Hornet's Nest

Realistic and entertaining thriller which throws an ironic light on how to police a city.

Deputy Chief Virginia West likes and respects her boss, Hammer, but with an increasing number of visiting businessmen being murdered in her city by a maniac with a penchant for painting his victims bright orange, she finds it hard to accept Hammer's edict that a rookie reporter should ride on patrol with her to better relations with their citizens. Her worst fears are confirmed when the reporter, Brazil, presses the button to activate the boot-release rather than the siren on their first outing. He's not the only blight on her life right now: her cat's angsty, her hormones are misbehaving, her opposite number in the uniformed division is behaving like a jackass, the radio despatcher is determined to trip her up, the D.A. is in the middle of a hot battle with the trial schedule. And orange coloured corpses keep turning up on her patch.

“Vintage Cornwell: gripping plot, great characters and ironic humour.”

'' COSMPOLITAN 'Cornwell's portrait of a bustling small city with a growing crime problem is believable and incisive.' THE TIMES 'riveting, stay-up-all-night chiller...hugely enjoyable.' ELLE 'Gripping stuff.' WOMAN AND HOME

PATRICIA CORNWELL burst onto the crime fiction scene with POSTMORTEM, and the subsequent novels featuring the forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta have all been substantial bestsellers. She divides her time between, Richmond, Virginia, New York, Los Angeles and Grand Cayman.

Realistic and entertaining thriller which throws an ironic light on how to police a city.Deputy Chief Virginia West likes and respects her boss, Hammer, but with an increasing number of visiting businessmen being murdered in her city by a maniac with a penchant for painting his victims bright orange, she finds it hard to accept Hammer's edict that a rookie reporter should ride on patrol with her to better relations with their citizens. Her worst fears are confirmed when the reporter, Brazil, presses the button to activate the boot-release rather than the siren on their first outing. He's not the only blight on her life right now: her cat's angsty, her hormones are misbehaving, her opposite number in the uniformed division is behaving like a jackass, the radio despatcher is determined to trip her up, the D.A. is in the middle of a hot battle with the trial schedule. And orange coloured corpses keep turning up on her patch.

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