Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief medical examiner and consulting pathologist for the federal law enforcement agency atf, is called out to a farmhouse in virginia which has been destroyed by fire. In the ruins of the house she fin...Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief medical examiner and consulting pathologist for the federal law enforcement agency atf, is called out to a farmhouse in virginia which has been destroyed by fire. In the ruins of the house she finds a body which tells a story of a violent and grisly murder.