Patricia Cornwell

Page Updated: 05/03/03

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Patricia Cornwell - Page 1

WebPage: http://www.patricia-cornwell.com

by Patricia Cornwell

About the Author

Bibliography

Paperback - timewarner (2002)

First British Edition Little,Brown (2001)

Isle of Dogs
The number one bestselling author of Hornet’s Nest and Southern Cross delivers an irreverent portrait of politically driven law enforcement run amok, with a wry tale of life and turmoil behind the thin blue line.
Chaos breaks loose when the Governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be installed on all streets and highways, and warns that motorists will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric inhabitants of Tangier, an island fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in Chesapeake Bay, respond by threatening to secede and set up an independent state, claiming that their independence lies in the history of America’s first settlers, those who set sail from London’s Isle of Dogs in 1607.
Judy Hammer, newly installed as the superintendent of Virginia State Police, and Andy Brazil, state trooper and Hammer’s right-hand confidant, find themselves at their wits’ end as they try to protect the public from the politicians and vice versa in this pitch-perfect, darkly comic romp.
With a Swiftian eye for the absurd and a deadly accurate aim on her targets, Cornwell has created another knowing story about real-life policing.
‘Cornwell’s humour is as unexpected as it is wicked’ Mirror
‘an irreverent and strikingly characterised portrait of law enforcement at the mercy of politics’ Crime Time
‘a unique, often hilarious experience’ Irish Tatler

First British Edition Little,Brown (2000)

The Last Precinct
When Kay Scarpetta is mandated to investigate the four hundred-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 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 excavations. 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 Pete Marino to take matters into their own hands - torquing the rule of law and changing their lives forever.
In a case ranging from an eighteenth-century murder to mortal risk in the present day, The Last Precinct pits Kay Scarpetta against a rogue enemy who will stop at nothing to eliminate her.
'Imitators abound, but - pathologically speaking - nobody does it like Cornwell' Literary review

Paperback - Warner (2000)

First British Edition Little,Brown (1999)

Black Notice
The decomposed remains of a stowaway are discovered inside a cargo container at the Port of Richmond.
Dr Kay Scarpetta visits the scene to examine the corpse, nicknamed "The Container Man", but apart from a few foreign coins and a strange tattoo, there is nothing to help her identify the body nor find out the: cause of death.
Still mourning the loss of her lover, Renton Wesley, Kay is further distressed by the callous demotion of her loyal ally, Pete Marine from detective to captain, and worried by Lucy's disappearance after an undercover AFT operation in Miami to destroy a crime ring.
Then a call comes through from France, and an unfamiliar voice asks Dr Scarpetta to verify herself. Jay Talley, the ATF liaison at Interpol asks Kay and Pete Marine to fly out; to Lyons immediately as they need their help.
At Interpol headquarters, they learn about several sadistic murders in Paris by a man who signs himself "loup-Garou" or the werewolf - the same name written on the container in Richmond.
Talley believes the dead man is connected to a secretive international criminal cartel. Only Kay Scarpetta can visit her counterpart in the Paris morgue and extract secret evidence to help solve the case. However, on her return to Richmond this same evidence exposes Scarpetta to mortal danger.
'Imitators now abound, but - pathologically speaking nobody does it like Cornwell' Literary Review
'For all the gory detail Cornwell's novels are oddly comforting. Virtue will out' Frances Fyfield, The Independent
'The most interesting and singular bodies of work in popular fiction' Mark Lawson, Sunday Times
‘Cornwell’s books run on high octane fuel, a cocktail of adrenalin and fear. Black Notice is no exception’ The Times
`Black Notice is undoubtedly her best book for sometime’ Evening Standard

First British Edition Random House Audio (1999)

Paperback - Warner (1999)

