Cause of Death - (Scarpetta) by Patricia Cornwell (Paperback)

About the Book

Featuring a new Introduction by Cornwell, this classic #1 "New York Times" bestseller featuring Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta now comes in an electrifying new package. Reissue.

Book Synopsis

Scarpetta, an all-new Original Series, is coming soon to Prime Video!

Enter the chilling and captivating world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta before Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis bring the mystery to life onscreen.

"The new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia's masterful storytelling... and a warning......there WILL be BLOOD." - Jamie Lee Curtis

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is faced with a labyrinthine case that wraps a web of danger around her and those closest to her--and threatens to wreak fear and death far beyond Virginia--in this "standout" (New York Newsday) thriller from #1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.

On New Year's Eve, the last day of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War, Dr. Kay Scarpetta plunges into the murky depths of the Elizabeth River to recover the very human remains of Ted Eddings, an investigative reporter. Was Eddings probing the Inactive Shipyard for a story, or simply diving for sunken trinkets? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before the police were notified?

With the advent of a second murder--this one closer to home--the case envelops Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and police captain Pete Marino in a world where both cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned detective work are critical offensive weapons. Together they follow the trail of death to a well of violence as dark and forbidding as the water that swirled over Ted Eddings.

Review Quotes

"A standout . . . gripping reading . . . So hard to put down your arms will tingle with intimations of rigor mortis before you reach the smashing climax."--Newsday

"Fascinating, frightening . . . Reaffirms that Cornwell is one of the best crime fiction authors working today."--Miami Herald

"Filled with suspense."--Cosmopolitan

About the Author

Patricia Cornwell is one of the world's major internationally bestselling authors, translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. She is a founder of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine; a founding member of the National Forensic Academy; a member of the Advisory Board for the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York City; and a member of the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital's National Council, where she is an advocate for psychiatric research. In 2008, Cornwell won the Galaxy British Book Awards' Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year--the first American to win this prestigious award. In 2011, she was awarded the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in Paris. Her earlier works include Postmortem--the only novel to win five major crime awards in a single year--and Cruel & Unusual, which won Britain's Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author.