Patricia Cornwell
Author of Post-Mortem
About the Author
Patricia Cornwell was born in Miami, Florida on June 9, 1956. When she was nine years old, her mother tried to give her and her two brothers to evangelist Billy Graham and his wife to care for. For a while the children lived with missionaries since their mother was unable to care for them. After show more graduating from Davidson College in 1979, she worked for The Charlotte Observer eventually covering the police beat and winning an investigative reporting award from the North Carolina Press Association for a series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. Her award-winning biography of Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, A Time for Remembering, was published in 1983. From 1984 to 1990, she worked as a technical writer and a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. While working for the medical examiner, she began to write novels. Although the award-winning novel Postmortem was initially rejected by seven different publishers, once it was published in 1990 it became the only novel ever to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure, in one year. She is the author of the Kay Scarpetta series, the Andy Brazil series, and the Winston Garano series. She has also written two cookbooks entitled Scarpetta's Winter Table and Food to Die For; a children's book entitled Life's Little Fable; and non-fiction works like Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell CD Audio Treasury Volume Two: Postmortem | Body of Evidence [Abridged Audiobook] (2006) 16 copies
Five Scarpetta Novels (Cause of Death, Unnatural Exposure, Point of Origin, Black Notice, and Trace) (2011) 8 copies
Kay Scarpetta set #1-14 5 copies
Cornwell Patricia 3 copies
Cause innaturali 3 copies
The Body Farm / From Potter's Field / Unnatural Exposure / Blow Fly / Trace / Book of the Dead / Scarpetta / The Scarpetta Factor (1990) 2 copies
Patricia Cornwell Andy Brazil/Hammer & Gareno Series (5 Book Set) : Hornet's Nest, Southern Cross, Isle of Dogs, At Risk, The Front (1998) 2 copies
À double tranchant 2 copies
7 Patricial Cornwell Books--Portrait Of A Killer,Predator,Cause of Death,Isle of Dogs,Body of Evidence,Cause of Death,Blow Fly (2003) 2 copies
Livore 2 copies
Point of Origin 27 Copy Displa 2 copies
Unnatural Exprosure 2 copies
Second Chance Tuesday 2 copies
Flesh and Blood: Free Sampler 2 copies
Kay Scarpetta 24: Chaos 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 16: Scarpetta 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 21: Dust 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 12: Blow Fly 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 19: Red Mist 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 13: Trace 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta 14: Predator 1 copy
The Scarpetta Factor 1 copy
Scarpettas Winter Table 1 copy
NË RREZIK 1 copy
Ritratto di un assasino 1 copy
Calliphora 1 copy
Point Of Sale Book # ( 1 copy
Split Image (2010) 1 copy
Touch of Darkness 1 copy
Star Quest 1 copy
Phantom 1 copy
Totenbuch 1 copy
The Last Precinct 1 copy
CONTÁGIO PERVERSO 1 copy
Salattu henkilöllisyys 1 copy
Dove comincia l'uomo 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta Series : 1-17 1 copy
Predator, Part 2 1 copy
Predator, Part 1 1 copy
Konseki 2 (痕跡 下) 1 copy
Konseki 1 (痕跡 上) 1 copy
Scarpetta, Part 2 1 copy
Scarpetta, Part 1 1 copy
Trace / Predator 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta set #1-7 1 copy
The Last Precinct / Predator 1 copy
Patricia Cornwell (Set of 5) Black Notice; Blow Fly; Trace; Predator; Scarpetta Factor (2009) 1 copy
Harlequin 1 copy
Personalities along the track...: Gladstone's tribute to our railway workers (2001) — Editor — 1 copy
Punto di origine 1998 1 copy
Playing for the Ashes 1 copy
Luonnoton kuolema 1 copy
Identiteit onbekend 1 copy
roofdier 1 copy
Zona de muerte 1 copy
Deaths Acre 1 copy
Big Day in Moscow: Sketchbook Favorite Place Coloring Book: Vol. 2: Adult Activity Book (Volume 2) (2016) 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta set #8-14 1 copy
Patricia Cornwell Gift Set: "Isle of Dogs", "Cruel and Unusual", "Body of Evidence" No.1 (2001) 1 copy
Link 1 copy
Kay Scarpetta Series 9-12 1 copy
CONTÁGIO CRIMINOSO 1 copy
Associated Works
The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them (2006) — Contributor — 411 copies, 18 reviews
Reader's Digest Select Editions 2000 v01 #247: Black Notice / Eddie's Bastard / Boundary Waters / The Innocents Within (2000) — Contributor — 49 copies
Time Life Book Digest: It Doesn't Take a Hero / All That Remains / Honest Illusions / Double Deuce (1992) 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Cornwell, Patricia Carroll Daniels
- Birthdate
- 1956-06-09
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Davidson College (BA | 1979 | English)
- Occupations
- reporter
technical writer (Office of Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia)
computer analyst - Short biography