Southern Cross
Featuring the fast-moving adventures of Richmond's police department.
Judy Hammer has been hired with the brief to bring sanity and order to a city in escalating chaos. Aided by her Deputy, Virginia West, and Andy Brazil, now a full-time police officer, she faces the most difficult assignment of her career. Not only do the established police force resent their presence, the city's institutions have over-high expectations of the new team.
Their work to eradicate teenage gangs, prevent the robberies from cash dispensers and the in-fighting inside the department comes to a shuddering halt when a virus invades the police computer system. Their screens are frozen into an image of blue fish. The same blue fish also appears on the statue of Jefferson Davis which dominates the city's cemetery. The once-proud statue has been transformed by graffiti into a black basketball player with the number 12 on his jersey.
A gang called the Pikes claim it is their symbol - the same gang who are probably involved in the robberies taking place all over the city.
'Self-assured, laconic, and often very funny' Harpers & Queen

Paperback - Warner (1999)

First British Edition Little,Brown (1998)

Point of Origin
Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner and consulting forensic pathologist for the federal law enforcement agency ATF, is called out to a farmhouse in Virginia which has been destroyed by fire. In the ruins of the house she finds a body which tells a story of violent and grisly murder.
The fire has come at the same time as another, even more incendiary horror: Carrie Grethen, a killer who nearly destroyed the lives of Scarpetta and those closest to her, has escaped from a forensic psychiatric hospital. Her whereabouts is unknown, but her ultimate destination is not, for Carrie has begun to communicate with Scarpetta, conveying her deadly if cryptic plans for revenge.
'This is perhaps her bleakest - and the best - of Cornwell's novels; its denouement is painful and shocking, but it has the unmistakable taste of reality.' Guardian
'One of Cornwell's very best' The Literary Review
'The chill factor returns to maximum' The Times
'The pathology is fascinating, as is the sinister atmosphere generated by Cornwell's cool prose.' Harpers & Queen

About The Author
Patricia Cornwell ’s first novel, Postmortem, is the only novel to have won the Edgar, John Creasey, Anthony and MacAvity awards, and the Prix du Roman d’Adventure in one year. Her second and third novels, Body of Evidence and All That Remains, attracted equal critical acclaim and became international best-sellers, establishing the author as one of the top crime writers. She received the Gold Dagger Award for her fourth, Cruel and Unusual.
A former award-winning reporter for the Charlotte Observer, Patricia D.Cornwell worked for over six years as a computer analyst in the chief medical examiner’s office in Virginia, where she witnessed hundreds of autopsies. This experience inspired her to create Dr Kay Scarpetta, the tenacious, intelligent and compassionate Chief Medical Examiner.
She has written a total of nine novels featuring Dr Scarpetta, as well as Hornet's Nest, a police procedural set in North Carolina. She lives in Richmond, Virginia and New York.

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

Isle of Dogs (Little,Brown, 2001) timewarner Pbk Jun 02 (Judy Hammer)

The Last Precinct (Little,Brown, 2000) Pbk Jun 01 (Kay Scarpetta)

Black Notice (Little,Brown, 1999) Warner Pbk May 00 (Kay Scarpetta)

Southern Cross (Random House Audio, 1999) Warner Pbk Dec 99 (Judy Hammer)

Point of Origin (Little,Brown, 1998) Warner Pbk Jun 99 (Kay Scarpetta)

Unnatural Exposure (Little,Brown, 1997) Warner Pbk 1998 (Kay Scarpetta)

Hornet's Nest (Little,Brown, 1997) Warner Pbk 1998 (Judy Hammer)

Cause of Death (Little,Brown, 1996) (Kay Scarpetta)

From Potter's Field (Little,Brown, 1995) (Kay Scarpetta)

The Body Farm (Little,Brown, 1994) (Kay Scarpetta)

Cruel and Unusual (Little,Brown, 1993) winner of CWA's Gold Dagger Award (Kay Scarpetta)

All That Remains (Little,Brown, 1992) (Kay Scarpetta)

Body of Evidence (Little,Brown, 1991) (Kay Scarpetta)

Postmortem (Macdonald, 1990) won five international awards as the best crime novel of the year (Kay Scarpetta)