Patricia Cornwell Books In Order

Kay Scarpetta Books In Publication Order

  1. Postmortem (1990)
  2. Body of Evidence (1991)
  3. All That Remains (1992)
  4. Cruel and Unusual (1993)
  5. The Body Farm (1994)
  6. From Potter’s Field (1995)
  7. Cause of Death (1996)
  8. Unnatural Exposure (1997)
  9. Point of Origin (1998)
  10. Black Notice (1999)
  11. The Last Precinct (2000)
  12. Blow Fly (2003)
  13. Trace (2004)
  14. Predator (2005)
  15. Book of the Dead (2007)
  16. Scarpetta (2008)
  17. The Scarpetta Factor (2009)
  18. Port Mortuary (2010)
  19. Red Mist (2011)
  20. The Bone Bed (2012)
  21. Dust (2013)
  22. Flesh and Blood (2014)
  23. Depraved Heart (2015)
  24. Chaos (2016)
  25. Autopsy (2021)

Andy Brazil/Judy Hammer Books In Publication Order

  1. Hornet’s Nest (1996)
  2. Southern Cross (1998)
  3. Isle of Dogs (2001)

Captain Chase Books In Publication Order

  1. Quantum (2019)
  2. Spin (2020)

Winston Garano Books In Publication Order

  1. At Risk (2006)
  2. The Front (2008)

Picture Books In Publication Order

  1. Life’s Little Fable (1999)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham (1983)
  2. Scarpetta’s Winter Table (1998)
  3. Food to Die For: Secrets From Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen (2001)
  4. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed (2002)
  5. Chasing the Ripper (2014)
  6. Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert (2017)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction (2002)

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Patricia Cornwell Books Overview

Postmortem

With this novel, bestselling author Patricia Cornwell created one of crime fiction’s most compelling hero*ines: gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell s gift for combining cutting edge criminology with nerve shattering suspense makes this book a true modern classic. Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it s being sabotaged from within and someone wants her dead.

Body of Evidence

A reclusive writer is dead. And her final manuscript has disappeared…
Someone is stalking Beryl Madison. Someone who spies on her and makes threatening, obscene phone-calls. Terrified, Beryl flees to Key West – but eventually she must return to her Richmond home. The very night she arrives, Beryl inexplicably invites her killer in…
Thus begins for Dr Kay Scarpetta the investigation of a crime that is as convoluted as it is bizarre. Why would Beryl open the door to someone who brutally slashed and then nearly decapitated her? Did she know her killer? Adding to the intrigue is Beryl’s enigmatic relationship with a prize-winning author and the disappearance of her own manuscript. As Scarpetta retraces Beryl’s footsteps, an investigation that begins in the laboratory with microscopes and lasers leads her deep into a nightmare that soon becomes her own. For more about Patricia Cornwell and her books visit her website at www. patricia-cornwell. com

All That Remains

A serial killer is loose in Richmond, specializing in attractive young couples whose bodies are inevitably found in the woods months later minus their shoes and socks. After months of exposure to all the elements, All That Remains of this killer’s victims has in every case left Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta unable even to determine an exact cause of death. Frustrated that her high tech forensic skills have apparently proved useless, Kay enlists the help of and ace crime reporter and a psychic whose powers have been vouched for by the FBI.

Racing against time, Kay finds she must draw upon her own personal resources to track down a murderer skilled at eliminating every clue. All That Remains to her now is her courage and intuition and the will to stop a killer before he can strike again.

Cruel and Unusual

When convicted killer Ronnie Joe Waddell is executed in Virginia’s electric chair, he becomes what should be a routine postmortem case for Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. But after Waddell’s execution, the murders continue, as everyone connected to him begins to die including a member of Scarpetta’s staff. Then, when crucial records begin to disappear from her files, Scarpetta comes under fire for incompetence. Caught in a web of political intrigue, betrayed by those she trusted, Scarpetta must fight to free herself from murderous insinuations and threats to her own life, To save her career, Scarpetta soon finds herself retracing Waddell’s bloody footprints, following a trail that might lead to long hidden secrets deep within the state government. Either the truth will set her free or unleash upon her a punishment both Cruel and Unusual. Preformed by C.J. Critt

The Body Farm

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 best selling author at the peak of her powers.

