Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Cornwell, Patricia - Maureen Corrigan (review date 20 August 1995)

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Maureen Corrigan (review date 20 August 1995)

SOURCE: Corrigan, Maureen. “Mysteries.” Washington Post Book World 25 (20 August 1995): 11.

[In the following mixed review, Corrigan discusses From Potter's Field and the weariness Cornwell's characters seem to be developing as the Scarpetta series progresses.]

The trouble with fictional serial killers is that, after a few appearances, they start to become known quantities, sort of like noxious relatives threatening another visit rather than the inscrutable, and therefore terrifying, phantasms of evil they should be. Even Hannibal Lecter, surely one of the most insidious embodiments of evil ever to appear in fiction or film, gets a laugh from his audience when, at the end of Silence of the Lambs, he announces: “I'm having a friend for dinner.” We've been with him for so long that even though he appalls us by his grazing habits, he's also begun to beguile us with his wit...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Charles Champlin (review date 11 February 1990)
   2. Joan Hamerman Robbins (review date 7 July 1991)
   3. Charles Champlin (review date 20 September 1992)
   4. Eva Schegulla (review date summer 1993)
   5. Bettina Berch (review date fall 1993)
   6. Charles Champlin (review date 4 September 1994)
   7. Dinitia Smith (review date 11 September 1994)
   8. Maureen Corrigan (review date 20 August 1995)
   9. Jonathan Coe (review date 1 October 1995)
   10. Mary Scott (review date 13 October 1995)
   11. Mary Cantwell (essay date 14 July 1996)
   12. David Sexton (review date 1 March 1997)
   13. Kirkus Reviews (review date 1 July 1997)
   14. Paul Skenazy (review date 20 July 1997)
   15. Peter Messent (essay date fall–winter 2000)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright