Unnatural Exposure, the eighth in Patricia Cornwell's highly successful series about the brilliant, temperamental Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, finds our heroine once again being stalked and mocked by a killer. This maniac thinks big: He's threatening to start a deadly smallpox epidemic by way of a genetically engineered virus immune to vaccines. As usual, Scarpetta's assisted by her niece Lucy, the gorgeous, gay FBI computer wiz; Pete Marino, the crusty but lovable homicide detective; and FBI ''profiler'' Benton Wesley. Cornwell has clearly done plenty of research into epidemiology, electron microscopes, and the like. A bit more attention to the novel's slapdash plot and tacked-on ending might have elevated it above the humdrum. C+
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