From Potter’s Field

Christmas had never been a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. Although a holiday for most, it always seem to heighten the alienation felt by society’s violent fringe; and that usually means more work for Scarpetta, Virginia’s Chief Medical ExaminerI. The body was naked, female and found propped against a fountain in a bleak area of New York’s Central Park. Her apparent manner of death points to a modus operandi that is chillingly familiar: the gunshot wound to the head, the sections of skin excised from the body, the displayed corpse all suggest that Temple Brooks Gault, Scarpetta’s nemesis, is back at work. Calling on all her reserves of courage and skill, and the able assistance of colleagues Marino and Wesley, Scarpetta must track this most dangerous of killers in pursuit of survival as well as justice heading inexorably to an electrifying climax amid the dark, menacing labyrinths of the New York subway. For more about Patricia Cornwell and her books visit her website at www. patricia cornwell. com

Cause of Death

4 cassettes / 4 hoursRead by Blair BrownAlso available Unabridged and on CDFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Point of Origin and Unnatural Exposure comes a mesmerizing new thriller that takes Dr. Kay Scarpetta into the very vortex of evil far beyond anything she has heretofore encountered as Chief Medical Examiner. Together with her niece Lucy and police captain Pete Marino, Scarpetta follows the scents of death and violence to the heart of sinister darkness.

Unnatural Exposure

‘In this return to the luridly fascinating world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell delivers the goods.’ Publishers WeeklyWhen the body of an elderly woman is found dismembered in a Virginia landfill, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta initially believes that the clues mirror that of a serial killer she’s encountered before. But upon further investigation she discovers puzzling pox like eruptions on the woman’s body that, perhaps, point in another direction. The killer then contacts Scarpetta via e mail, and she enlists the aid of her computer savvy niece, Lucy, to help track this monster through cyberspace. When Scarpetta learns that the Virginia victim was exposed to a high tech virus that might unleash an epidemic, she begins to realize that she’s dealing with a sophisticated and devious mind. Her investigation leads her to the government’s biological defense facility in Utah and to Atlanta’s Center for Disease Control and eventually to quarantine, when it’s discovered that Scarpetta has been exposed to this often 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. Taut with unrelieved tension and continual surprises, Unnatural Exposure is the case of Kay Scarpetta’s life and a triumph for Patricia Cornwell.

Point of Origin

8 cassettes / approx. 11 hoursUnabridged’Cornwell proves yet again that she’s one of America’s most gifted and compelling writers. The mistress of psychological thrillers has dished up one of her scariest, darkest, most diabolical stories yet.’ BooklistKay Scarpetta is backFrom New York Times 1 bestselling author of Unnatural Exposure and Cause of Death comes a white hot new Kay Scarpetta novel that pits Virginia’s chief medical examiner against an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his crimes. And when Scarpetta learns that her old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, is somehow involved, the investigation gets personal and tragedy strikes closer to home. In Point of Origin, America’s leading crime writer combines literary talent and style with a fierce commitment to justice in this thrilling and complex novel. Point of Origin will stand out as one of Cornwell’s best, a gripping story that transcends the genre to examine the dark side of the human soul.

Black Notice

‘Patricia Cornwell lights a fire under familiar characters and sparks her hottest adventure in years,’ wrote People magazine about Point of Origin, the instant 1 bestseller by America’s premier crime writer. ‘Evil always smolders when it seems to be doused,’ said The Atlanta Constitution. ‘Scarpettans know to keep their security systems armed until the next installment.’ Now Cornwell delivers a high stakes Kay Scarpetta novel with an intrigue that will take Kay an ocean’s length away from home. The nightmare begins when a cargo ship arriving at Richmond’s Deep Water Terminal from Belgium is discovered to be transporting a locked, sealed container holding the decomposed remains of a stowaway. The autopsy performed by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta initially reveals neither a cause of death nor an identification. But the victim’s personal effects and an odd tattoo take Scarpetta on a hunt for information that leads to INTERPOL’s headquarters in Lyon, France, where she receives critical instructions: go to the Paris morgue to receive forbidden, secret evidence and then return to Virginia to carry out a mission. It is a mission that could ruin her career. In a story that careens across international borders, Black Notice puts Dr. Kay Scarpetta directly in harm’s way and places her and those she holds dear at mortal risk. ‘No one holds her head higher than Kay Scarpetta. She is for many readers the capable female writ large a lightning rod for those who would destroy change at any price, yet a formidable champion because of it.’ Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle

