Flesh And Blood by Patricia Cornwell

It's Doctor Kay Scarpetta's birthday and her new husband, FBI Agent Benton Wesley, has rented a place in Florida for them to have a much-needed vacation.  As Kay drinks her coffee outside, she finds something strange on the wall.  Seven copper pennies are lined up, polished to be as bright as the day they were minted even though the date on them is 1981.  Within minutes, Kay gets a call that puts her vacation on hold.  Someone has shot a local music teacher in his driveway and he is dead.  As head of the Medical Examiner's office, Scarpetta is in charge of overseeing the autopsy.

Things soon get more complicated.  The music teacher is the third victim of a serial sniper, who has killed two other people in the prior weeks.  Each person is shot with what looks like an impossible shot that causes death instanteously.  Scarpetta has personal problems also.  A thug-like insurance investigator is following her and her family, hoping for dirt that will harm her reputation and allow his company to avoid paying claims.  Her niece, Lucy, is acting strange, and rumors are starting to fly about her.  This could be another attack on Kay as Lucy is like a daughter to her.  A local teenage girl is found dead in the pool of a house belonging to a big-money Senator.  Can Kay get to the bottom of these crimes before something horrific occurs in her personal life?

This is the 22nd Kay Scarpetta mystery.  The doctor has changed over the years.  Her main co-worker, Marino, has left her office and is working with the local police.  She is now married to a man she met on the job.  There are throwbacks to events happening years before, and faithful readers will pick up on the clues scattered about.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.