchens laufen anfangs ins Leere, da Emilys Tod einfach zu viele Fragen aufwirft.

Deputy Chief Virginia West likes her boss. But when a number of visiting businessmen are murdered in her city by a maniac with a penchant for painting his victims bright orange, she objects to his edict that a rookie reporter accompany her on patrol.

A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond, Virginia. Three women have died, brutalised and strangled in their own bedrooms. There is no pattern: the killer appears to strike at random, but always early on Saturday mornings.