The Last Precinct

Unabridged. Eight cassettes, 11 hours.: ‘A character as strong as any in popular fiction, Scarpetta knows the world is evil and often overwhelming, but she continues to rail against it with all her endearing and humane self righteousness,’ wrote The Wall Street Journal about Black Notice, the latest in a hot streak of 1 New York Times bestsellers by America’s top crime novelist. Now Patricia Cornwell brings her millions of readers a novel concerning crimes with seeds in a murder from the distant past. When Kay Scarpetta is mandated to investigate the four hundred year old violent death of one of America’s first settlers at Jamestown, Virginia, it seems like the perfect match: modern technology’s savviest avatar versus an age old crime. Kay’s involvement in the case attracts headlines, and more the unwelcome ire of a person or persons unknown. Kay and those closest to her soon find themselves the targets of vicious hate crimes that are clearly inspired by her connection to the archaeological excavation. At first more nuisance than assault, the nature of the attacks quickly escalates to violence. Worse still, those sworn to protect prove to be the enemy, forcing Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and detective Peter Marino to take matters into their own hands torquing the rule of law and changing their lives forever. In a case ranging from an eighteenth century murder to mortal risk in present day, The Last Precinct pits Kay Scarpetta against a rogue enemy who will stop at nothing to eliminate her.’The action will explode off the page. The forensic sequences boom with authority.’ Publisher Weekly review of Black Notice’It’s fascinating to watch Scarpetta and her supporting cast become more and more themselves, like Sherlock Holmes especially in such brilliantly paced adventure as this one.’ Kirkus Reviews review of Black Notice

Blow Fly

A New York Times Bestseller The world’s number one bestselling crime writer is back with another scorching thriller featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Kay Scarpetta steps over the threshold of a new life after her work as Virginia’s Chief Medical Examiner comes to a jarring end. She’s settling into a career as a private forensic consultant in Florida, deep into a case that left her colleagues in Louisiana profoundly disturbed. Then she receives chilling news: From his cell on death row, Jean Baptiste Chandonne the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman, who pursued her to her very doorstep has asked to see her. Only to the legendary Dr. Scarpetta will he tell his secrets: the evidence that will bring a global investigation to a swift conclusion. Now she must unravel a twisting conspiracy with an international reach…
and confront the shock of her life. About the author: Cornwell spent six years working for the Virginia Chief Medical Examiner’s office first as a technical writer and then as a computer analyst and also served as a volunteer police officer. Cornwell wrote Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, in which she argues that the Ripper was actually British Impressionist painter Walter Sickert. This controversial book was a success and marked her first appearance on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Kay Scarpetta made her debut in Cornwell’s first novel, the internationally acclaimed Postmortem, published in 1990. Cornwell has since written 11 more books featuring Scarpetta. Patricia Cornwell currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Trace

A New York Times Bestseller Trace is the heart stopping new Dr. Kay Scarpetta thriller from America’s number one bestselling crime writer. Now freelancing from South Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to the city that turned its back on her five years ago. She travels to Richmond, Virginia, at the odd behest of the recently appointed Chief Medical Examiner who claims that he needs her help. When she arrives she finds that her former lab seems neither as organized nor as well run as it once was. Then Scarpetta is faced with solving the death of a fourteen year old girl despite the smallest pieces of evidence Traces that only the most thorough hunters can identify. It’s up to her to follow the twisting leads and track the strange details in order to make the dead speak and reveal the sad truth that may be more than she can bear. Patricia Cornwell divides her time between New York City and Florida Patricia Cornwell is an award winning novelist whose books have consistently appeared on the New York Times bestseller list Dr. Kay Scarpetta won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author Kay Scarpetta made her debut in Cornwell’s first novel, the internationally acclaimed Postmortem, which won the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d’Adventure in a single year Cruel and Unusual won Britain’s prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year’s best crime novel of 1993 Cornwell has since written 12 more books featuring Scarpetta

