General Books

All That Remains: A Scarpetta Novel (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 98 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Nothing Left 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I really like Patricia Cornwell. I have read all of her novels and while this is not the best of the best it is still good. I read this about four years ago and from time to time it draws me back to it. I think that Ms. Cornwell's research into the subject matter that she writes about is fantastic. I can visualize her words as I read and those are the books that I like most. I will continue to be a fan and I'm waiting for the new release next month!

Editorial Review:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell's heart-stopping thriller featuring gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta

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....

Body of Evidence: A Scarpetta Novel (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 78 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

DR. SCARPETTA M.D. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is one of Cornwell's strongest books, Scarpetta is at her most interesting, I had read this book several years ago, but had to reread it, to remember that Cornwell at one time could actually write. I've read her lastest Book of Death, and was like, did I ever like these characters? and the answer is..yes..well Scarpetta anyway,..i always disliked, the racist, homophobic, obtuse, moron Marino, Cornwell has him promoted book after book, and im like..WHY, he's a fool!!!, maybe now that he has assaulted Kay in the last book, he's finally gone..we can only hope..anyway, this book is very good, if for no other reason than Lucy is not mentioned. I liked the twist and the mental hospital angle was truely creepy. The characters are at their most interesting and you remember why you liked Kay so much. You remember that she used to not be so negative and she was happy once, you forget that if you read Cornwell's last few books, my own personal opinion is that Cornwell herself used to be happy, but now she must be the biggest "B" on earth, because all he main characters are hateful and loathe each other. As for this book, it's very good, I always like Scapetta in Richmond as Chief Medical Examiner, she was at her best..at the top of her game..the same could be said for Ms. Cornwell..my advice to her would be to reread her early books, and recapture her talent...if not just please retire to your millions and once and foreall, put poor Scapetta to rest...she'd be doing us all a favor.

Editorial Review:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the chilling world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in this suspense fiction classic.

Reclusive author Beryl Madison finds no safe haven from months of menacing phone calls -- or the tormented feeling that her every move is being watched. When the writer is found slain in her own home, Kay Scarpetta pieces together the intricate forensic evidence -- while unwittingly edging closer to a killer waiting in the shadows....

The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Kay Scarpetta - Homewrecker 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It REALLY bothered me that the main character came off as a cold homewrecker with no conscience whatsoever. Nobody is perfect, but this woman's internal dialogue doesn't hint much at remorse over boffing a married man with CHILDREN!

Simply put, the main character was one I did not care for, as she comes across as very self-centered and almost as sociopathic as the killers, in a way.
I can't really get into a book or series if I don't respect the main character, or at least find them interesting. I found this book somewhat wooden and dull, and figured out the killer about one third thru, or even earlier.

Should a main characfter be perfect? No, that would be boring, but at least have somewhat of a conscience. This woman seemed like a selfish ho.

Editorial Review:

New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell brings back Kay Scarpetta, consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, in her grittiest and most compelling novel. In rural North Carolina, the brutal murder of eleven-year-old Emily Steiner has shaken a small town. But more disturbing are the details of the crimes, chillingly reminiscent of the handiwork of a serial killer who has eluded the unit for years. Into this volatile atmosphere comes Scarpetta's ingenious, rebellious niece Lucy, an FBI intern with a promising future in Quantico's computer engineering facility--until she is accused of a shocking security violation. While coming to terms with Lucy, Kay must conduct a grisly forensic investigation at a clandestine research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm. There she will find more answers to Emily Steiner's murder--and evidence that paints a picture of a crime more horrifying than she imagined . . .

Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 143 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not a bad read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed this book, even though it does show its age a bit with its simplistic descriptions of DNA testing and computer hacking. Another thing, I figured out who the killer was early in the book, something that is very unusual for me. Still, the book has some nice characterizations and the plot moves quickly. Scarpetta is a little whiney, especially for a woman in such an important position, so that didn't track as well. Overall, well worth reading.

Addicting...gotta keep reading 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love most of the Kaye Scarpetta series. This is definately one of the better novels!!

Editorial Review:

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.

Cruel and Unusual: A Kay Scarpetta Novel (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Read this before Body Farm 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

One of Cornwell's better books & I have read them all. This is the 4th book in the Scarpetta series (it's better to read them in order). This is the first book to feature Temple Gault so should read this before you read Body Farm & From Potter's Field.

This book is a fast paced & should keep you flipping pages.

The ending was a bit of a disappointment - loose ends not resolved. However, I did like this book & it was nice that there is no love interest.

Thriller Morgue 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Cornwell takes hold of your mind and does to let go until Scarpetta finds her solution. There is a horrible crime scene but it does produce some fingerprints. This is an easy case for Scarpetta until there is a match. It was a match to murderer that was executed before this murder. Read the book it is a good one. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"

Sins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelWriting as a Small BusinessTravelersTravelersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early Settlers

Editorial Review:

"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...

From Potter's Field (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 136 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Cornwell can do better, and I know it! 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I've been an ardent Patricia Cornwell fan, since I read the first of her books, Post Mortem, about two summers ago. Since then, I've been trying to get my hands on her books, in the order that she wrote them, so as to follow the character building that she's done for the Chief Medical Examiner of VA, Key Scarpetta, and her entourage including Det. Marino, Agent Wesley, and her niece Lucy.

