From Potter's Field - (Scarpetta) by Patricia Cornwell (Paperback)

About the Book

Featuring a new Introduction by the author, this classic thriller reunited Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta with Temple Gault, the bold, brilliant killer from Scarpetta's past whose new murders are but a violent chain leading up to one kill--Scarpetta herself. Reissue.

Book Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Dr. Kay Scarpetta faces a bold, brilliant killer from her past--and soon realizes she may be his next target--in this "nerve-jangling game of cat and mouse" (People).

"[Cornwell's] prose grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go until the last page."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

IN DEVELOPMENT AS THE ORIGINAL SERIES SCARPETTA STARRING NICOLE KIDMAN AND JAMIE LEE CURTIS

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia and consultant for the FBI, is in the midst of a late-night autopsy at the morgue when the call comes: Gault, the sadistic psychopath who has eluded capture for years, has struck again.

She and longtime FBI and police colleagues Benton Wesley and Captain Pete Marino fly to the eerie early-morning scene, where they immediately recognize Gault's grizzly handiwork. But no one seems to know his bald female victim, whose naked body has been propped up against a frozen fountain. It makes no sense that she apparently disrobed in the bitter cold without a struggle and walked barefoot over snow to her death.

While Scarpetta sorts through the strange forensic evidence, Gault kills again. But the prey he ultimately seeks is Scarpetta, for it becomes increasingly apparent that he is as focused on her as she is on him. It may be possible that he kills to impress her, and that he's trying to get at her through her young niece, Lucy, who is the brains behind CAIN, the worldwide FBI computer network.

Through what proves to be Scarpetta's most frightening chase, she can almost sense the evil, electric presence of her nemesis. But when she draws close, he slips back into the darkness, waiting for the time when they at last meet. . . .

Review Quotes

"Perhaps the best entry in the Scarpetta series yet."--New York Daily News

"Cornwell's galloping plot lines, technical expertise, and strong sense of atmosphere keep matters zinging along."--San Francisco Chronicle

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.