Patricia Cornwell Books in Order
Patricia Cornwell is an American crime writer best known for the long-running Kay Scarpetta series of forensic thrillers, widely credited with establishing forensic science as a mainstream genre in crime fiction. Her debut novel Postmortem was the first bona fide forensic thriller, and the first book ever to win the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and John Creasey awards in a single year, along with France’s Prix du Roman d’Aventures. She later received the CWA Gold Dagger, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, and France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Her books have sold over 120 million copies worldwide. In 2024, Kay Scarpetta became an Amazon streaming series.
This page lists all Patricia Cornwell books in order, including the Kay Scarpetta novels, the Andy Brazil, Winston Garano, and Captain Chase series, standalone novels, and non-fiction books.
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Kay Scarpetta Series (Books in Order)
The Kay Scarpetta series follows Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, as she uses cutting-edge forensic science to investigate homicides, often while facing institutional resistance, personal danger, and a recurring cast of allies and adversaries, which also include her niece Lucy and detective Pete Marino. The series launched the forensic thriller genre and directly influenced the wave of forensic procedurals on television that followed.
Reading Order
- Postmortem, 1990
- Body of Evidence, 1991
- All That Remains, 1992
- Cruel and Unusual, 1993
- The Body Farm, 1994
- From Potter’s Field, 1995
- Cause of Death, 1996
- Unnatural Exposure, 1997
- Point of Origin, 1998
- Black Notice, 1999
- The Last Precinct, 2000
- Blow Fly, 2003
- Trace, 2004
- Predator, 2005
- Book of the Dead, 2007
- Scarpetta, 2008
- The Scarpetta Factor, 2009
- Port Mortuary, 2010
- Red Mist, 2011
- The Bone Bed, 2012
- Dust, 2013
- Flesh and Blood, 2014
- Depraved Heart, 2015
- Chaos, 2016
- Autopsy, 2021
- Livid, 2022
- Unnatural Death, 2023
- Identity Unkown, 2024
- Sharp Force, 2025
Andy Brazil Series (Books in Order)
The Andy Brazil series follows young reporter-turned-volunteer cop Andy Brazil in Charlotte, North Carolina, who works alongside Police Superintendent Judy Hammer and deputy chief Virginia West as they deal with corruption, crime, and the political realities of policing a major American city. It is lighter in tone than the Scarpetta novels, with a sharper satirical edge.
Reading Order
- Hornet’s Nest, 1996
- Southern Cross, 1998
- Isle of Dogs, 2001
Winston Garano Series (Books in Order)
The Winston Garano series follows Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano who is assigned directly to the district attorney’s office and is pulled into politically sensitive cases that quickly escalate far beyond their surface appearance. It is tighter and more conspiratorial in feel than Patricia Cornwell’s other series, with a strong Boston setting.
Reading Order
Captain Chase Series (Books in Order)
The Captain Chase series follows Captain Calli Chase, a NASA pilot, quantum physicist, and cybercrime investigator, as she confronts threats involving top-secret space missions, advanced technology, and national security conspiracies. It is Patricia Cornwell’s most forward-looking series, that combines near-future science with espionage thriller plotting.
Reading Order
Picture Books
- Life’s Little Fable, 1999
Anthologies
Non-Fiction Books
- A Time for Remembering, 1985
- Ruth, A Portrait, 1997
- Scarpetta’s Winter Table, 1998
- Food To Die For, 2002
- Portrait Of A Killer, 2002
- Chasing the Ripper, 2014
- Ripper, 2017
- True Crime, 2026
Patricia Cornwell Biography
Patricia Cornwell is an American crime author whose work includes forensic thrillers, police procedurals and true crime non-fiction books. She is the creator of the Kay Scarpetta series and has also written the Andy Brazil, Winston Garano and Captain Chase novels, along with books on Jack the Ripper and other real-world cases.
Official website: patriciacornwell.com
Born in Miami, Florida, in 1956, Patricia Cornwell grew up in North Carolina and studied at King College and Davidson College, from where she graduated with a degree in English in 1979. She began her career as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer, winning a North Carolina Press Association award for investigative reporting before moving to Richmond, Virginia.
In 1981, she began working on the biography of Ruth Bell Graham, wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, who took Patricia in when her mother became sick.
Next, she worked for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia as a technical writer and computer analyst and volunteered with the local police department, experience that led directly to the creation of Dr. Kay Scarpetta and the forensic focus of her novels. Postmortem, published in 1990, launched the Kay Scarpetta series and became the first novel ever to win the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and John Creasey awards in the same year.
