One of the most recognized names in suspense/crime fiction today is that of Patricia Cornwell. Cornwell is best known for her series of novels featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.
In 1979, Cornwell started working as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and soon began covering crime. In 1984, she took a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia. She worked there for six years, first as a technical writer and then as a computer analyst. Cornwell wrote three novels that were rejected before the publication, in 1990, of the first installment of her Scarpetta series, Postmortem.
The phenomenon that is Kay Scarpetta:
Kay Scarpetta is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD.[ The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.
In the early novels Scarpetta is the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia and works in Richmond. She resigns after the events of The Last Precinct and relocates to Florida to become a private forensic consultant. Scarpetta returns to Virginia in Trace, convincing herself that she was fired from her position, at the request of her replacement, Dr. Joel Marcus. In Predator, Scarpetta becomes the head of the National Forensic Academy in Hollywood, Florida, a private institution founded by her wealthy niece Lucy. In The Book of the Dead, Scarpetta has relocated as a freelance forensic examiner/expert to Charleston, South Carolina. In Scarpetta, she has relocated to Massachusetts, where she is an M.E., but she and Benton also share an apartment in New York City. In The Scarpetta Factor she is working full-time and Wesley is working part-time in New York.
In the debut novel, POSTMORTEM, 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.
The latest Kay Scarpetta adventure, THE BONE BED, released in 2012, is a must read for every Scarpetta fan, and also an excellent starter for new readers.
A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over two thousand miles away in Boston. She has no idea why. But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect that the paleontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age.
When she turns to those around her, Scarpetta finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Her niece Lucy speaks in riddles. Her lead investigator, Pete Marino, and FBI forensic psychologist and husband, Benton Wesley, have secrets of their own. Feeling alone and betrayed, Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer both cunning and cruel.
Cornwell has written other books, including an expose of Jack the Ripper, but is best known and loved for her character Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell also published a recipe book: Food to Die for: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta’s kitchen.
Below is a list of the Kay Scarpetta novels from Wikipedia:
Toni LoTempio – admin by day, writer by night, Toni is the author of several paperback and e-books of paranormal suspense – as well as the upcoming Nick and Nora mystery series from Berkeley Prime Crime. She and her cat ROCCO do fundraising for Nathan Fillion’s charity, KIDS NEED TO READ, when they aren’t interviewing authors on ROCCO’s blog! You can keep up with all the latest interviews and news (the release of the forthcoming MEOW IF IT’S MURDER included) at www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com
