Patricia Cornwell: Isle of Dogs

By MICHELE HEWITSON

It must be a tough life for the phenomenally successful Patricia Cornwell. So when getting inside the head of the hard-nosed Dr Kay Scarpetta who cuts up bodies and dodges serial killers for a living gets a tad tedious, Cornwell likes to dabble in a little satire. Isle of Dogs is her third take on the politics of law enforcement (Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross preceded it.) The twist is not so much who-dunnit as who's the most corrupt character in a cast of likely candidates.

The strangest character in Isle of Dogs is the entire population of Tangier, an isolated island community off the coast of Virginia. When the Governor of Virginia begins a campaign of speed traps which involves monitoring drivers from helicopters, the Tangierans rebel. They threaten to set up a separate island state and design their own flag featuring one of the crabs the Governor has his servants pick up by state helicopter for his dinner table.

The Governor's family are the Crimms, and they are. But so is almost everyone else in this jolly, silly romp. It almost comes off but is defeated in the end by its sprawling scope and padding in the form of net-posted lessons from the not-so-anonymous Trooper Truth.

And just in case Scarpetta fans were wondering, she makes a guest appearance in which she doesn't appear at all. "Why isn't Dr Scarpetta here?" worries a detective. "She almost always responds personally to complicated, sensational crime scenes."

"She went to Halifax and will not be back until very late." Which is Cornwell-speak for: she will not be back until the next book.

Penguin

$34.95