THE ILLUSTRATIVE BEADER:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
#3.
DOT LEWALLEN
Westerville, Ohio
"Black Notice"
by Patricia Cornwell
Berkley Publishing Group
1999
International,
2011
The Illustrative Beader:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
MYSTERY
GENRE BOOKCOVERS
DOT
LEWALLEN
"Black Notice"
by Patricia Cornwell
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Book Cover
Dimensions: 10.75" W x 16.75" H
"BLACK NOTICE" by Patricia Cornwell
BOOK SYNOPSIS
The setting for this story is in Richmond, Virginia.
Instantly, I found myself trapped in this well laid out novel about
a Medical Examiner who has gained notoriety as a top-notch investigator
and Forensic Pathologist. As the story opens, Kay has drowned herself
in work after the murder of her lover. She receives a letter from
Benton dated before his death. She has been in a trance like state,
not noticing things happening that are threatening to tarnish her
career and her relationship with her friends and family. Benton writes
to her to reconnect with Lucy, her niece, and Pete, her long time
colleague and investigator. Before she can pull herself out of the
fog of withdrawal, she receives a call of a strange death scene.
The victim is a badly decomposed male body dressed in designer clothes,
inside a closed cargo container. Only two clues are visible at the
time of discovery: long fine yellow hairs and the name "Le Loup
Garou" (Werewolf) written on the inside container wall. The autopsy
shows no cause of death or identification of the victim so therefore
he is designated as a "black notice". Upon further investigation
the victim is found to have been drown, has an unusual tattoo that
has been partial defaced and the fine yellow hairs inside his clothing.
Meanwhile Loup Garou begins a spree of monstrous attacks on the citizens
of Richmond. The new police chief, who seems committed in destroying
Captain Pete Marino's career and tarnishing Kay's reputation, is using
Kay's lab assistant in unsavory sabotage. Lucy returns from Miami
where she works as an undercover agent for the ATF on a case of drug
smuggling of the infamous Chandonne family after accidentally shooting
her partner. Then Kay and Pete are contacted by an agent of Interpol
about their case and are whisked to Paris where they find out that
this "Le Loup Garou" is a serial murderer and possible a
grossly deformed member of the same wealthy Chandonne family crime
cartel.
The story in BLACK NOTICE has many story lines about different characters
associated with Kay. This book starts out assuming that the reader
has read the numerous other novels where Dr. Scarpetta has been the
heroine. So, at first it was a little overwhelming to keep track of
the characters since this is about the ninth book of the series. But
like all well written books, it did not take long to dive into the
meat of the story.
WHY THIS BOOK?
Nothing sends the brain into a roller coaster ride
of intrigue and puzzle solving than a good myster story filled with
full bodied characters, well placed clues, and of course, a murder
or two. Patricia Cornwell's BLACK NOTICE, published by Berkley Publishing
Gorup in 1999, outshines these three prerequisites for a spine-chilling
ride from page to page.
Using Medical Science as the bases for investigation intrigued me.
I am not a fan of forensic investigation television shows as I actually
do work in a hsopital lab and know that most of what is portrayed
on television is taken out of context and romanticized for viewers.
Yet, I found myself intrigued with the forensic work in this story
where the examiner was trying to ascertain the identiy of this corpse
and cause of death.
I sat in the break room at work looking at the staff lending library
when I noticed someone had brought in a set of Patricia Cornwell's
books. I picked up BLACK NOTICE and was transported into the world
of Dr. Kay Scrpetta.
All in all, I was very pleased with the finished tapestry and with
the mystery story that I had chosen at random. I have found myself
enthralled with the adventures of Dr. Kay Scarpetta and bought almost
all of the series and read each of them with as much joy and anticipation
as the first novel. Each book of the Scarpetta series further fleshes
out each of the characters I discovered in the first book making them
almost as real as the people I see every day on the streets.
HOW WAS THE TITLE CREATED?
The book title was done by cutting out the individual letters as templates and sewing them down onto the tapestry using bead embroidery. The author's name was smaller so I was unable to use the same technique successfully. Instead, I charted out the name and made a band of square stitch that was then sewn down and embellished along the edges.
WHAT STRATEGIES DID THE ARTIST USE TO ADD SENSE OF DIMENSIONALITY?
Clear background, middle ground and foreground.
Foreground: swimmer, diatoms
Middle Ground: bezeled rivolis
Background: waves and sky patterns