However, this book left a bad after-taste in my mouth. The story moves at a very fast pace, but then that's about the only thing that is good about this book. Rest everything is about average. Sadly, Cornwell tries to inculcate fear of Gault in the reader's mind, but nothing much seems to happen to Scarpetta anyway, despite her working in what could very well be the least secure government offices in the world! Just about anyone can break in, at anytime, anyone can make anything disappear, anyone can crack any security protocol and encrypted passwords - one seems to wonder how's the place still standing!

It reminded me of those spoof teenage horror movies, where the favourite quip is "don't open that door...", or "someone was lurking in the shadows, and I was alone...". This book has one-too-many of such circumstances, and I for one found my interest wavering on each of those ocassions.

Forensics is the reason I took to reading her, but this book largely lacks in Forensic Science / Investigation. No foreign material, no strange residue, no inexplicable wound mark... nothing to intrigue the reader.

The climax is high-tech, but again a little lost on me.

P.S.: I'm still wondering WTH does it have to do with Potter's Field?

An average read: 2.5 / 5

Editorial Review:

Upon examining a dead woman found in snowbound Central Park, Kay Scarpetta immediately recognizes the grisly work of Temple Gault, a bold and brilliant killer from her past. Now she must hunt down a psychopath whose string of horrible murders is leading inexorably to his ultimate prey: Scarpetta herself. Even with the help of the FBI, Scarpetta knows the endgame is hers alone to play -- and it will be played on Gault's home turf, the subway tunnels beneath New York City.

Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, No. 15)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 652 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

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.

Predator (Kay Scarpetta Mysteries)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 454 Average rating: 1.5 of 5

Predator 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have always found Patricia Cornwell novels excellent. I enjoy the ones with Kay Scarpetta in them... have not enjoyed the others as much. I have read every book with Kay Scarpetta in them and am anxiously awaiting the next one.

PREDATOR IS A FANTASTIC READ! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I just reread Predator to compare it to the more recent Book of the Dead by Cornwell. I absolutely loved Predator and have a feeling that the one star reviews from people on this board either 1) didn't get the point of the book, as it was a bit complex, or 2) are simply looking for some tired old regurgitated prepackaged crime story that follows a recipe to a predictable end. This is never the case with Cornwell, who constantly amazes me with her originality, and timeliness of her original research. Yes, one had to pay attention while reading this book but for those of us who actually enjoy the unfolding of a story, that's the fun of it. For those of you who want something simpler or more predictable, try another author-keep it up Cornwell-we love it!

Editorial Review:

The exhilarating new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel from America's number-one-bestselling crime writer.

Unabridged CDs - 11 CDs, 12 1/2 hours

Cause of Death (Kay Scarpetta)

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 137 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

No way even average! 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Patricia Cornwell has been on my to-read list for some time now, but the last two books I've read from her Scarpetta series are making me doubt my steadfastness! This one especially goes to prove the point that Ms Cornwell doesn't have the gift of consistency, as I'd expected from such a writer, some of whose works are unarguably brilliant and remarkable, very nearly landmark. This, however, most certainly doesn't come in that category.

The story is badly written, the plot very flimsy, the premise kind of hard to believe, and as someone else has mentioned in their comments here, Ms. Scarpetta is shown to be a know-it-all in everything she comes across. IMHO, this is the most unbelievable aspect of this book, which takes away any credit that might have come to this book otherwise.

Not worth a read, unless you (expect to) have difficulty NOT reading it!

Any average reader could see through the clutter and guess the plot less than halfway into the book, and it is painful to see the usual retinue of Ms. Scarpetta - her prodigal niece Lucy, the ever-resourceful Wesley and Marino - wasted on this sub-quality, ridiculous plot!

Overall: 1 / 5

Editorial Review:

Patricia Cornwell's heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back; this time to solve the mystery of the death of an Associated Press reporter who was killed while nosing about in a decommissioned navy yard. Scarpetta's involvement in the case leads her to be targeted for murder herself by a nasty little neo-fascist cult with delusions of grandeur that include a plan to "kill and maim, frighten, brainwash and torture" all who oppose their plan to rule the world. Helping Scarpetta is her niece Lucy, an F.B.I. agent whose computer expertise leads to a heart-stopping journey into cyberspace.

Black Notice

Patricia Cornwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 625 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The postmortem is in--Black Notice, the 10th in Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series, is a gore-splattered, intensely exciting read. As winter grips Richmond, Virginia, an air of somberness pervades chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta's world. Her beloved niece Lucy is involved in a dangerous undercover police operation in Miami, and auntie fears for her life. A tyrannical new deputy chief, Diane Bray, wants to get Kay's department under her jurisdiction. Meanwhile, back at the office, someone has tinkered with the e-mail system, stealing Kay's identity, and sending off slanderous and hurtful messages. Emotionally battered, Scarpetta fears she is going insane. Or, could it be that someone is deliberately sowing this harvest of sorrow?

Despite her personal problems, Scarpetta is still the reigning diva at the department of death. She is sent to investigate the putrefied remains of a man found inside a container ship, "eyes bulged froglike, and the scalp and beard were sloughing off with the outer layer of darkening skin." Kay finds strange, animal-like hairs on the man's clothing--the same hairs that she discovers on a murdered store clerk a few days later. In actuality, the bizarre killings extend well beyond Virginia; whoever killed the Richmond victims also butchered people in France. Kay and police captain Pete Marino are whisked off to Paris where they must collect top-secret information from a Paris morgue, and avoid becoming victims themselves.

This macabre tome is the stuff that classic Scarpetta tales are made of: creepy but compulsive autopsy scenes, plentiful plot twists, and the compelling, if slightly more vulnerable chief medical examiner herself. --Naomi Gesinger