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This is an intriguing and well-crafted Kay Scarpetta mystery, which begins promisingly enough with the discovery of an overly ripe, dead body. Found stashed in a locked and sealed freight container aboard a cargo ship from Belgium that has landed in Dr. Kay Scarpetta's jurisdiction of Richmond, Virginia, the male, mystery corpse is covered with loose hairs. This intriguing beginning sends Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Richmond, Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner, on a hunt for information that turns international in scope. She discovers that this is just one of a number of murders to contain those tell tale hairs.The murders, themselves, are graphic and the forensic details, as always, are fascinating, and Dr. Scarpetta's critical analysis of the pathology issues are well thought out and highly informative, as she sifts through the forensic evidence in order to profile the killer. Her assessment of the peculiar affliction of this serial killer is intriguing, providing scientific insight into creatures who were called werewolves, but who may have only been persons with a rare and unusual genetic condition, causing them to be especially hirsute, among other anomalies. Moreover, there are a number of subplots afoot. Dr. Scarpetta, who is recovering from the death of her lover, Wesley Benton, faces a number of problems closer to home. It seems that she has been the victim of identity theft, with her Internet screen name being used to set up a phony chat room, and personally destructive emails being sent falsely under her screen name. To add fuel to the fire, a new Deputy Chief in the Richmond police Department, Diane Bray, and has managed to demote Dr. Scarpetta's long time friend, Homicide Detective Pete Marino. Having her own secret agenda, Bray has turned her sights onto Dr. Scarpetta, desiring to get jurisdiction over the Medical Examiner's Office. Perfidy also exist among Dr. Scarpetta's trusted staff, and her niece Lucy, who is still not operating with a full deck, is on a dangerous, undercover police mission with her lover in Miami, adding yet another worry to Dr. Scarpetta's already full plate.It is the camaraderie between Pete Marino and Dr. Kay Scarpetta, however, that holds this particular book together. Their repartee and dialogue is wonderful, giving evidence of their comfortable and close relationship, without saying so in so many words. They carp as if they were an old married couple. Lucy, Dr. Scarpetta's niece, however, is still a loose cannon, and it is unbelievable that any police agency would allow her to run around with a gun in her hand, given her record for shooting it off. Mercifully, this annoying character has a smaller role than usual in this novel, and the reader may only hope that she will either be written out altogether or get an attitude adjustment. The ending of the book, however, is a little too pat. Dr. Scarpetta's actions in the book's grand finale are not really believable for such an astute and normally cautious woman. Given what she already knows about the killer, her actions in the end bespeak more of the actions of an unknowing civilian. Still, this book does not fail to entertain and is sure to provide reading pleasure for many Kay Scarpetta devotees.

das schoene an ihren buechern ist, dass die charaktere sich weiterentwickeln. schade ist allerdings bei black notice, dass es leider zu ihren schwaecheren buechern gehoert. als scarpetta-fan bleibt man an der handlung dran, aber das interesse an der fortentwicklung sinkt. schade eigentlich.

The Scarpetta novels started with a driven career woman who would not let anything stand in her way, she got on with her life and got the baddies with the help of Police officer Marino, in this installment, Scarpetta is a weak-willed woman, who stalls and strays on her quest for the right answers. Not one of Cornwell's best.

Patrica Cornwell has created such a wonderful character in Kay Scarpetta, but she seems to be running out of ideas. Kay's life is getting so depressing, it's getting progressively harder to read this series. They've now killed off two of her love interests in a row [both in law enforcement], which ranks her just below Sipowicz on NYPD Blue on the unbelievable string of tragedies scale.I still enjoyed this book, but Black Notice was an appropriate name. Because the character is a coroner, and there is so much death and tragedy, Cornwell needs to add at least some reason for these characters [Kay, and her equally depressed neice, Lucy] to want to go on living.The book was good enough to recommend to Cornwell fans, but I won't read her next book unless I am in a really upbeat, resilient mood, so I won't feel like jumping off a bridge when I'm done!

I thought the writing in the first 3/4 of Black Notice was some of the best Cornwell has delivered. The plot was interesting, multi-faceted and believable; and Kay was definitely, to me, a more three-dimensional, realistic and sympathetic character than in the previous Scarpetta novels. But I did find the romance with Talley, which apparently is "still on" at the (non)end of the book highly implausible. Not because Kay couldn't or shouldn't be able to fall in love with another man after having lost Benton, but simply because he seemed too shallow and immature...mainly a pretty face.... to attract someone like her. But the reeeeally big complaint I have about this book is its incredibly abrupt, rushed-up, totally frustrating ending. Honestly, I kept looking to see if some pages were missing from my copy! An author shouldn't treat her readers in such a cavalier fashion. After having developed the story, with lots of fascinating sub-plots, to that point and then to have Dr. Scarpetta (duh!) open the door to someone who *says* he's a policeman (when we all know who's on the other side of the door and anyone with Kay's brains would be more wary), *then* to rush things from that point to an unrealistic, frustrating non-conclusion (obviously meant to whet our appetites for the next book)...these shortcuts on the author's part combined to ruin the book for me and leave me feeling really cheated when I finished it! I think I've decided to wait and look at other readers' comments on the next Cornwell book, rather than pre-ordering a copy of my own.