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Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta) by Patricia…
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Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta) (original 1990; edition 2003)

by Patricia Cornwell (Author)

Series: Kay Scarpetta (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
7,1551061,272 (3.68)110
Discover the "dazzling...fascinating" (Los Angeles Times) novel that launched the New York Times bestselling Kay Scarpetta series from #1 bestselling crime writer Patricia Cornwell. Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a 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.… (more)
Member:MHanover10
Title:Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta)
Authors:Patricia Cornwell (Author)
Info:Pocket Books (2003), 352 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:****
Tags:None

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Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell (1990)

Recently added byRini55, judico51, private library, vbboz, wolfeyluvr, Bandmember, JERichard, wmccormick
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» See also 110 mentions

English (93)  Spanish (5)  German (2)  Italian (2)  French (1)  Dutch (1)  Norwegian (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (106)
Showing 1-5 of 93 (next | show all)
In Richmond, Virginia chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta uncovers brutal rapes and murders of four unlucky women. Each one is different from the other, except for the fact that they each live alone. With the help of new forensic research, her "partner" Marino, and other specialists, she uncovers the killer and how he picks his victims. She has to be careful though, there is sabotage within the company and a killer is after her.

Postmortem is a very enjoyable read. It is the first book in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series that Patricia Cornwell wrote. The book has to do with forensic science, a couple of main character, a very intense plot, and an overwhelming mystery that is powerful and that keeps you looking for clues. For the first book that Patricia Cornwell has written it is good, however if you do not like the book I recommend you read some other books in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series. As the series progress the books get better and better. When compared to the other books that she has written this book is average. It is intense yet it does not have that bang like the other books have. I also do not like the dialogue that is in this book. It is a little fake for me, and after reading the other books in the series it does not compare. However, Postmortem keeps you on the edge of your seat, it is a great thriller that will keep you interested and wanting more. I would recommend this book and the series to anyone who enjoys a great thriller and mystery.

The book Postmortem deals with death and forensic science. With these two factors combined a mystery is solved by science and technology. When someone is murder in this book an autopsy is performed. A collection of samples is taken from the victim, which includes fibers and hairs. The specimens are taken to be compared, and technological instruments are used to show microscopic specimens. Throughout this book science and technology are being used to find the killer of the four women. DNA comparison is used to compare the killers semen to what was found on the bodies, a laser was used to light up the substances on all of the victim's bodies, and lab tests were done to ensure the results of what was expected. Science and technology was also used to nab the person who was sabotaging Dr. Kay Scarpetta, though I will not tell you how and who it is. Science and technology play a role in the book Postmortem. Most mystery books have some technology and science incorporated throughout, but the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series is based on science and technology. Forensic science and technology is used mainly in this book to catch the killer.

Postmortem is a forensic mystery. It is an intense read and a book that will keep you wanting more. Throughout the book science and technology is what the concentration is on. This is what gets the killer behind bars. It is a hard book to put down, ( )
  b00kdarling87 | Jan 7, 2024 |
More of the same..... ( )
  Hello9876 | Jan 6, 2024 |
After sleeping on it, I give this a 4.5 star rounded up.

I really, really enjoyed this. It will not be for everyone, but it made my forensic loving heart happy. There were parts I wasn't a fan of, but finding a perfect book is few and far between. I can't wait to keep reading this series!!! ( )
  Danielle.Desrochers | Oct 10, 2023 |
I stayed with Patricia Cornwell over the years, through the many books and many gossipy scandals. So, I decided to go back and see how those books held up a couple decades later, like [[Sue Grafton]] holds up. But Cornwell's work suffers quite a bit these many years later. In her time, she was one of he first to feature a strong woman protagonist, and one with a very special set of skills. As Scarpetta grew over the series, Cornwell made her increasingly bitter - it was hard not to wonder how much of her own personality bled through to the character. But it was a surprise to find the seeds of Scarpitta's bitterness in the very first book. Also, the scientific bits seemed quite dusty, so much having changed over the years in the world of forensic pathology. The story is also one of its time - a serial killer picking off women in horrible ways and eventually targeting Scarpetta, too. I stopped here without reading any further into the series again.