Patricia Cornwell has also written the Andy Brazil/Judy Hammer novels set in North Carolina and Virginia, the Winston Garano books, the near-future Captain Chase thrillers and several non-fiction works on Jack the Ripper and true crime. Her books have sold more than 120 million copies in dozens of languages, and she lives in Massachusetts while continuing to write.
Patricia Cornwell Book Adaptations
- At Risk – adapted into the television film Patricia Cornwell’s At Risk (2010)
- The Front – adapted into the Lifetime television movie and sequel Patricia Cornwell’s The Front (2010)
- The Kay Scarpetta series – adapted into the crime-thriller TV series Scarpetta (March 2026)
Patricia Cornwell Awards and Honors
Postmortem is the only novel to win the Edgar, John Creasey, Anthony, Macavity, and French Prix du Roman d’Aventures in the same year.
- A Time For Remembering – ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Biography/Autobiography (1985)
- Postmortem – Major debut-novel awrds: Edgar Award for Best First Novel, John Creasey Memorial Award, Anthony Award for Best First Novel and Macavity Award for Best First Novel (1991)
- Postmortem – Prix du Roman d’Aventures (France) (1992)
- Cruel and Unusual – CWA Gold Dagger Award (1993)
- Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement, recognising her success as a bestselling crime novelist. (1995)
- Kay Scarpetta character – Sherlock Award for Best Detective (1999)
- Book of the Dead – Galaxy British Book Awards / British Book Awards – Crime Thriller of the Year (Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year) for Book of the Dead; Cornwell was the first American author to receive this award (2008)
- Red Mist – RBA Prize for Crime Writing at €125,000 (2011)
- Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) from the French Ministry of Culture, recognising her contribution to the arts – 2011
I saw on one of the series about a sixteen year ols boy hsd been killed or murdered and I did not get the name of the book. Kyou help me. thankz
The Scarpetta series has a lot of deaths. Could you be referring to Cruel & Unusual in which a teenage boy is the victim of a serial killer?
I listen to these books and I can’t get Stephanie plum out of my head listening to flesh and blood this has to be changed sorry!
The Plum Series is written by Janet Evanovich who recently released Turbo 23. This string concerns Patricia Cornwell.
I love all her books. Read them in order to see what is happening. I got my daughter to read them also.
I have read other mystery series but Patricia Cornwell is by far the best. I love Kay Scarpetta and her family of characters. I hope this series never ends.
The books have to read in an order my first book was The last precinct and then I read the body of evidence… It was truly confusing.. After that I decided to start the entire series from book 1… It’s been an amazing read… Kay has been beautifully evolving from one book to the other… Love the work of Patrician Cornwell….
I’ve read black notice first and the story says that benton wesley died, the next book i read was Trace and in it, benton wesley is still alive, i’m just confused about the orders of the series cause i’m following Dr. Scarpetta’s love story. haha
Don’t want to spoil anything for you so I won’t give details. You really need to read the series in order.
Of course when we mentioned Patricia Cornwell, we mostly think of the famous Scarpetta series, featuring the Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, working in Massachusetts.
Sorry, but she worked in Virginia, not Massachusetts.
She worked in Massachusetts too. Keep ‘reading and assume nothing.
I read Flesh and Blood in January. This was my first in the Scarpetta series. I have just now found Point of Origin, written in 1998, and have just finished it. To my horror I found out that Benton Wesley died in this series, yet he is listed as Scarpetta’s husband in Flesh and Blood. Did he miraculously come back from the dead or it was not him in the first place and they let go the ashes of someone else? Without me having to read the rest of this series to solve this answer, Can someone let me know how he comes back to life please?
You are in for a nice surprise! He has been resurrected. After reading the later novel after he died I decided to start from series 1. Thanks to my nook her Scarpetti series is from 1990 to 2014. And Lthough I have read the older ones it is much better to start from scratch to see how all the characters evolve.
I stopped reading for awhile after Last Precinct because I thought it would be the final story. I decided to reread before starting the newer books.
Can someone match the villains to the books? I want to refer back to the book when Carrie Gretchen, and Temple Gault, or any others come up in a new novel. Thanks!
They first appeared when Lucy was interning at UVA. The book is Cruel & Usual but she refers to Gault again in the next book and Carrie is mentioned in Unatural Exposure when a cop Lucy won’t date & who happens to hate Scarpetta reveals something to the DA prosecuting Carrie that could end Lucy’s career while trying to also discredit Scarpetta
I HOPE #23 is in the works! I just finished Flesh and Blood, with a huge gap between the last I read…I need to read all I’ve missed but there must be more Kay Scarpetta!
And movie is in works??? So exciting!