women physicians

Brief biographies of five women doctors who, despite many difficulties, made singular contributions to the field of medicine and to society in general.

After she witnesses the fatal shooting of an FBI agent, Dr. Ellie Sullivan is targeted by a shadowy criminal couple called the Landrys; and, after Agent Max Daniels pledges to protect Ellie until she takes the witness stand, the two of them find their close quarters leading to passionate feelings.

When Scarpetta examines a young man's body, she discovers stunning indications that he may have been alive when he was zipped inside a pouch and locked inside the cooler of her new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts. Various 3-D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen. These suggest the possibility of a conspiracy to cause mass casualties, and she races against time to discover who and why before more people die.

"It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta - despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN - to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events, culminating in an ominous package--possibly a bomb--showing up at the front desk of the apartment building where she and her husband, Benton, live. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaire with whom her niece, Lucy, seems to have shared a secret past."--from novel.

Dr. Sara Linton, who is both the county coroner and the local pediatrician, is running late for her weekly lunch at the local diner with her sister, Tessa. When she gets there, she goes to the washroom to freshen up and is met by a grisly sight. Sibyl Adams, a professor at the local college, is sitting in one of the stalls - stabbed and raped and barely alive.