Kay Scarpetta Series 12 Book Set By Patricia Cornwell

Kay Scarpetta Series 12 Book Set by Patricia Cornwell brings together twelve novels featuring Dr Kay Scarpetta, a Chief Medical Examiner whose work repeatedly draws her into complex investigations across the US and beyond. The collection spans cases involving unidentified remains, suspicious deaths, disappearances and crimes that place Scarpetta under professional and personal pressure.

Across the set, Scarpetta follows evidence from Richmond, Virginia to locations including Florida, Ireland, France, Rome and New York. The stories introduce recurring colleagues and family members, and explore investigations shaped by forensic examination, police work and the consequences of being drawn into dangerous, high-stakes enquiries.

Included titles

• Black Notice
• Predator
• Unnatural Exposure
• All that Remains
• Cause of Death
• The Body Farm
• Body of Evidence
• Cruel and Unusual
• Trace
• Book of the Dead
• Point of Origin
• From Potter's Field

Key details

• 12-book set in the Kay Scarpetta series
• Written by Patricia Cornwell
• Centres on Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner
• Stories set across multiple locations including Virginia, Florida, Ireland, France, Rome and New York

Synopses

Black Notice

A sealed container arriving at Richmond’s Deep Water Terminal is found to hold the decomposed remains of a stowaway. With no immediate cause of death or identification, Scarpetta follows clues from the victim’s effects and a distinctive tattoo to Interpol in Lyon, and on to the Paris morgue for secret evidence. The mission she is given could jeopardise her career.

Predator

In Florida, Scarpetta confronts the threat posed by human predators, while in Boston Benton Wesley works on a secret case involving convicted killers. When a woman’s body is discovered bearing signs of torture and tattooed handprints, the case takes on added urgency after Lucy has seen similar marks. As Scarpetta and Marino investigate a family’s disappearance in Florida, they uncover signs of abduction and realise they have been set up and closely watched.

Unnatural Exposure

Murders in Dublin and Richmond appear linked, prompting Scarpetta to use a lecture stint in Ireland to examine connections between cases. Discrepancies in a Virginia death suggest a copy-cat killing, but fear escalates when the next body indicates the killer may be using smallpox as a weapon.

All that Remains

Young couples are found dead in remote woodland areas, and Scarpetta repeatedly records the cause of death as undetermined due to the effects of the elements. When a missing girl is revealed to be the daughter of a powerful figure, political pressure and press attention intensify. Scarpetta discovers evidence may be withheld or falsified while the killer remains at large.

Cause of Death

On New Year’s Eve, Scarpetta is drawn into a case thirty feet below the icy surface of the Elizabeth River, where diver and investigative reporter Ted Eddings is found dead. Questions arise about why Scarpetta learned of the death before police were notified. Working with Lucy and Captain Pete Marino, she follows a trail that relies on both technology and traditional detective work.

The Body Farm

In Black Mountain, North Carolina, the discovery of an 11-year-old girl’s body shocks a community unaccustomed to violent crime. Scarpetta, already working a similar case in Virginia, is called in to apply her forensic skills. What seems straightforward becomes more complex, leading her to the pathologists’ facility known as the Body Farm.

Body of Evidence

Reclusive writer Beryl Madison is stalked and threatened with obscene phone calls, prompting her to flee to Key West before returning to Richmond. On the night she arrives home, she inexplicably invites her killer inside. Scarpetta investigates a brutal death complicated by a missing manuscript and an enigmatic relationship with a prize-winning author, as laboratory work leads into a wider and increasingly disturbing enquiry.

Cruel and Unusual

Convicted murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell is executed in Richmond, and Scarpetta awaits his body at the morgue. That same night, a grotesquely wounded young boy is found positioned by a rubbish skip. The cases appear unrelated until Scarpetta recalls similarities to the earlier murder attributed to Waddell.

Trace

Scarpetta returns to Virginia as a consultant pathologist on the death of a fourteen-year-old girl, despite misgivings and advice from Benton Wesley and Lucy. With Pete Marino, she finds her former workplace changed and faces hostility from the new Chief Medical Examiner. Re-examining the evidence, she concludes the girl was murdered and uncovers trace evidence linking multiple incidents, suggesting someone may be targeting those close to her.

Book of the Dead

The “book of the dead” is the morgue log, but for Scarpetta it takes on a new significance as she relocates to Charleston, South Carolina and opens a private forensic pathology practice. Her team offers crime scene investigation and autopsies to communities lacking modern death investigation resources. The work soon involves a series of violent deaths across locations including a beach home, a marsh and Rome, as the log fills with new names and the danger intensifies.

Point of Origin

Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner and consulting pathologist for the ATF, is called to a Virginia farmhouse destroyed by fire. In the ruins she finds a body indicating a violent murder. At the same time, Carrie Grethen escapes from a forensic psychiatric hospital and begins communicating with Scarpetta with cryptic plans for revenge.

From Potter's Field

At Christmas, a naked female body is found posed against a fountain in Central Park. The apparent method of killing and the way the body is displayed suggest a familiar modus operandi, raising the possibility that Temple Brooks Gault has returned. With Marino and Wesley, Scarpetta pursues the killer through New York, heading towards a climax in the subway.