Patricia Cornwell remains a preeminent name in suspense, having created one of the most boundless, groundbreaking, and memorable protagonists in literary history with Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Beginning with the publication of Postmortem (1990)—the first book ever to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards and the French Prix d’ Aventures in a single year—Scarpetta…
Patricia Cornwell remains a preeminent name in suspense, having created one of the most boundless, groundbreaking, and memorable protagonists in literary history with Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Beginning with the publication of Postmortem (1990)—the first book ever to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards and the French Prix d’ Aventures in a single year—Scarpetta…
With the holidays fast approaching, Patricia Cornwell has decided to bestow upon her legion of readers a truly memorable gift: the return of iconic forensic sleuth, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. While the Sherlock Award-winning character hasn’t been heard from since 2016’s Chaos, Cornwell went on to write two bestselling, NASA-inspired thrillers featuring Captain Calli Chase: 2019’s…
Crime and mystery fiction’s diversity attracts a broad readership. For instance, I prefer the soft stuff and am attracted to the puzzle rather than grizzly details, while many of my friends enjoy peeled skin and body parts. Knowing that, it seems immensely impertinent for me to try to compile a “best of” list on my…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week was a powerhouse of releases, with a new Patricia Cornwell, David Morrell, and more! See what else came out…
Chaos by Patricia Cornwell is the 24th thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling author's popular high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta (Available November 15, 2016). Fans of Patricia Cornwell know that it’s never good news when Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s cell phone rings after hours. Even worse when her husband’s, FBI profiler…
One of our eagle-eyed tweeps alerted us to the news that in the upcoming film adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s Red Mist, Angelina Jolie will play Dr. Kay Scarpetta. We will leave it to you to debate whether this rises (sinks?) to the level of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, but it certainly had our eyebrows…
We were close once, Patrica Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta and I. But we’ve grown apart over the years. Scarpetta still writes of her cases, of the bodies she dissects and the killers she catches, and I still read of her exploits but with each new installment, I drift. Perhaps it’s because she’s strayed further from…
