title: Cruel & Unusual (Kay Scarpetta Mysteries)
author: Patricia D. Cornwell
description: This fourth mystery to feature Virginia Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kay Scarpetta was a 12-week PW bestseller. <br />Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  **Praise for Patricia Cornwell and  
  her bestselling Kay Scarpetta novels**
  
  
  **CRUEL & UNUSUAL**
  
  
  “Taut, high tech, and eerily credible.”
  
  
  — Newsweek
  
  
  “A first-rate thriller … as taut and terrifying as The Silence of the Lambs …
  Cornwell’s boldest, darkest work to date.”
  
  
  —Baltimore Sun
  
  
  “Fresh … triumphant.“
  
  
  — The Washington Post Book World
  
  
  “A knockout … disturbing … compelling.”
  
  
  — People
  
  
  “Morbidly entertaining … The elaborate plot shows expert engineering, and the
  lucid descriptions of forensic procedures that make her story so grimly
  fascinating are delivered in an authoritative voice.”
  
  
  — The New York Times Book Review
  
  
  “The plot is riveting…. The pace is unrelenting, the suspense nerve-jangling,
  the dialogue scalpel sharp…. Kay Scarpetta is truly a heroine for our times.”
  
  
  —New Woman
  
  
  “Chilling … a fine example of crime fiction, one that sets out to claim a
  little more territory for itself than merely finding