Description: "A character as strong as any in popular fiction, Scarpetta knows the world is evil and often overwhelming, but she continues to rail against it with all her endearing and humane self-righteousness", wrote The Wall Street Journal about Black Notice, the latest in a hot streak of =1 New York Times bestsellers by America's top crime novelist. Now Patricia Cornwell brings her millions of readers a novel concerning crimes with seeds in a murder from the distant past.

When Kay Scarpetta is mandated to investigate the four hundred-year-old violent death of one of America's first settlers at Jamestown, Virginia, it seems like the perfect match: modern technology's savviest avatar versus an age-old crime. Kay's involvement in the case attracts headlines, and more -- the unwelcome ire of a person or persons unknown. Kay and those closest to her soon find themselves the targets of vicious hate crimes that are clearly inspired by her connection to the archaeological excavation. At first more nuisance than assault, the nature of the attacks quickly escalates to violence. Worse still, those sworn to protect prove to be the enemy, forcing Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and detective Peter Marino to take matters into their own hands -- torquing the rule of law and changing their lives forever.

In a case ranging from an eighteenth-century murder to mortal risk in present day, The Last Precinct pits Kay Scarpetta against a rogue enemy who will stop at nothing to eliminate her.

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