- Her first crime novel, Postmortem, was published by Scribner’s in 1990. Initially rejected by seven major publishing houses, it became the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure in a single year. In Postmortem, Cornwell introduced Dr. Kay Scarpetta as the intrepid Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1999, Dr. Scarpetta herself won the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Miami, Florida, USA
- Places of residence
- Miami, Florida, USA
Montreat, North Carolina, USA
New York, New York, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Read: Sept-Oct 2022
Rating: 5/5 stars, best of 2022
I loved The Bone Bed, it is the best Kay Scarpetta novel since Point of Origin in my opinion. At the start of this novel, Kay is dealing with three separate cases; a video sent to her personally which appears to depict a severed ear – possibly belonging to a missing scientist named Emma Schubert; the body of a woman named Peggy Lynn Stanton recovered from a river; and the murder trial of Channing Lott, who stands accused of killing his show more wife, Mildred, though her body was never found.
The story itself is very detailed, with the whole 500 page plot taking place over the course of two days, but somehow Cornwell manages to keep the pace moving and keep it interesting. I definitely prefer Kay being written in first person, and her worries about aging and how it affects her personal and professional life felt very real and showed a more vulnerable side to such a competent, professional character. Lucy and Benton have strong roles in the story, with Marino being forced to take a backseatafter the killer implicated him in the murders . I also liked the contrast between Douglas Burke and Kay as they clashed several times over the course of the two-investigation.
My only issue is one that has been pointed out by other reviewers; there was no real chance to ‘play detective’ and try to figure out the killer.Although he had been briefly mentioned before the big reveal, there was no way the reader could have ever figured it out.
Despite this issue, I think is the best Scarpetta book I’ve read for a long time, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series, Dust. show less
Rating: 5/5 stars, best of 2022
I loved The Bone Bed, it is the best Kay Scarpetta novel since Point of Origin in my opinion. At the start of this novel, Kay is dealing with three separate cases; a video sent to her personally which appears to depict a severed ear – possibly belonging to a missing scientist named Emma Schubert; the body of a woman named Peggy Lynn Stanton recovered from a river; and the murder trial of Channing Lott, who stands accused of killing his show more wife, Mildred, though her body was never found.
The story itself is very detailed, with the whole 500 page plot taking place over the course of two days, but somehow Cornwell manages to keep the pace moving and keep it interesting. I definitely prefer Kay being written in first person, and her worries about aging and how it affects her personal and professional life felt very real and showed a more vulnerable side to such a competent, professional character. Lucy and Benton have strong roles in the story, with Marino being forced to take a backseat
My only issue is one that has been pointed out by other reviewers; there was no real chance to ‘play detective’ and try to figure out the killer.
Despite this issue, I think is the best Scarpetta book I’ve read for a long time, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series, Dust. show less
This is one of the best non-fiction books that I have read; very well written, well detailed and extremely informative. Patricia Cornwell's research is not only fascinating but compelling and convincing.
Cornwell's research presents damn near irrefutable, extensive forensic evidence that Walter Sickert is Jack the Ripper. Cornwell does an amazing job explaining the psychological profile of Walter Sickert that adds to her proof that he very well could be the infamous Jack the Ripper. She holds show more nothing back, giving us readers, in great depth, all the gore and gruesomeness.
She also tells, in great detail, of the deplorable conditions the poor had to endure in 1880’s London, England, which I found captivating.
I have always been fascinated with all things related to Jack the Ripper. So much so that when in London, my husband and I did the “THE ORIGINAL JACK THE RIPPER MURDERS TOUR”, https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/.... Now whether or not Walter Sickert is The Ripper, I couldn't say 100% one way or another. However, I can say if you are a Ripperologist, this is definitely worth a go! show less
Cornwell's research presents damn near irrefutable, extensive forensic evidence that Walter Sickert is Jack the Ripper. Cornwell does an amazing job explaining the psychological profile of Walter Sickert that adds to her proof that he very well could be the infamous Jack the Ripper. She holds show more nothing back, giving us readers, in great depth, all the gore and gruesomeness.
