Leaving behind her Charleston forensic pathology practice to accept an assignment in New York City, Kay Scarpetta learns the story of an injured psychiatric patient who claims he was attacked by a stalker who was killing someone else at the time.

Investigating a series of deaths that have taken place among seemingly healthy young people after routine surgeries, doctors Montgomery and Stapleton confront institutional politics that prevent them from proving that the deaths were intentional.

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia as the chief medical examiner, the state where she launched her storied career. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she's inherited not only an overbearing secretary, but also a legacy of neglect and potential corruption. She and her husband Benton Wesley, now a forensic psychologist with the U.S. Secret Service, have...

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns with the remarkable twenty-fourth thriller in her popular high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning--except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta,...

When the body of twenty-eight-year-old social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, at first it appears she was the victim of a tragic yet routine drug overdose. But for Laurie and her new pathology resident, the brilliant but enigmatic Dr. Aria Nichols, little things aren't adding up. Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. Administrators from the hospital where Kera...

When a perfectly preserved "mummy" is discovered in the dusty basement of Boston's Crispin Museum and an archaeologist turns up missing, medical examiner Maura Isles and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli have precious little time to derail the Archaeology Killer before he adds another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.

Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura's charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, Wyoming, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow.

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. The authorities are desperate to save the doctor who's been vanished into thin air. One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast-followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta's busiest and most important neighborhoods has been bombed-the location...

It's the most dangerous case of Will Trent's career. He knows this from the moment he sets foot in the abandoned Atlanta warehouse where a body lies on the floor--the body of an ex-cop. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim, evidently a woman, was carried away ... and has vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest and most high-profile athlete--a local hero protected by...

Colleagues-turned-spouses Doctor Laurie Montgomery and Doctor Jack Stapleton already have their plates full with crazy work schedules and family pressures. The last thing they need is a murder. When Laurie's longtime friend, by all accounts healthy Dr. Sue Passero dies mysteriously in the hospital parking garage, an autopsy is required, which falls squarely under Laurie's purview as newly-appointed Chief Medical Examiner. So when Laurie asks Jack...