By Pam Walatka

A cozy Cornwell? Sounds like an oxymoron. Patricia Cornwell, arguably the top mystery writer of our time, started the CSI phenomenon with her series of books about chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell usually shows us the goriest details of dead bodies, and she reaches new depths in detailing the agony of dying. Cozy she is not.

Until now. Perhaps just to show her virtuosity, Cornwell has written “At Risk” (Putnam, 2006), an almost-cozy mystery. Originally a series for the New Yorker, “At Risk” follows likable detective Winston Garano through an ordinary procedural mystery.

If you love Cornwell’s other books, this one may be too bland for you. The grizzly-gory scientific details are absent. “At Risk” may seem too light or superficial. On the other hand, if you love Cornwell’s ability to tell a story, and loved her early best-sellers but would just as soon not read about the agony of death or take seriously a fantastical villain, “At Risk” was written for you.

The publicity claims the book is filled with chilling suspense, but it isn’t. It’s just a good yarn. The book is light not just in tone - it is only 212 pages. There are some noncozy elements, including a rape, but this time the gruesome details are missing.

Win Garano is assigned to use new DNA technology to solve a decades-old murder in Tennessee, as part of the political agenda of his boss, Massachusetts District Attorney Monique Lamont. Why the out-of-state investigation? There is no satisfactory explanation.

Garano, on leave from his Massachusetts job to attend the National Forensic Academy in Tennessee, has returned home to discuss the case with his beautiful boss. His friend and fellow student, an older woman named Sykes, does most of the fact-finding for him.

“At Risk” is available at the Los Altos Library.