Kay Scarpetta mysteries

Body of evidence: After months of menacing phone calls and feeling that her every move is being watched, successful writer Beryl Madison flees Key West when a terrifying message is scratched on her car. But the very night she returns to Richmond, she deactivates her burglar alarm and opens her door to someone who nearly decapitates her. Why did she let him in, wonders Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta? And why is Beryl's latest manuscript missing?...

The inspiration for the Prime Video series Scarpetta—starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis!

#1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in the third suspenseful novel in the forensic thriller series that begins with Postmortem.
In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found...

The inspiration for the Prime Video series Scarpetta—starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis!

#1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the chilling world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in this classic forensic thriller.
Little Emily Steiner left a church meeting late one afternoon and strolled toward home along a lakeside path; a week later, her nude body was discovered, bound in blaze-orange...

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is faced with a labyrinthine case that wraps a web of danger around her and those closest to her—and threatens to wreak fear and death far beyond Virginia—in this “standout” (New York Newsday) thriller from #1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.

“Fascinating, frightening . . . Reaffirms that Cornwell is one of the best crime fiction authors working today.”—The...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “gripping” (People) thriller, the clues to a series of remorseless killings go up in smoke—and only Kay Scarpetta can find them.
 
“[Point of Origin] sears its way into the psyche . . . ablaze with Cornwell’s finest, scariest writing.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 
IN DEVELOPMENT AS THE ORIGINAL...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Dr. Kay Scarpetta must prove her innocence and clear her name in this “cunningly designed [and] ingeniously laid out” (Los Angeles Times) thriller.
 
“Ignites on the first page . . . Cornwell twists escalating violence, unrelenting tension, and growing paranoia into a thick rope of horror and unfolding conspiracy.”—USA Today
 
IN...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Going home is never easy, especially for Dr. Kay Scarpetta, whose chance at redemption in comes at a cost to her soul in this “rich and satisfying” (Associated Press) thriller.

“Cornwell gets her Hitchcock on. . . . [She] can generate willies with subtle poetic turns.”—People
 
IN DEVELOPMENT AS THE ORIGINAL SERIES SCARPETTA...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Dr. Kay Scarpetta must solve a string of murders more baffling—and terrifying—than any that have come before.
 
IN DEVELOPMENT AS THE ORIGINAL SERIES SCARPETTA STARRING NICOLE KIDMAN AND JAMIE LEE CURTIS
 
The Book of the Dead is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to acquire...

It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta - despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN - to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who...

Determined to find out what happened to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, murdered six months earlier, Kay Scarpetta travels to the Georgia Prison for Women, where an inmate has information not only on Fielding, but also on a string of grisly killings. The murder of an Atlanta family years ago, a young woman on death row, and the inexplicable deaths of homeless people as far away as California seem unrelated. But Scarpetta discovers connections...

Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has just returned from working one of the worst mass murders in U.S. history when she's awakened at an early hour by Detective Pete Marino. A body, oddly draped in an unusual cloth, has just been discovered inside the sheltered gates of MIT and it's suspected the identity is that of missing computer engineer Gail Shipton, last seen the night before at a trendy Cambridge bar. It appears she's been...

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago. As Scarpetta watches, she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip...

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia as the chief medical examiner, the state where she launched her storied career. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she's inherited not only an overbearing secretary, but also a legacy of neglect and potential corruption. She and her husband Benton Wesley, now a forensic psychologist with the U.S. Secret Service, have...

Two mauled bodies in the woods. Top secret autopsies. The most chilling cases of Scarpetta's career. In this thrilling new installment of Patricia Cornwell's #1 bestselling Scarpetta series, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds herself in a Northern Virginia wilderness examining the remains of two campers wanted by federal law enforcement. The victims have been savaged beyond recognition, and other evidence is terrifying and baffling, including...

Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta invites her friends over to celebrate the day after Christmas, and each one brings their own favorite dish, including eggnog, cookies, and pizza stew.