The best books by Patricia Cornwell
The best books by Patricia Cornwell
Crime fiction is one of the most popular genres among avid readers. Many authors, especially Patricia Cornwell, stand out in the genre with crime novels that have topped the bestselling charts worldwide.
We’ll look into the best books by Patricia Cornwell and her most significant achievements throughout her career.
Who is Patricia Cornwell?
Patricia Cornwell is an American author best known for the main character of her bestselling novels, the medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.
During her childhood, she had to face many challenges, including abandonment by her father and her mother’s nervous breakdown, after which Cornwell was sent to live with friends during her mother’s recovery.
After college, Cornwell started working as a police reporter for the Charlotte Observer. To better understand her job, she volunteered as a police officer and took forensic science classes.
Cornwell was working as a systems operator at the chief medical examiner’s office when she published her first crime novel, Postmortem, in 1990.
Postmortem is one of her most awarded novels, being the first to receive the Anthony, Creasey, Edgar, and Macavity awards and the French du Prix Roman d’Adventure prize in the same year.
The character featured in her novels, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, received the Sherlock award for best detective created by an American author.
Throughout her career, Cornwell also received multiple awards, including the Gold Dagger in 1993 for Cruel and Unusual. In 2011, she was awarded the RBA Thriller Award for Red Mist. The same year, she received the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters as an honorary distinction for her literary contributions.
In 2020, she released the first thriller novel of the Captain Chase series, featuring Calli, a NASA investigator and scientist turned Space Force pilot. However, she has also written multiple non-fiction works too over the years.
Patricia Cornwell’s best books
Crime genre fans have many Patricia Cornwell books to add to their must-read lists. Here is a selection of her best novels.
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All That Remains
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 12 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 04, 2011
- Language: English
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4.07(58935 ratings)
4.07(58935 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDA serial killer is stalking Virginia’s young lovers, taking their lives and taunting police with a single clue: a jack of hearts. For two years, the meaning of this card has eluded FBI investigators. But as Scarpetta begins searching theA serial killer is stalking Virginia’s young lovers, taking their lives and taunting police with a single clue: a jack of hearts. For two years, the meaning of this card has eluded FBI investigators. But as Scarpetta begins searching the victims’ remains for microscopic clues, she begins to suspect that someone in the FBI knows more about the murderer.
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Black Notice
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Kate Reading
- Length: 12 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 17, 2015
- Language: English
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3.9(34217 ratings)
3.9(34217 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDFollowing the post mortem of a stowaway which reveals neither cause of death nor identity, Dr Kay Scarpetta travels to Paris in search of information. In Paris she is given a secret mission, a mission which could ruin her career. -
Blow Fly
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Kate Reading
- Length: 12 hours 44 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 17, 2015
- Language: English
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3.79(35536 ratings)
3.79(35536 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.005.99 USDThe Twelfth Dr Kay Scarpetta Novel. Dr Kay Scarpetta has left Virginia in quest of peace but instead finds herself drawn into baffling, horrific murders in Florida, where she becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that confronts her withThe Twelfth Dr Kay Scarpetta Novel.
Dr Kay Scarpetta has left Virginia in quest of peace but instead finds herself drawn into baffling, horrific murders in Florida, where she becomes entangled in an international conspiracy that confronts her with the shock of her life.
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Point of Origin
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Karen White
- Length: 11 hours 57 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 17, 2015
- Language: English
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4.04(57075 ratings)
4.04(57075 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDThis dazzling thriller pits Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta against greater odds than ever before. Convicted serial killer Carrie Grethen has escaped from psychiatric hospital with plans for revenge. Wary and shaken, Scarpetta also has toThis dazzling thriller pits Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta against greater odds than ever before.
Convicted serial killer Carrie Grethen has escaped from psychiatric hospital with plans for revenge. Wary and shaken, Scarpetta also has to investigate the death by fire of an unknown woman. The post-mortem reveals that the woman was stabbed before the fire was started, and soon Scarpetta and her colleagues are called out to the scene of another fire and another murder.
