Works by
Patricia Cornwell
(aka Patricia Daniels Cornwell)
(Writer)

Life's Little Fable (1999) with Barbara Leonard Gibson, Illustrator
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 Fundamental(R)(RIF(R)), the nation's oldest and largest children's literacy organization.   Ages 4-8

Post Mortem (1990) -- Winner 1991 Edgar Award for First Novel
Four women with nothing in common, united only in death. Four brutalized victims of a brilliant monster -- a "Mr. Nobody," moving undetected through a paralyzed city, leaving behind a gruesome trail of carnage...but few clues. With skilled hands, an unerring eye, and the latest advances in forensic research, an unrelenting female medical examiner -- Kay Scarpetta -- is determined to unmask a maniac. But someone is trying to sabotage Kay's investigation from the inside. And worse yet, someone wants her dead...

Body of Evidence (1991)
After months of menacing phone calls and feeling that her every move is being watched, successful writer Beryl Madison flees Key West when a terrifying message is scratched on her car. But the very night she returns to Richmond, she deactivates her burglar alarm and opens her door to someone who nearly decapitates her. Why did she let him in, wonders Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta? And why is Beryl's latest manuscript missing? Pursuing the answers involves Scarpetta in the murder of another writer -- Beryl's jealous mentor. While she copes with a variety of personal and professional problems, Scarpetta's high-tech forensic skills enable her to collect a body of evidence -- clues that would mean little without her intelligence, compassion, and imagination -- that leads her directly into a nightmare all her own.

All That Remains 1992)
In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short. Following a macabre trail of evidence that ties the present homicides to a grisly crime in the past, Kay must draw upon her own personal resources to track down a murderer who is as skilled at eliminating clues as Kay is at finding them....

Cruel and Unusual (1993)
"Killing me won't kill the beast" are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can't explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell's fingerprints on another crime scene -- after she'd performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual...

The Body Farm (1994)
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 (1995)
Upon examining a dead woman found in snowbound Central Park, Scarpetta immediately recognizes the grisly work of Temple Brooks Gault. She soon realizes that Gault's murders are but a violent chain leading up to one ultimate kill--Scarpetta herself.

Cause of Death (1996)
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 deakness.

Unnatural Exposure (1997)
When 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.

Point of Origin (1998)
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.

Black Notice (1999)
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.

The Last Precinct (2000)
Now Patricia Cornwell brings her millions of readers a novel concerning crimes with roots in a murder from the distant past.  When Kay Scarpetta is mandated to investigate the 400 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 won hands- torquing the rule of law and changing their lives forever.  In a case ranging from an 18th-century murder to mortal risk in present day, The Last Precinct pits Kay Scarpetta against a rogue enemy who will stop at nothing to stop her.

Blow Fly (2003)
No longer the chief medical examiner of Virginia, Kay Scarpetta tries to unravel a conspiracy involving the Wolfman, a killer she helped put away years earlier.

Trace (2004)
Now freelancing from south Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond, Virginia, the city that turned its back on her five years ago. Investigating the death of a young girl, she must follow the twisting leads and track the strange details in order to make the dead speak-and to reveal the sad truth that may be more than even she can bear.

Predator (2005)
Investigating the disappearance of two sisters in Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta follows clues that twist and turn, leading her into the psychopathic depths of a jailed serial killer's mind.

Book of the Dead (2007 release)
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 autopsies to communities that lack local access to competent death investigation and modern 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 her out of town. And that's even before the murders and other violent deaths begin.

A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multi-million-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.

Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones that face her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write her own.

The first name in forensics. The last name in suspense. Once again, Patricia Cornwell proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.


 

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed (2002)
The crime novelist presents evidence that the artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper.