Deputy Chief Virginia West likes and respects her boss, Hammer, but with an increasing number of visiting businessmen being murdered in her city by a maniac with a penchant for painting his victims bright orange, she finds it hard to accept Hammer's edict that a rookie reporter should ride on patrol with her to better relations with their citizens. Her worst fears are confirmed when the reporter, Brazil, presses the button to activate the boot-release rather than the siren on their first outing. He's not the only blight on her life right now: her cat's angsty, her hormones are misbehaving. her opposite member in the uniformed division is behaving like a jackass, the radio despatched is determined to trip her up, the D.A. is in the middle of a hot battle with Hammer and the visiting judge's bladder problems are causing havoc with the trial schedule. And orange coloured corpses keep turning up on her patch.

Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels June 9, 1956) 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.