Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (mystery)

This is book 15 of the Kay Scarpetta series.

Dr. Scarpetta has established a commercial forensics office with the help of her niece Lucy! for the technical aspects.  Rose is still with her as secretary and Morino is there as her death investigator.  They are located in a Charleston, South Carolina.

A sixteen year old tennis player is murdered in Italy and Kay is called to investigate! along with Benson, her fiancé.  The killing and display of the body is horrible and the investigation will be a challenge.

I loved this series when it began.  Sadly, as is too typical with many extended series, the quality of the stories decline.  Just about every character was bent or tortured in some way and none of the relationships seemed healthy.  Though I kind of liked the new character, Bull, most of the rest of the story dragged or wasted time on irrelevancies and unneeded pain.

I wish I had liked this better.