Dust

Scarpetta, Book 21

By: Patricia Cornwell

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

After working one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history, Scarpetta returns home to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Exhausted and ill, she's recovering at home when she receives an unsettling call. The body of a young woman has been discovered on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's rugby field. The victim, a graduate student named Gail Shipman, is oddly draped in ivory linen and posed in a way that is too deliberate to be the killer's first strike. A preliminary examination in the sea of red mud where the body has been left also reveals a bizarre residue that fluoresces blood red, emerald green, and sapphire blue.

Physical evidence links the case to a series of uniquely weird homicides in Washington, D.C., where Scarpetta's FBI husband has been deployed to help capture a serial killer dubbed the Capital Murderer. The cases all connect and yet seem to conflict. Gail Shipman was murdered for financial gain - or was she? It will require the usual ensemble of characters to find out the truth, including Scarpetta's sidekick Pete Marino, who has undergone a drastic change in his life that places him center stage in a Cambridge investigation that puts everyone at risk.

©2013 Patricia Cornwell (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Please stop the bad accents!

Any additional comments?

I listen to audiobooks for the entertainment factor. Why is it that Everyone is from Brooklyn? If you live in MA, you sound like NY. Marino should sound like NY, but like a magoo like that? I start to lose track when everyone has the same accent. Kay, on the other hand, sounds like she knows all and is just barely willing to share with us. In other words, perfect.

Greatt

As usual I loved it and I thought that it was very suspenseful. I believe Granby was a coward.

I used to love Kay Scarpetta books

I don't know what has happened, but I just don't care for the characters any more. Kay is whiney and self-obsessed. Benton is dull. Lucy is not very likable. Marino is one-dimensional. The plot was weak and I only made it half way through before I gave up. Perhaps it improved in the 2nd half (?) but I couldn't bear it.

Ashes to Ashes

Another good read from Cornwell. Multiple storylines, going in different directions. Great character development and interactions. Another fun who done it.

We always enjoy Kay Scarpetta; story is typical.

Would you consider the audio edition of Dust to be better than the print version?

Prefer Kay's adventures on audio. Narration is always excellent and riveting.

Would you be willing to try another book from Patricia Cornwell? Why or why not?

Always buy her new titles.

Have you listened to any of Kate Reading’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent like the others.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. There was a long pause between some of the chapters, but we picked up right where we left off.

awesome murder mystery. love scarpetta murders

This makes my work out fly by.
great way to treat and get healthy.
can't wait to start another mystery

Stopped listening

The narrator ruins this book. So annoying, bland. He voice changes for different characters but there is no change. It’s just the same sound through the book enough so I stopped listening. I could not listen.

Narration leaves much to be desired

The narrator ruined this book for me. It was truly difficult to concentrate on the story with a narrator reading like an amateur delivering the evening news. As for the storyline, I have always enjoyed the Scarpetta books, but Cornwell has turned the characters into a bunch of snooty, arrogant whiners. Hidden conspiracies run amuck.

What happened to Scarpetta?

I was terribly disappointed in this book. I've read everything by Ms. Cornwell and I love this series. This took several chapters of "the poor little me's" to get to the story line. After the story started to unfold, it was good. But really I almost stopped listening before the story was to the point it was like it should be. I hope the next book will be better.

Very twisty story

I had criticized one of PC's story's before because it ended so quickly and in a shoot out. After all the build up it just ended in about 1 min. This one was not like that. I enjoyed it beginning to end.