"Patricia Cornwell lights a fire under familiar characters- -and sparks her hottest adventure in years," wrote People magazine about Point of Origin, the instant #1 bestseller by America's premier crime writer. "Evil always smolders when it seems to be doused," said The Atlanta Constitution. "Scarpettans know to keep their security systems armed until the next installment."

Now Cornwell delivers a high-stakes Kay Scarpetta novel with an intrigue that will take Kay an ocean's length away from home. The nightmare begins when a cargo ship arriving at Richmond's Deep Water Terminal from Belgium is discovered to be transporting a locked, sealed container holding the decomposed remains of a stowaway.

The autopsy performed by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta initially reveals neither a cause of death nor an identification. But the victim's personal effects and an odd tattoo take Scarpetta on a hunt for information that leads to INTERPOL's headquarters in Lyon, France, where she receives critical instructions: go to the Paris morgue to receive forbidden, secret evidence and then return to Virginia to carry out a mission. It is a mission that could ruin her career.

In a story that careens across international borders, Black Notice puts Dr. Kay Scarpetta directly in harm's way and places her and those she holds dear at mortal risk.

"No one holds her head higher than Kay Scarpetta. She is for many readers the capable female writ large--a lightning rod for those who would destroy change at any price, yet a formidable champion because of it." -- Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle