Blow Fly (novel)
Encyclopedia
Plot introduction
Blow Fly is the twelfth book of the Dr. Kay ScarpettaKay Scarpetta
Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The character is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.-...
series by author Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.-Early life:...
.
Plot summary
After her resignation as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and the horrifying events which threatened her life in The Last PrecinctThe Last Precinct (novel)
The Last Precinct is a crime novel by American author Patricia Cornwell, the eleventh in her Dr. Kay Scarpetta series.-Plot summary:Following the death of Diane Bray and an apparent attack on Kay Scarpetta by Jean-Baptiste Chandonne in her own house at the end of Black Notice, The Last Precinct...
, Kay Scarpetta
Kay Scarpetta
Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The character is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.-...
has abandoned her elegant home in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and is quietly living in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, beginning to get some balance back in her life and slowly establishing herself as a private forensic consultant. (Her first class involves the blow fly, which sometimes lays eggs on corpses.) But her past will not let her rest, and her grief for Benton Wesley continues to grow, not diminish, as does the rage within Lucy, her niece. Then the architect of her changed fortunes contacts her from his cell on death row: deformed, blinded by Scarpetta's own actions, incarcerated in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
' strongest prison, Jean-Baptiste Chardonne still has the ability to terrify. But, unknown to Scarpetta, there are other forces behind the wolfman's apparent actions, invisibly shepherding her and those closest to her towards eliminating those who threaten them all. And it is all orchestrated by the one man in her life who knows every nuance of her soul. Bizarre incidents: in Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, Poland, Lucy and a colleague apparently commit a premeditated murder, using blow-fly larvae to dispose of the evidence. The novel then ends with the killing of four further people by Scarpetta's associates.
Characters in "Blow Fly"
- Kay ScarpettaKay ScarpettaKay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The character is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.-...
—Former Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia - Jaime Berger—New York Assistant District Attorney
- Lucy Farinelli—Kay's niece, a software wizard/entrepreneur and criminal investigator
- Pete Marino—Detective
- Rocco Caggiano—Marino's estranged son and Chandonne's lawyer
- Jean-Baptiste Chandonne—Killer imprisoned in the Polunsky UnitPolunsky UnitAllan B. Polunsky Unit is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row, and it has a maximum...
in West Livingston, TexasWest Livingston, TexasWest Livingston is a census-designated place in western Polk County, Texas, United States, located along the eastern shore of Lake Livingston west of central Livingston. The population was 6,612 at the 2000 census. West Livingston has the Livingston Municipal Airport and the Texas Department of... - Jay Talley—Killer and Chandonne's twin brother, 1st on Most Wanted list
- Bev Kiffin—Talley's accomplice, 2nd on Most Wanted list
- Nic Robillard—Zachary, LA, police detective, NFA trainee
Literary significance & criticism
Some reviewers considered this to be a "highly suspenseful read in which surprises explode and the characters move to another level of believability." One finds that the book,"while not for the squeamish... is a tremendous read." Others, however, as also noted in reviews for later books in the series, such as TraceTrace (novel)
Trace is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell.-Plot introduction:Trace is the thirteenth book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author Patricia Cornwell.-Plot summary:...
, considered it to be disappointing. Gail Pennington of the St Louis Post Dispatch states that "even the most ardent Cornwell fans may reluctantly realize that enthusiasm for the Scarpetta series is mainly a relic of books past."
In Blow Fly, we see a change in narrative style from the first-person narration of Kay herself to a third-person, omniscient, narrator. This device not only allows for more characters and their perspectives to come to the fore, but also marks a significant transformation in the way that the novels represent the criminal. Where previously the criminal’s mind was never made available to the reader—thus intensifying their “otherness”—the later novels allow space to explore their point of view and uncover their motivations.
This approach does, however, come in for criticism. One reviewer notes that "Blow Fly is written in 124 chapters, some as short as a few paragraphs, with close to a dozen shifting points of view. Everyone, it seems, has something to describe, and every bit of description gets equal weight, from a new outfit bought at Saks to a highly technical selection of handguns to the leisurely, sexually charged torture of a young woman. ("Every female character in "Blow Fly" is either miserable or doomed, adding weight to the frequent argument that Cornwell is not just anti-feminist, but anti-woman altogether.")
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
- Mostly set in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. Short scenes set in Knoxville, TennesseeKnoxville, TennesseeFounded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, a bayouBayouA bayou is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks that see level changes due to tides and hold brackish water which...
near Baton Rouge, LouisianaBaton Rouge, LouisianaBaton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, a Texas prison, and Szczecin, Poland.