Generally, for me reading the latest Patricia Cornwell novel is like slipping on an old pair of leggings and an oversize tee-shirt. It might not be the best thing I own, but it sure is comfortable.

Patricia Cornwell's latest is usually comfortable in its familiarity. These are characters we know and have grown to love -- or hate. We know Kay Scarpetta -- her job, her tragedies, her family. We know Pete Marino in all his chauvenistic glory. We know Lucy, Scarpetta's renegade neice. We even know just how she likes to cook, and what her favorite drinks are.

Unfortunately, after my struggle to even finish "Black Notice," Cornwell's last effort, I couldn't even look at "The Last Precinct". It sat on my shelf, unread, for weeks. I'd pick it up, put it down, stare at it, move it from one place to another, but I just couldn't bring myself to open the cover and actually read it.

Eventually, of course, I did read it, and I can honestly say that I'm very, very pleased that I did.

If "Misery" was Stephen King's love letter to his fans, then "The Last Precinct" is Patricia Cornwell's love letter to both her fans and to Kay Scarpetta.

For those of you unfamiliar to the world of Kay Scarpetta, she is Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner. Having lived a life of both great tragedy and moderate fame, Kay Scarpetta is a character that is somewhat larger than life. As written by Cornwell, she is also a character that is rich in detail and in nuance. This is a character that lives and breathes and begs to step right off the printed page.

"The Last Precinct" actually picks up right where "Black Notice" left off, which is probably why I was so surprised to actually enjoy this novel. Kay Scarpetta, her home off limits to her after being attacked by the perpetrator of the "Werewolf murders", flees to the solitude of the home of her friend, Anna. There, she reexamines her life, opening old wounds and learning new things about those around her. Of all the Kay Scarpetta novels, this is easily the most reflective

Of course, it wouldn't be a true Patricia Cornwell novel without tons of action, some serious plot twists, and prose that is compelling and immediate.

Although it deals with many of the same characters as "Black Notice," "The Last Precinct" is by far more plausible than its prequel. In "Black Notice," I stumbled time and time again over the impossibility of events in the book. Though "The Last Precinct" does, inevitably, push at the limits, I was able to suspend disbelief for the bulk of it.

The characters are truer to themselves, as well in The Last Precinct. Black Notice left me questioning again and again, whether or not these were the characters I'd grown to know so well.

My one complaint with "The Last Precinct" is its ending, and since I started with a comparison to Stephen King, perhaps now is the time for another one...

One thing I admire about Stephen King's writing is that he never seems to shy away, no matter how dark or disturbing the sequence of events. Patricia Cornwell's one major failing in "The Last Precinct"

is that, at the novel's climax, she shies away at the last moment, and it leaves us with a wholly unsatisfying ending.

Whatever happened to: show, don't tell?

Otherwise, "The Last Precinct" is a solid entry into a long line of successful Kay Scarpetta novels. In fact, perhaps, it is no coincidence that Cornwell's latest is entitled "The Last Precinct". Perhaps with "The Last Precinct" it is finally time for Cornwell to move on to fresher ground.

I'd certainly miss Kay, the way I'll miss my old worn-out leggings and oversize tee-shirt when their time has come to pass. But then again, isn't it always pretty wonderful to have a brand new outfit to wear?