About the author: Patricia Cornwell (born 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in Richmond, Virginia, where most of the stories are set. The plots are notable for their emphasis on forensic science, which has influenced later TV treatments of police work. (wikipedia)
Locale: Virginia
Synopsis: Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, is anxiously awaiting a scheduled execution of Ronnie Joe Waddell, convicted for the murder of TV anchor Robyn Naismith. If the execution occurs as scheduled, she will have to go into the office to perform the autopsy. If the execution is delayed at the last minute by Governor Norring, she gets the night off. As it happens, the governor does not intervene, Waddell is executed, and so she has to go in to work. There were some irregularities in the execution - causing what could be odd injuries to Waddell - and so Kay is questioned harshly by attorney Nicholas Grueman.
All is routine until several weeks later when a 13-year old boy, Eddie Heath, is murdered. There are similarities to the Naismith murder.
Later, Jennifer Deighton, who reads horoscopes for others from her home, is found dead as an apparent suicide. It is quickly determined, however, that it was a murder. Then the shocker: fingerprints at the scene match those of executed Ronnie Joe Waddell. It appears Waddell is alive - and therefore, someone else was executed in his place.