When her lover Benton Wesley disappears while following up a tip-off, Scarpetta, with sudden appalling clarity, sees that Carrie has set up a scenario in which she has the upper hand and can manipulate them all.
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The Last Precinct
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Kate Reading
- Length: 16 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 17, 2015
- Language: English
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3.88(31780 ratings)
3.88(31780 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0038.99 USDThe eleventh Scarpetta novel, in which the Chief Medical Examiner is under a Grand Jury investigation for murder. She knows she’s being framed and she no longer knows who she can trust… Physically and psychologically bruised by herThe eleventh Scarpetta novel, in which the Chief Medical Examiner is under a Grand Jury investigation for murder. She knows she’s being framed and she no longer knows who she can trust…
Physically and psychologically bruised by her encounter with the killer Chandonne, Dr Kay Scarpetta has to leave her home in the hands of the police team investigating the attack. She finds shelter with an old friend, Anna Zenner, but it is not the haven of security she needs when she discovers that Anna has been subpoenaed to appear before a Grand Jury which is investigating Scarpetta for murder. Kay knows she is being framed and she also knows she can trust no-one.
Meanwhile it appears that Chandonne killed a woman in New York before his murderous spree in Virginia, but when Scarpetta looks more closely into that case with the NY prosecutor Jaime Berger, proof of his guilt is far from certain-in fact she begins to believe that he may not be the perpetrator of any of the crimes he is accused of. As she follows the forensic trail to the real killer she gradually realizes that someone has been spinning a web for years with the aim of entrapping her. Who is it, and why are they so desperate to be rid of her?
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Southern Cross
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Karen White
- Length: 11 hours 45 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 17, 2015
- Language: English
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3.3(8752 ratings)
3.3(8752 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDFollowing in the path of her blockbuster Kay Scarpetta thrillers, Patricia Cornwell’s novel is a testimony to the singular versatility and narrative power of one of the country’s best-read storytellers. In Southern Cross, she casts herFollowing in the path of her blockbuster Kay Scarpetta thrillers, Patricia Cornwell’s novel is a testimony to the singular versatility and narrative power of one of the country’s best-read storytellers. In Southern Cross, she casts her shrewd and knowing eye at the men and women in blue, in a story of corruption, scandal, and murder.
Richmond, Virginia, is a city rich in Southern history, yet overrun by such modern-day problems as drug trafficking and escalating juvenile crime. Former Charlotte police chief Judy Hammer is brought in to clean up the police force–the most difficult assignment of her career. Now, in the face of overwhelming public scrutiny, she must navigate through local politics and prejudices to solve a brutal murder that springs straight from the rotting core of Richmond’s heart…
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Depraved Heart
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hours 53 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: October 27, 2015
- Language: English
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3.67(10767 ratings)
3.67(10767 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.99 USDPatricia Cornwell delivers the newest engrossing thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Depraved Heart: “Void of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.” –Mayes v. People, 806 III. 306Patricia Cornwell delivers the newest engrossing thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.
Depraved Heart: “Void of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.”
–Mayes v. People, 806 III. 306 (1883)
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 and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn’t know whom she can tell–not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.
In this new novel, Cornwell launches these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul’s daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta’s entire world and everyone she loves. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious–but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.
In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell will captivate readers with the shocking twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail that she is famous for, proving yet again why she’s the world’s #1 bestselling crime writer.
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Flesh and Blood
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Lorelei King
- Length: 12 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: November 11, 2014
- Language: English
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3.73(11893 ratings)
3.73(11893 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDIt’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s birthday, and she’s about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their Cambridge house. Is this a kids’ game? IfIt’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s birthday, and she’s about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their Cambridge house. Is this a kids’ game? If so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted? Her cellphone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tells her there’s been a homicide five minutes away. A high school music teacher has been shot with uncanny precision as he unloaded groceries from his car. No one has heard or seen a thing.