2 1/2 bones!!! ( )
  blackdogbooks | Apr 2, 2023 |
TW: racism, misogyny, homophobia
Uggghhhh the BOREDOM this book inspired. It's also super outdated and entire chapters are dedicated to computer bullshit that was probably cutting edge but is now so common. I read it all the way through because I wanted to know how it ended, and uhh, wow, the author sure must have improved a lot over time to have such a career. Kay Scarpetta is horrendously annoying, grating, and has horrid judgment around children. Rather than give a sobbing ten-year-old a big hug and a mug of cocoa while talking the girl through her fears, she gives her a glass of wine to shut her up because she just wants to go to bed. This ten-year-old is her niece come for her yearly visit, and Kay leaves her alone constantly. She has an on-call babysitter for this purpose. Imagine, going to visit your aunt out-of-state and having to be babysat the whole time instead! Not a vacation. Why was the ten-year-old even in the book? There's a bizarre Dead Herring (thanks to Das_sporking for the term) dedicated to her, to Kay's own niece, because she's unusually smart. She's more like a five-year-old in emotions, conclusions she draws, and speech patterns. Yet, she spouts off these amazing computer terms and is some kind of hacker. BULL AND FUCKING SHIT. I say that as someone who read at a college sophomore level by the age of nine years old! I did not talk like that or process the world so simply! Neither did my classmates, who were at normal intelligence! Cornwell cannot write children, and it's irksome.

Kay brags about how white she is and oooh she's a sexxxxhaayyyy Italian whooo coooksss amaaazing pasta and ugh, shut up. You're working those shifts, you should be dead on your feet and shoving things into a microwave. I watched a documentary about someone who worked a similar job and where is the dark humor about food comparisons to body parts and fluids? It's common in crime scene cleanup, I learned recently, too. We get it, you have blond hair, blue eyes and are petite, and your ancestors come from the border of a Scandinavian country. Blahblah shut up. The misogyny she faces is so heavy-handed and unrealistic. I absolutely hate to ask it this way, but if she's so sexxxxhayyy as she describes herself,. why aren't more men making creepy jokes and remarks to her specially about that? So far it's "eww, women are icky" repeated ad nasuem. It was repetitive and grating. In "The Killer Wore Leather" by Laura Antoniou, the misogyny and homophobia faced by Detective Rebecca Feldblum is folded in much more naturally, is believable, and comes about more organically from a writing perspective.

Over a hundred pages needed to be cut from this: the yammering on about tech in particular, and -oh-; the feel -sorry- for me was -aggravating-. I would have felt bad for her if she'd just shut up! She barely listened to other people, had a huge superiority complex--ah, she was probably a clinical narcissist. Betcha any kids she had, grew up to post on real-life Reddit group RaisedByNarcissists. It's a support group for grown children of adults a lot, lot like her. She wangsts about a 911 call being cut short. How has she not burned out? She's a fucking death worker! The suffering is over, stupid! You have a job to do. You picked this. Seventy-three pages from the end of the book, the killer is suggested, explored, and caught. It makes no sense, isn't foreshadowed in the slightest, and comes out of nowhere. His sweat smells like maple syrup, which is a real disease, except the smell is in the urine. So, by what the author wrote, the killer by rights should have pissed on the floor.
Skip this and watch a crime show instead, or read Laura Antoniou's book "The Killer Wore Leather." ( )
1 vote iszevthere | Jul 27, 2022 |
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» Add other authors (66 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Cornwell, Patriciaprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Amante, MarcoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Beltran, CarlosCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gudmundsen, Per KristianTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Huzly, DanielaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zeelenberg, AnnetteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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To Joe and Dianne
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It was raining in Richmond on Friday, June 6.
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Discover the "dazzling...fascinating" (Los Angeles Times) novel that launched the New York Times bestselling Kay Scarpetta series from #1 bestselling crime writer Patricia Cornwell. Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a 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.

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