Scarpetta series Books 5-8 by Patricia Cornwell

I've managed to read four books since I last reviewed this series. I've read: The Body Farm, From Potter's Field, Cause of Death, and Unnatural Exposure.

I continue to be annoyed by the things that happen in between books. But other than that, I'm mostly enjoying the series: The writing is good, the prose is good, the plots are good. There are some things that happen that I don't believe would happen in real life though, and that tends to bug me. The pacing is also off in a few places.

I like the procedural stuff, and I like the action that happens. The personal stuff gets skimped on quite a bit, but I guess that's because Dr. Scarpetta doesn't really have that much of a personal life. We know she's got a therapist she can see, but we don't really know that much about what is said. We are told she's spent time with someone between books, and given a one paragraph summary of what happened during that time (could be months or more than a year), but it just doesn't feel the same as seeing it happen. What is the writers axiom about "show, don't tell"? We're told too much and not shown enough, I guess.

I'm almost halfway through the series at this point and for now I'll keep reading, but I'm still not sure this series is going to keep me interested enough to keep reading all the way through.

In the past the series has been a 9 of 10 for me, but I think I'm going to lower it to an 8.

Book Rating: The Body Farm: 8 of 10
Book Rating: From Potter's Field: 8 of 10
Book Rating: Cause of Death: 7 of 10
Book Rating: Unnatural Exposure: 8 of 10

Series Rating: Kay Scarpetta Series: 8 of 10

1 and 2. The Scarpetta Collection Volume I: Postmortem and Body of Evidence
3 and 4. Scarpetta Collection Volume II: All That Remains and Cruel & Unusual
5. The Body Farm
6. From Potter's Field
7. Cause of Death
8. Unnatural Exposure
9. Point of Origin
10.Black Notice
11.The Last Precinct
12.Blow Fly
13.Trace
14.Predator
15.Book of the Dead
16.Scarpetta
17.The Scarpetta Factor