In this 22nd Scarpetta novel, the master forensic sleuth finds herself in the unsettling pursuit of a serial sniper who leaves no incriminating evidence except fragments of copper. The shots seem impossible, yet they are so perfect they cause instant death. The victims appear to have had nothing in common, and there is no pattern to indicate where the killer will strike next. First New Jersey, then Massachusetts, and then the murky depths off the coast of South Florida, where Scarpetta investigates a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze. And it is there that she comes face to face with shocking evidence that implicates her techno genius niece, Lucy, Scarpetta’s own flesh and blood.
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Unnatural Exposure
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 11 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 04, 2004
- Language: English
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4.07(51627 ratings)
4.07(51627 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDFilled with tension and continual surprises, Unnatural Exposure is a thrilling chapter in Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta’s life–and a triumph for #1 New York Times best-selling author Patricia Cornwell. The body of anFilled with tension and continual surprises, Unnatural Exposure is a thrilling chapter in Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta’s life–and a triumph for #1 New York Times best-selling author Patricia Cornwell. The body of an elderly woman is found dismembered in a Virginia landfill. Scarpetta initially believes the clues mirror that of a serial killer she’s tracked before, but upon further investigation, she discovers puzzling pox-like erruptions on the woman’s body that, perhaps, point in another direction. When the killer contacts her via e-mail, Scarpetta enlists the aid of her computer-savvy niece, Lucy, to help track this monster through cyberspace. Learning that the Virginia victim was exposed to a high-tech virus that might unleash an epidemic, Scarpetta realizes she’s dealing with a sophisticated mind. Her investigation leads her from the government’s biological defense facility in Utah, to Atlanta’s Center for Disease Control–and eventually to quarrantine, when it is discovered that Scarpetta has been exposed to this fatal virus. Along the way, she’s forced to deal with the unscrupulous ambitions of a slick FBI agent, Lucy’s problems, and her own turbulent feelings for Agent Wesley Benton.
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From Potter’s Field
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 12 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: January 31, 2023
- Language: English
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4.05(51438 ratings)
4.05(51438 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USD#1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the chilling world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in this classic forensic thriller. An unidentified nude female sits propped against a fountain in Central Park. There are no signs of#1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the chilling world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in this classic forensic thriller.
An unidentified nude female sits propped against a fountain in Central Park. There are no signs of struggle. When Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleagues Benton Wesley and Pete Marino arrive on the scene, they instantly recognize the signature of serial killer Temple Brooks Gault. Scarpetta, on assignment with the FBI, visits the New York City morgue on Christmas morning, where she must use her forensic expertise to give a name to the nameless–a difficult task. But as she sorts through conflicting forensic clues, Gault claims his next victim. He has infiltrated the FBI’s top secret artificial-intelligence system developed by Scarpetta’s niece, and sends taunting messages as his butchery continues, moving terrifyingly closer to Scarpetta herself.
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Cruel and Unusual
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 11 hours 42 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: February 25, 2011
- Language: English
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4.13(98884 ratings)
4.13(98884 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDWhen an executed murderer’s fingerprints turn up at a new crime scene, Kay Scarpetta investigates. Prepare for the kind of riveting suspense this best-selling author delivers so well. -
Cause of Death
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrator: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 11 hours 33 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 05, 2004
- Language: English
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3.94(43258 ratings)
3.94(43258 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDOn a quiet day, away from the hustle of Richmond, in a small cottage on the Virginia coast, Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a disturbing phone call from the Chesapeake police. Thirty feet deep in the murky waters of Virginia’s Elizabeth River, aOn a quiet day, away from the hustle of Richmond, in a small cottage on the Virginia coast, Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a disturbing phone call from the Chesapeake police. Thirty feet deep in the murky waters of Virginia’s Elizabeth River, a scuba diver’s body is discovered near the Inactive Naval Shipyard. As the police begin searching for clues, the wallet of investigative report Ted eddings is found. Unnerved by the possible identity of the victim, Scarpetta orders the crime scene roped off and left alone until she arrives. What was he doing there, searching for Civil War relics as the officer suggested or was there a bigger story? As she rifles through the multitude of clues, a second murder hits much closer to home. This new development puts Scarpetta and her coleagues hot on the trail of a military conspiracy. Filled with lurid details that Cornwell’s legions of fans have come to expect, Cause of Death is a breathtaking mystery further enhanced by C. J. Critt’s gripping narration.
