The twenty-first book in the Kay Scarpetta series, from No. 1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.

'America's most chilling writer of crime fiction' The Times

After working on one of the worst mass killings in US history, Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta returns home to recover, but an unsettling call drives her straight back to work.

The body of a young woman has been discovered inside the sheltered gates of MIT, draped in an unusual cloth and posed in a way that is too deliberate to be the killer's first strike. A preliminary examination reveals that the body is covered in a fine dust that under ultra-violet light fluoresces blood-red, emerald-green and sapphire-blue, and physical evidence links this to another series of disturbing homicides in Washington, DC.

As she pieces together the fragments of evidence, Scarpetta discovers that the cases connect, yet also seem to conflict, drawing herself and her team deeper into the dark world of designer drugs, drone technology, organised crime, and shocking corruption at the highest level.

The next book in the Scarpetta series is Flesh and Blood. And the brand-new instalment, Identity Unknown, is available now!

DISCOVER THE SERIES THAT SHAPED THE WORLD OF CRIME FICTION

'One of the best crime writers writing today' Guardian

'Devilishly clever' Sunday Times

'The top gun in this field' Daily Telegraph

'Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns' Mirror

'The Agatha Christie of the DNA age' Express

TRACE was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller in paperback in April 2005