Complete reading guide — from Postmortem (1990) through the entire Kay Scarpetta forensic thriller series and beyond.
About Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell almost single-handedly created the forensic thriller as a mainstream genre. When Postmortem was published in 1990 — the first novel to win five major crime writing awards in a single year — the idea of a female medical examiner protagonist was genuinely novel. Kay Scarpetta set the template that dozens of subsequent TV shows, films, and novels would imitate.
Cornwell worked as a crime reporter and as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia before publishing Postmortem. That insider knowledge gave Scarpetta's forensic work an authenticity that readers immediately felt — and that distinguished the series from competitors who followed.
Outside fiction, Cornwell is best known for Portrait of a Killer (2002), her controversial nonfiction investigation arguing that Victorian painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper — a conclusion rejected by most criminologists but a riveting read regardless.
Start Here
Postmortem
The debut that invented a genre. Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta investigates a Richmond strangler case where the forensic evidence keeps pointing in impossible directions. Won five major crime writing awards in a single year. The obvious — and best — place to start.
Read in publication order. The Scarpetta series rewards long-term investment — characters develop and relationships evolve across 26+ books.
1
Postmortem
1990
Forensic Thriller
A serial strangler is terrorising Richmond, Virginia. Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta finds forensic evidence that points to someone with inside law enforcement knowledge. The debut that launched the forensic thriller genre.
A reclusive romance novelist is murdered and her unpublished manuscript goes missing. Scarpetta uncovers a conspiracy in the literary world. The second Scarpetta novel and equally strong.
The decomposed bodies of young couples are found in remote Virginia locations. Scarpetta and FBI profiler Benton Wesley track a predator whose methodology defies conventional profiling. The series at its most chilling.
A convicted killer's DNA matches evidence from an impossible crime scene — he was executed an hour before the victim was killed. The Scarpetta series at its most structurally ambitious.
A young girl's mutilated body is found in the North Carolina mountains. Scarpetta travels to the University of Tennessee's famous forensic research facility — the Body Farm. The series' most famous entry.
The series continues strongly through the 2000s and 2010s — and Cornwell's standalone nonfiction is essential for any fan.
1
Blow Fly
2003
Forensic Thriller
Jean-Baptiste Chandonne — the serial killer who has haunted Scarpetta through three novels — is on death row. But he's still orchestrating events from his cell. The comeback entry after a slight mid-series dip.
Cornwell's controversial argument that Victorian painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Rejected by most criminologists, fascinating as an exercise in obsessive investigation. Essential Cornwell.
A Cambridge cyclist is found dead in circumstances that suggest a lightning strike — but the evidence doesn't add up. Scarpetta and her niece Lucy investigate. Strong later-series entry.
Publication order, starting with Postmortem (1990). The series builds relationships and backstory across 26+ books — starting anywhere other than the beginning means missing significant character development.
As of 2026, there are 26 books in the Scarpetta series, with Cornwell still writing.
There has been a long-running push to adapt the series. As of 2026, a major adaptation project is in development.