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The Body Farm
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Length: 11 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: January 31, 2023
- Language: English
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4.06(65256 ratings)
4.06(65256 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USD#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#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 duct tape. Called by the North Carolina authorities, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta recognizes similarities to the gruesome work of a serial killer who has long eluded the FBI But as she tries to make sense of the evidence, she is left with questions that lead her to the Body Farm, a little known research facility in Tennessee where, with the help of some grisly experiments, she might discover the answer.
It is Scarpetta alone who can interpret the forensic hieroglyphics that eventually reveal a solution to the case as staggering as it is horrifying. But she must also endeavor to help her niece, Lucy, who is embroiled in controversy at Quantico. And Scarpetta, too, is vulnerable, as she opens herself to the first physical and emotional bond she has felt in far too long a time. Tenacious and brilliant, tender and gentle, this is Scarpetta even more realized and poignant than we’ve seen her before–in a stunning achievement from a bestselling author at the peak of her powers.
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Honorable Mentions
Here are other remarkable novels written by Patricia Cornwell.
- Body of Evidence (1991) – Reclusive author Beryl Madison has been receiving threatening phone calls, and she requests Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s help.
- Hornet’s Nest (1997) – Police Chief Judy Hammer asks Deputy Chief Virginia West to take police reporter Andy Brazil on patrol with her to find a serial killer on the loose who paints their victims bright orange.
- Port Mortuary (2015) – Kay Scarpetta must solve a murder case using the groundbreaking procedure of virtual autopsy.
- The Front (2008) – Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano is sent to declining neighborhoods in Watertown as part of a public relations campaign.
- The Bone Bed (2015) – Dr. Scarpetta travels to Canada to solve the mystery of a missing woman. For some reason, the only evidence has been sent to her.
- Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed (2003) – Set in London in 1888, Jack the Ripper is murdering countless women, and the police seem unable to stop him.
- Book of the Dead (2007) – Dr. Scarpetta becomes a forensic pathologist and opens her practice in Charleston, South Carolina. In her first case, a 16-year-old tennis player is found naked and butchered.
- Red Mist (2011) – Six months ago, Deputy Chief Jack Fielding was killed, and now Dr. Scarpetta is determined to find out what happened to him.
- The Scarpetta Factor (2009) – Dr. Scarpetta’s exposure in the media puts her life, and that of her husband, in danger.
- Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert (2016) – A new edition of Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed with eight additional chapters.
Check out Patricia Cornwell on Speechify Audiobooks
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Visit Speechify Audiobooks and check out Patricia Cornwell’s best crime novels. Plus, get your first audiobook for free.
FAQ
Which Kay Scarpetta book is the best?
The best Kay Scarpetta book is Depraved Heart. It’s a thrilling crime novel in which Kay Scarpetta feels she can’t trust even her closest friends and family.
Where should I start with Patricia Cornwell?
An excellent starting point with Patricia Cornwell’s novels is Cruel and Unusual, published in 1993. It features mystery, suspense, and Kay Scarpetta’s forensic expertise.
Should I read the Scarpetta series in order?
Kay Scarpetta’s books can be read as standalone novels.
Is there a Kay Scarpetta TV series?
Amazon Studios is set to start a series based on the Kay Scarpetta series.
What is the first book in the Kay Scarpetta series?
The first book in the Kay Scarpetta series is Postmortem.
How many books are in the Kay Scarpetta series?
There are currently 24 novels in the Kay Scarpetta series.
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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