Predator

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowboundBoston, one as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now. Predator is proof once again that Patricia Cornwell has few peers with her extraordinary ability to entertain and enthrall.

Book of the Dead

From America’s 1 bestselling crime writer comes the extraordinary new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel. The ‘Book of the Dead‘ is the morgue log, a ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to take on a new meaning. Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it’s time for a change of pace, not only personally and professionally but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy offer expert crime scene investigation and autopsy services to communities lacking local access to modern, competent death investigation technology. It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run Scarpetta out of town. And that’s before the murders and other violent deaths even begin. A young man from a well known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multimillion dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible. Kay Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones confronting her now. Before she is through, that Book of the Dead will contain many names and the pen may be poised to write in her own. The first name in forensics. The last name in suspense. Once again, Patricia Cornwell proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

Scarpetta

From America’s 1 bestselling crime writers comes the extraordinary new Kay Scarpetta novel. Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard. The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder…
that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims? In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all too real streets of the city an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home. Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

The Scarpetta Factor

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 has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton Wesley’s. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package possibly a bomb waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past.

Scarpetta’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a ‘special factor,’ a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.

The Scarpetta Factor, the seventeenth in the series, finds the familiar cast of characters together again in New York. Marino is working for the NYPD; Benton Wesley uses his forensic psychological expertise at Kirby and Bellevue; and Lucy continues to dazzle with her expertise in forensic computer investigations as she works yet another case with NY prosecutor Jaime Berger.

Port Mortuary

The new Kay Scarpetta novel from the world’s 1 bestselling crime writer. ‘When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell.’ The New York Times Book Review Port Mortuary, the title of Patricia Cornwell’s eighteenth Scarpetta novel, is literally a port for the dead. In this fast paced story, a treacherous path from Scarpetta’s past merges with the high tech highway she now finds herself on. We travel back to the beginning of her professional career, when she accepted a scholarship from the Air Force to pay off her medical school debt. Now, more than twenty years and many career successes later, her secret military ties have drawn her to Dover Air Force Base, where she has been immersed in a training fellowship. As the chief of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts, a joint venture of the state and federal governments, MIT and Harvard, Scarpetta is confronted with a case that could shut down her new facility and ruin her personally and professionally.

Red Mist

The new Kay Scarpetta novel from the world’s 1 bestselling crime writer. 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 that compel her to conclude that what she thought ended with Fielding’s death and an attempt on her own life is only the beginning of something far more destructive: a terrifying terrain of conspiracy and potential terrorism on an international scale. And she is the only one who can stop it.

The Bone Bed

Audio CD, BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Autopsy

From America’s 1 bestselling crime writers comes the extraordinary new Kay Scarpetta novel. Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard. The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder…
that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims? In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all too real streets of the city an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home. Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