She also tells, in great detail, of the deplorable conditions the poor had to endure in 1880’s London, England, which I found captivating.
I have always been fascinated with all things related to Jack the Ripper. So much so that when in London, my husband and I did the “THE ORIGINAL JACK THE RIPPER MURDERS TOUR”, https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/.... Now whether or not Walter Sickert is The Ripper, I couldn't say 100% one way or another. However, I can say if you are a Ripperologist, this is definitely worth a go! show less
Benton, Scarpetta’s husband, a FBI profiler, is away working on three linked murders of women in Washington DC, but his expertise is being ignored, disparaged even. And then the body of a murdered woman appears in Cambridge (Massachusetts, that is), Scarpetta’s jurisdiction, and it’s clear it’s connected to the three in Washington, even if it seems to contradict the prevailing theory held by the FBI about the crimes.
Scarpetta, Benton, Lucy and Marino find themselves trying to show more identify a serial killer who, it seems, is being protected by someone powerful, at least to the extent the FBI agent in charge of the investigation is ignoring evidence and focusing instead on a teenager who disappeared seventeen years before.
Once again, Scarpetta’s reputation is under attack, as are her family and relationships, but this time she sets out to methodically prove every point of her - and Benton’s - theory of the crimes, and so bring down the FBI agent deliberately misleading everyone. As in other books in the series, the murderer is more than human, almost as if the nearest the US can get to real-life superheroes are serial killers, which is pretty damn sick no matter which way you look at it. It might even be said crime novels which focus on serial killer stories - as so many of the Scarpetta series have - have much in common with fantasy or science fiction. True, one of the reasons I like the Scarpetta series is because Cornwell details the forensic science used - which does occasionally read like science fiction (much like the many CSI TV series).
Another draw is Cornwell’s focus on characterisation. Her cast are not enigmatic, phlegmatic, whimsical or just sketched-in, as is usually the case in crime fiction. She started out using first-person narratives, then switched to third-person omniscient before moving back again to first-person, except now there’s far more interiority and Scarpetta’s every thought is worked through implacably.
Dust is one of the better books in the series, even though the plot centres around an implausible serial killer, and a defining event occurs off-stage and is far too easy to be credible. There’s also a fascinating article about Cornwell after the novel in the ebook edition, highlighting the many parallels between Cornwell herself and her characters, especially Scarpetta and Lucy. show less
Scarpetta, Benton, Lucy and Marino find themselves trying to show more identify a serial killer who, it seems, is being protected by someone powerful, at least to the extent the FBI agent in charge of the investigation is ignoring evidence and focusing instead on a teenager who disappeared seventeen years before.
Once again, Scarpetta’s reputation is under attack, as are her family and relationships, but this time she sets out to methodically prove every point of her - and Benton’s - theory of the crimes, and so bring down the FBI agent deliberately misleading everyone. As in other books in the series, the murderer is more than human, almost as if the nearest the US can get to real-life superheroes are serial killers, which is pretty damn sick no matter which way you look at it. It might even be said crime novels which focus on serial killer stories - as so many of the Scarpetta series have - have much in common with fantasy or science fiction. True, one of the reasons I like the Scarpetta series is because Cornwell details the forensic science used - which does occasionally read like science fiction (much like the many CSI TV series).
Another draw is Cornwell’s focus on characterisation. Her cast are not enigmatic, phlegmatic, whimsical or just sketched-in, as is usually the case in crime fiction. She started out using first-person narratives, then switched to third-person omniscient before moving back again to first-person, except now there’s far more interiority and Scarpetta’s every thought is worked through implacably.
Dust is one of the better books in the series, even though the plot centres around an implausible serial killer, and a defining event occurs off-stage and is far too easy to be credible. There’s also a fascinating article about Cornwell after the novel in the ebook edition, highlighting the many parallels between Cornwell herself and her characters, especially Scarpetta and Lucy. show less
The twelfth book in the series featuring Dr Kay Scarpetta. Unlike the preceding books, this one is written in third-person POV, with lots of chapters written from different characters’ viewpoints. Scarpetta has resigned as Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is now freelance and lives in Florida.
