The Front - by Patrica Cornwell - Audio Book CD
Brand New (4 CDs - 4.5 hours):
When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut-to-the-bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: “At Risk is Cornwell's finest novel. It works in every way possible—fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prose” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); “Absolutely the best. Here's hoping we'll see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwell's creative pen since ... well, Kay Scarpetta” (The Denver Post).
At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed-race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard-charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garano's grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril.
And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, she's sending him to Watertown to “come up with a drama,” and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called the FRONT, set up in order that they don't have to be so dependent on the state—much to Lamont's anger. He senses a much deeper agenda here—but he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, he'll find that Lamont's task, and the places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrors—everywhere he turns, he's not quite sure if what he's seeing is true.
“Falsehoods rule,” warns his grandmother. And they can also kill.
This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front
About Patricia Cornwell
(From Wikipedia) Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels on June 9, 1956) is the author of a popular series of crime novels, many featuring the fictional heroine "Dr. Kay Scarpetta", a medical examiner.
Biographical information
She was born in Miami, Florida. She is a descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe.Shortly after graduating Davidson College (in North Carolina), she married her English Professor Dr. Charles Cornwell, 17 years her senior. Dr. Cornwell left his tenured professorship to become a preacher, and Patricia began writing a biography of Billy Graham's wife. They divorced shortly thereafter.
Cornwell has made several notable charitable acts, including funding scholarships to the University of Tennessee's National Forensics Academy, Davidson College's Creative Writing Program, and donating her collection of Walter Sickert paintings to Harvard University.
Eugene Bennett, a former FBI agent, attempted to murder his wife, Marguerite, in 1996 because he thought that she had had an affair four years earlier with Cornwell.
Her writing
The Scarpetta novels include a great deal of detail on forensics. The solution to the mystery usually is found in the forensic investigation of the murder victim's corpse, although Scarpetta does considerably more field investigation and confrontation with suspects than real-life medical examiners. The novels are considered to have influenced the development of popular TV series on forensics, both fictional, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and documentaries, such as Cold Case Squad.
Procedural details are part of the allure of her novels. Cornwell herself worked at a crime lab in Virginia as a technical writer and computer analyst but not in any official medical or forensics capacity. Her attempts to portray herself as an expert in those fields have caused some bad feelings from those who have actual training and licensing, including Kathy Reichs, who is both a board-certified forensic anthropologist and a crime novelist.
Other significant themes in the Scarpetta novels include health in general; individual safety and security; food; and family. Although scenes from the novels take place in a variety of locations around the U.S. and (less commonly) internationally, the city of Richmond, Virginia features prominently.
Besides the Scarpetta novels, Cornwell has written three more light-hearted police fictions featuring Andy Brazil, as well as a number of works of non-fiction.
Controversies
Jack the Ripper
Cornwell has been involved in a continuing, self-financed search for evidence to support her theory that painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. She published Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed in 2002 to much controversy, especially within the British art world, where Sickert's work is admired, and also among Ripperologists, who criticize her methods and conclusions. See Portrait of a Killer for further information. However, Cornwell denies a Jack the Ripper obsession in full-page ads in two British newspapers.
List of works
Note: these are Scarpetta novels unless otherwise noted.
* A Time for Remembering (1983; non-fiction; biography of Ruth Bell Graham; later reissued as Ruth: A Portrait)
* Postmortem (1990)
* Body of Evidence (1991)
* All That Remains (1992)
* Cruel and Unusual (1993)
* The Body Farm (1994)
* From Potter's Field (1995)
* Cause of Death (1996)
* Hornet's Nest (1997; Andy Brazil)
* Unnatural Exposure (1997)
* Point of Origin (1998)
* Scarpetta's Winter Table (1998)
* Black Notice (1999)
* Southern Cross (1999; Andy Brazil)
* Life's Little Fable (1999; children's book)
* The Last Precinct (2000)
* Isle Of Dogs (2001; Andy Brazil)
* Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen (2002; non-fiction)
* Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed (2002; non-fiction)
* Blow Fly (2003)
* Trace (2004)
* Predator (2005)
* At Risk (2006) |
