Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell
I love the Kay Scarpetta novels, and this one was better than some of the earlier ones. I didn't feel quite so locked out of Kay's personal life or quite as wound up in the relationship between she and her niece Lucy. This episode focused on a bizarre death in the Elizabeth River. Kay switches up jurisdiction a bit due to the absence of one of her medical examiners, which leads to even more trouble.
The characters feel a bit more real and a little less contrived this time out than in the last couple of stories. During her college years, Lucy, a young computer genius, really rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't care for the arrogance she exhibited, but she has settled down well into her adult role in the FBI and her near-aggressiveness has smoothed out considerably. She still feels she has something to prove, but isn't quite so militant about it anymore.
I really liked the mystery in this one which focused on a domestic neo-Nazi terrorist group. Kay's personal life still came into play a lot, but I felt like the mystery received a bit more attention this time and I like that.