Her niece Lucy, and an ex-FBI colleague who has since joined the Last Precinct (Lucy’s private security company), have tracked down Rocco Caggiano (mob lawyer and Marino’s show more estranged son) to a hotel in Poland. They kill him. In Texas, serial killer Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, the one covered in hair like Cousin It, is on death row. His twin brother, Jay Talley, ex-FBI, ex-Interpol, and also a serial killer, is in Louisiana, killing women. But the police there are so inept and corrupt, they’re clueless.
The Baton Rouge coroner asks for Scarpetta’s help in solving a cold case, the wife of a local millionaire, who allegedly died of an accidental drug overdose. Then it turns out someone everyone thought was dead is actually still alive and secretly manipulating everyone in order to have his revenge on the Chandonne family. It all links together.
It is, frankly, stretching it a bit to consider everything in the preceding eleven books to have all been part of some complicated story-arc involving a French gangster family, but Cornwell tries her best to stitch it all together. I’m reminded of Asimov’s attempt to turn his robot and Foundation stories into one big future history, which may have been more ambitious but was just as hard to swallow.
The change from first-person to third-person is initially a bit weird, but you soon get used to it. Unfortunately, Cornwell hops about a lot, and each hop is a fresh chapter. So there are a *lot* of chapters, most of which are very short. Also, the story jumps about a great deal - Florida, Poland, Texas, Louisiana… It makes it feel a bit disjointed. And it doesn’t help that the manipulator steps out of the shadows at the end and kills all the baddies.
I like Scarpetta as a character, and if she often seemed implausibly overset by difficulties and enemy machinations, she was also a leader in her field and it showed. The whole Chandonne thing never really seemed believable – the way past events slotted into it was too neat and convenient. Hopefully, now the main actors in it are dead, Cornwell can move onto something else. I mean, clearly she moved onto *something*, as there are a further ten books in the series. I guess I’ll find out what. show less
Her niece Lucy, and an ex-FBI colleague who has since joined the Last Precinct (Lucy’s private security company), have tracked down Rocco Caggiano (mob lawyer and Marino’s show more estranged son) to a hotel in Poland. They kill him. In Texas, serial killer Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, the one covered in hair like Cousin It, is on death row. His twin brother, Jay Talley, ex-FBI, ex-Interpol, and also a serial killer, is in Louisiana, killing women. But the police there are so inept and corrupt, they’re clueless.
The Baton Rouge coroner asks for Scarpetta’s help in solving a cold case, the wife of a local millionaire, who allegedly died of an accidental drug overdose. Then it turns out someone everyone thought was dead is actually still alive and secretly manipulating everyone in order to have his revenge on the Chandonne family. It all links together.
It is, frankly, stretching it a bit to consider everything in the preceding eleven books to have all been part of some complicated story-arc involving a French gangster family, but Cornwell tries her best to stitch it all together. I’m reminded of Asimov’s attempt to turn his robot and Foundation stories into one big future history, which may have been more ambitious but was just as hard to swallow.
The change from first-person to third-person is initially a bit weird, but you soon get used to it. Unfortunately, Cornwell hops about a lot, and each hop is a fresh chapter. So there are a *lot* of chapters, most of which are very short. Also, the story jumps about a great deal - Florida, Poland, Texas, Louisiana… It makes it feel a bit disjointed. And it doesn’t help that the manipulator steps out of the shadows at the end and kills all the baddies.
I like Scarpetta as a character, and if she often seemed implausibly overset by difficulties and enemy machinations, she was also a leader in her field and it showed. The whole Chandonne thing never really seemed believable – the way past events slotted into it was too neat and convenient. Hopefully, now the main actors in it are dead, Cornwell can move onto something else. I mean, clearly she moved onto *something*, as there are a further ten books in the series. I guess I’ll find out what. show less
Lists
READ IN 2022 (1)
A Novel Cure (1)
Southern Fiction (1)
Books About Murder (17)
Detective Stories (14)
Female Author (5)
Jarett's Books (4)
Florida (3)
Read in 2014 (2)
Edgar Award (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 197
- Also by
- 14
- Members
- 136,483
- Popularity
- #50
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 1,780
- ISBNs
- 2,931
- Languages
- 31
- Favorited
- 270
