Predator

Florida is full of human predators, and they all give Dr Kay Scarpetta the opportunity and the means to do what she does best—persuading the dead to speak to her.

In Boston, Benton Wesley is working on a secret case involving convicted killers. It is a project which gives Scarpetta deep disquiet, as does the behaviour of her niece, Lucy, who is spending too much time in cheap bars looking for casual pick-ups.

The Academy is called when a woman's body is found in Boston. She has been tortured, sexually abused, and her body tattooed with handprints—the same sort of handprints Lucy had seen on the flesh of her latest pick-up.

Meanwhile, Scarpetta and Marino are investigating the disappearance of a family in Florida, called in by a concerned neighbour. As they search and find tell-tale signs of abduction rather than disappearance, they also discover that someone had assumed the identity of the caller, and she is now dead. They've been set up, and it becomes clear that someone is tracking their every move.

Predator by Patricia Cornwell takes you on a tense journey through the mind of a killer and the investigations that seek to unravel their twisted games.