Hornet’s Nest

From the number one bestselling author of Cause of Death, a knowing and wry novel of big city police, big city crime, and the ironic intersections of everyday lives. It’s a city of ambition and pride, a city long ago dubbed ‘the Hornet’s Nest of America.’ A swarming symbol dominates the badge of the police department that protects it the image of a darting, restless fighter: the whirling dervish of a hornet. Like the violence that swirls around Charlotte during a long, hot summer, the hornet traces a dark, angry path, touching down unexpectedly, bringing stings of surprise wherever it lands. Patricia Cornwell’s brilliant new novel carries its own surprises. The creator of Kay Scarpetta, the most fascinating character in contemporary crime fiction, now cunningly reveals the heart and soul of a metropolitan police department. With Charlotte as her simmering background, she propels us into the core of the force through the lives of a dynamic trio of heroes: Andy Brazil, an ambitious young reporter for The Charlotte Observer and an eager sometimes too eager volunteer cop; Police Chief Judy Hammer, the professionally strong yet personally troubled guardian of Charlotte’s law and order; and her deputy chief, Virginia West, a genuine head turner who is married to her job. To walk the beat with Hammer, West, and Brazil is to learn the inner secrets of police work the tensions and the tedium, the hilarity and the heartbreak, the unexpected pump of adrenaline and the rush of courage that can lead to heroics…
or death. Like no one else before, Patricia Cornwell strips away the facade of the badge to lay bare the lives and motives of ordinary mortals in extraordinary circumstances. Hornet’s Nest is as real as tonight’s police blotter and as page turning as Cornwell can be. Also Available on Putnam Berkley Audio!

Southern Cross

Judy Hammer has accepted the challenge of Richmond, Virginia’s police department to try and reverse the escalating crime statistics in the city. She brings with her Deputy Chief Virginia West and Andy Brazil, now a full time police officer. They find a lot of things they are all too familiar with teenage gangs, a rash of robberies at cash dispensers, street corner drug dealing, racial tensions, too many people with too many guns and a cardiac inducing lack of parking spaces. They also meet resentment from the established police force and over high expectations from the city’s institutions. Then a computer virus crashes the police computer, freezing their screens with a design of blue fish, and the same blue fish appears on the statue of Jefferson Davis, which a graffiti artist has turned into a black basketball player and a gang called the Pikes claim it is their symbol, which also has links to the robberies. In an incredibly fast moving police procedural Patricia Cornwell takes her readers on a roller coaster ride of action and emotion.

Isle of Dogs

Unabridged. Eight cassettes, 12 hours. From the 1 bestselling author of Hornet’s Nest and Southern Cross, an irreverent portrait of politically driven law enforcement run amok. Patricia Cornwell’s novels of big city police have taken this classic genre to a new level. ‘Move over, Carl Hiaasen, you’ve got company,’ the San Francisco Examiner warned. ‘Patricia Cornwell has switched to Hiaasen’s world of black humor and nearly conquers it.’ USA Today concurred: ‘Cornwell has coined a new penny.’ With Isle of Dogs, Cornwell outdoes herself with a wry tale of life and turmoil behind the blue wall. Chaos breaks loose when the governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be painted on all streets and highways, warning that speeders will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric Isle of Tangier, fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay, responds by declaring war on its own state. Judy Hammer, newly installed as the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Andy Brazil, a state trooper and Hammer’s right hand and confidant, find themselves at their wits’ end as they try to protect the public from the politicians and vice versa in this pitch perfect, darkly comic romp. With a Swiftian eye for the absurd and dead accurate aim on her targets, Cornwell delivers another knowing story of the lives of the men and women in blue.

At Risk

For decades, Patricia Cornwell has demonstrated her extraordinary ability not only to entertain and enthrall but to surprise as well. Beginning in January 2006, The New York Times Magazine will serialize a brand new Cornwell thriller, a book filled with all the chilling suspense, rich characters, and trademark forensics that have made her an international phenomenon. But what she does with those ingredients is a revelation. A Massachusetts state investigator is called home from Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is completing a course at the National Forensic Academy. His boss, the district attorney, attractive but hard charging, is planning to run for governor, and as a showcase she’s planning to use a new crime initiative called At Risk its motto: ‘Any crime, any time.’ In particular, she’s been looking for a way to employ cutting edge DNA technology, and she thinks she’s found the perfect subject in an unsolved twenty year old murder in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, it ought to make them all look pretty good, right? Her investigator is not so sure not sure about anything to do with this woman, really but before he can open his mouth, a shocking piece of violence intervenes, an act that shakes up not only both their lives but the lives of everyone around them. It’s not a random event. Is it personal? Is it professional? Whatever it is, the implications are very, very bad indeed…
and they’re about to get much worse. Sparks fly, traps spring, twists abound this is the master working at the top of her game.

