Patricia Cornwell At Risk

At Risk

Patricia Cornwell

Putnam, May 2006, $21.95, 212 pp.

ISBN 0399153624

Sexy and intelligent Massachusetts state investigator Win Gerarano isn't at all happy that his boss, beautiful rich and power hungry District Attorney Monique Lamont sends him to the National Forensic Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is livid that she recalls him to help her with her new program "At Risk" whose motto is "any crime any time". She wants him to solve a two decade old murder in Tennessee of wealthy and elderly Vivian Finlay using the latest DNA techniques unavailable twenty years ago.

An anonymous phone caller asks Win to come to the Visual Caf regarding the Finlay case. When he gets there the cashier gives him a threatening letter. On a hunch he goes to Monique's home where he kills a man who raped the DA and has tied her down. He asks a friend in Tennessee to get info on the Finlay case; Sykes, infatuated with Win, spends hours trying to track it down. The case in Tennessee ties back to Monique's rape; the cop and the DA have to figure out how.

This book was originally written for the New York Times Magazine in 15 part segments and it is very different than anything else Patricia Cornwall has published before. The two protagonists, Win and Monique, are two sides of the same coin. If Ms. Cornwall writes another book concerning these two characters it will be interesting to see who comes out the winner as they are both strong willed people. Both characters are well developed and the storyline is fast paced and interesting. Readers will never guess who the villain is but they will enjoy guessing at the identity.

Harriet Klausner