The Front

The audacious new adventure of the At Risk team from America’s 1 bestselling crime writer. When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut to the bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: At Risk is Cornwell s finest novel. It works in every way possible fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prose St. Louis Post Dispatch; Absolutely the best. Here s hoping we ll see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwell s creative pen since…
well, Kay Scarpetta The Denver Post. At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garano s grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril. And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, she s sending him to Watertown to come up with a drama, and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called The Front, set up in order that they don t have to be so dependent on the state much to Lamont s anger. He senses a much deeper agenda here but he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, he ll find that Lamont s task, and the places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrors everywhere he turns, he s not quite sure if what he s seeing is true. Falsehoods rule, warns his grandmother. And they can also kill. This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front.

Life’s Little Fable

Bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell imagines an extraordinary and beautiful land with all the appeal of a Garden of Eden in her first book for children. In a compelling fable, she explores the temptations and pitfalls that accompany freedom and choice in all our lives. Jarrod lives far away in a land where children climb trees and soar without fear of falling, and sunlight keeps out dark shadows. As happy as Jarrod is living with his mother and his sister, he is also curious and daring. He wonders about the mysterious pond, the one place his mother wants him to stay away from. How deep is it? Why can’t he go into the water? Why is his mother so afraid for him? One day he cannot resist going to the pond. And there he encounters the fierce, green as slime ‘god of the pond,’ who lives deep down in the abyss. He tantalizes Jarrod with whispered promises of giving him anything he wants if only he will come into the water. How Jarrod answers those whispers changes life not only for himself but for all the creatures who live in the pond. The books of award winning novelist Patricia Cornwell have received critical acclaim and become national and international bestsellers. Cornwell is the recipient of the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventura and England’s coveted Gold Dagger. This, Cornwell’s first children’s book, came about because of a visit to a second grade classroom in Los Angeles. After reading their stories, Patricia Cornwell was asked by the class if she had written any stories for children. That started her thinking, and on the flight home, she opened up her laptop. Life’s Little Fable is the happy outcome. A portion of the royalties for this book is being donated to the Virginia Literacy Foundation and Reading Is FundamentalRRIFR, the nation’s oldest and largest children’s literacy organization.

Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham

Ruth Bell Graham is known as the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. It was Ruth who influenced Billy, as his most trusted life partner. In Ruth, a Portrait, we meet this fascinating and remarkable woman. Brim*ming with anecdotes, this is a breathtaking journey, with stops at many of this century’s epoch making events. The childhood years of the future Mrs. Billy Graham were spent light years away in the China of the 1920s and 1930s. The daughter of medical missionaries, she and her family were caught in a crucible of unspeakable hardship; in addition to pestilence and plague, there was the unstable political and military turmoil surrounding the Nationalist government, the Communists, and the Japanese invaders. These hazardous realities shaped Ruth Bell and her family, a family inured to difficulties, but buoyed up by their deep belief in God’s abiding will. Virtually raised by the Grahams, the author is a repository of Ruth Bell Graham’s stories and has seen firsthand the spirit of this courageous woman. Patricia Cornwell not only gives readers a full, rounded, and intimate portrait of Ruth Bell Graham, but also insight into the life of the Graham family and particularly Billy Graham.

Scarpetta’s Winter Table

When Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the intrepid chief medical examiner of Virginia, isn’t busy solving crimes, she is concocting delicious dishes in her kitchen. In Scarpetta’s Winter Table, Patricia Cornwell takes her readers behind the scenes for intimate glimpses of her three major characters as they come together to celebrate the week between December 26, ‘the biggest letdown day of the year,’ and New Year’s. On the day after Christmas, Scarpetta make her special pizza pie and Detective Pete Marino creates his ’cause of death eggnog’ he uses corn liquor, while Lucy Farinelli a special agent with ATF and Scarpetta’s only niece goes on a long run in the snowy suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. The next day, Scarpetta flies to Miami to spend a few days with her querulous mother and Sindbad, her Siamese cat. In Richmond, Lucy entertains her friends, all from various federal law enforcement agencies; and Marino first apprehends and then befriends Jimmy Simpson, a ten year old boy who had been snowballing his house. In the final scene of the novelette, all the characters including Jimmy’s mother, who seems to catch Marino’s eye gather in Scarpetta’s warm house on a cold night to enjoy her famous stew. This book a special ‘gift’ from Cornwell to her readers is perfect for the Christmas present buyer, and gives the reader insights into her best known characters that cannot be found in any other work. It is illustrated with photographs that suggest the locales and activities of her characters, and it includes the ingredients for all the dishes described in the story.

Food to Die For: Secrets From Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen

Scarpetta doesn’t just chitchat with Benton Wesley before their Hilton Head holiday in Point of Origin she instructs him to stock up on South Carolina pecans, tomatoes, and Vidalia onions! Snowbound in a tiny cottage by the sea in Cause of Death, Kay taps into her Italian heritage to celebrate New Year’s with a delectable lasagne for Lucy and Marino. Fans of Kay Scarpetta know that this crime solver extraordinaire unwinds and recharges in the kitchen. After a heroic day on the job, she often escapes home to delicious food and wine with family and friends. Inspired by the dozens of food scenes in Kay’s kitchen and favorite restaurants, Food to Die For is a cookbook tailor made for Scarpetta fans. Among the criminally good recipes: Miami Style Chili with Beer All That Remains Grilled Grouper with Butter and Key Lime Juice Cruel & Unusual Jack Daniel’s Chocolate Pecan Pie The Body Farm Lasagne with Marinara Sauce and Porcini Mushrooms Cause of Death Bev’s Lump Crab Cakes Unnatural Exposure Kay’s Grilled Pizza with Sausage, Pepperoni, and Three Cheeses Black Notice Also recipes from Lucy, Marino, and Rose, as well as from restaurants in Richmond, Washington, D.C., New York, London, and Paris. Brim*ming with full color photographs of Scarpetta inspired culinary creations, Food to Die For adds a new dimension to the novels that keep us reading through the night.

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed

The number one New York Times bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell is known the world over for her brilliant storytelling, the courage of her characters, and the state of the art forensic methods they employ. In this headline making new work of nonfiction, Cornwell turns her trademark skills for meticulous research and scientific expertise on one of the most chilling cases of serial murder in the history of crime the slayings of Jack the Ripper that terrorized 1880s London. With the masterful intuition into the criminal mind that has informed her novels, Cornwell digs deeper into the case than any detective before her and reveals the true identity of this elusive madman. Enlisting the help of forensic experts, Cornwell examines all the physical evidence available: thousands of documents and reports, fingerprints, crime scene photographs, original etchings and paintings, items of clothing, artists’ paraphernalia, and traces of DNA. Her unavoidable conclusion: Jack the Ripper was none other than a respected painter of his day, an artist now collected by some of the world’s finest museums.

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction

Never before has there been a comprehensive, inexpensive reference guide and overview to the genre of crime fiction like The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction. Veteran editor Mike Ashley’s historical introduction gives an overview of the crime genre, showing the background and development of crime fiction from the earliest days with Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler through to the modern exponents of the craft such as Elmore Leonard and Ian Rankin. His A to Z covers five hundred entries on the major writers in the crime fiction field, from Edward S. Aarons to Mark Zubro, from the cult favorites to the best known, including Marjorie Allingham, Patricia Cornwell, Colin Dexter, Jim Thompson, and Minette Walters. The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction packs more information into its author entries than more expensive hardcover reference works. Each entry gives a brief biographical background with highlights for the cross referenced key works, provides a full bibliography, and notes significant films/series adapted from their works. There are also added bonuses of a crime fiction glossary that defines the genre s special terms and expressions, such as hardboiled, impossible crime, and police procedural and four appendices covering key characters, key books and magazines, key films and TV series, and awards and award winners, including the Edgar Awards, the Dagger Awards, the Shamus Awards, and other important awards. Crime fiction buffs, mystery booksellers, and anyone interested in crime fiction will find The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction to be an indispensable reference and an unbeatable bargain.

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