Reading Lists β†’ Kay Scarpetta

Kay Scarpetta Books In Order (Full List)

Kay Scarpetta is a series of 29 books by Patricia Cornwell. The first book published in the series is Postmortem in 1990. Here is a complete list of Kay Scarpetta books in order.

Last update: October 18, 2026

1. Postmortem (1990)

Postmortem book cover

They’re trying to kill her. A killer is stalking the streets of Richmond, Virginia.

  • πŸ“‡ 364 Pages
  • πŸ“ 91,000 - 109,200 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 12 Hours Reading Time

2. Body of Evidence (1991)

Body of Evidence book cover

Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta checks the murder of Beryl Madison, an author, whose latest manuscript is now missing.

  • πŸ“‡ 387 Pages
  • πŸ“ 96,750 - 116,100 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

3. All That Remains (1992)

All That Remains book cover

Pathologist Kay Scarpetta goes looking for the cause of death in the case of five young couples whose decomposed bodies are found without shoes and socks deep in the woods.

  • πŸ“‡ 399 Pages
  • πŸ“ 99,750 - 119,700 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

4. Cruel and Unusual (1993)

Cruel and Unusual book cover

Cruel and Unusual is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. It is the fourth book in the Dr Kay Scarpetta series.

  • πŸ“‡ 409 Pages
  • πŸ“ 102,250 - 122,700 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 14 Hours Reading Time

5. The Body Farm (1994)

The Body Farm book cover

Scarpetta's obsession with time leads her to The Body Farm, a little-known research facility in Tennessee where, with the help of some grisly experiments, she might discover the answer.

  • πŸ“‡ 368 Pages
  • πŸ“ 92,000 - 110,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 12 Hours Reading Time

6. From Potter's Field (1995)

From Potter's Field book cover

In Richmond, 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 For Scarpetta, her worst nightmare returns.

  • πŸ“‡ 384 Pages
  • πŸ“ 96,000 - 115,200 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

7. Cause of Death (1996)

Cause of Death book cover

El cadΓ‘ver de Theodore Andrew Edding ha aparecido bajo el agua, tras una supuesta sesiΓ³n de inmersiΓ³n.

  • πŸ“‡ 368 Pages
  • πŸ“ 92,000 - 110,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 12 Hours Reading Time

8. Unnatural Exposure (1997)

Unnatural Exposure book cover

Dr Kay Scarpetta is newly returned from Dublin, where she was called in to examine the remains of a murder victim whose limbs and head were expertly severed.

  • πŸ“‡ 352 Pages
  • πŸ“ 88,000 - 105,600 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 12 Hours Reading Time

9. Point of Origin (1998)

Point of Origin book cover

When Scarpetta learns that her old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, is somehow involved, the investigation gets personal and tragedy strikes closer to home.

  • πŸ“‡ 418 Pages
  • πŸ“ 104,500 - 125,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 14 Hours Reading Time

10. Black Notice (1999)

Black Notice book cover

Black Notice is a crime novel by American writer Patricia Cornwell. It is the tenth book of the Dr Kay Scarpetta series.

  • πŸ“‡ 441 Pages
  • πŸ“ 110,250 - 132,300 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 15 Hours Reading Time

11. The Last Precinct (2000)

The Last Precinct book cover

A case for Dr Kay Scarpetta and Detective Pete Marino to crack - and a threat to Scarpetta which could change the course of her career.

  • πŸ“‡ 468 Pages
  • πŸ“ 117,000 - 140,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 16 Hours Reading Time

12. Blow Fly (2003)

Blow Fly book cover

Dr Scarpetta is no longer Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner so she packs up and heads for Florida.

  • πŸ“‡ 480 Pages
  • πŸ“ 120,000 - 144,000 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 16 Hours Reading Time

13. Trace (2004)

Trace book cover

Dr Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing from south Florida, returns to the city that turned its back on her five years ago.

  • πŸ“‡ 416 Pages
  • πŸ“ 104,000 - 124,800 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 14 Hours Reading Time

14. Predator (2005)

Predator book cover

Dr Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Boston The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team -- Pete Marino, Benton Wesley.

  • πŸ“‡ 464 Pages
  • πŸ“ 116,000 - 139,200 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 15 Hours Reading Time

15. Book of the Dead (2007)

Book of the Dead book cover

The "Book of the Dead" is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to have a new meaning.

  • πŸ“‡ 405 Pages
  • πŸ“ 101,250 - 121,500 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 14 Hours Reading Time

16. Scarpetta (2008)

Scarpetta book cover

Leaving behind her Charleston forensic pathology practice to accept an assignment in New York City.

  • πŸ“‡ 500 Pages
  • πŸ“ 125,000 - 150,000 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 17 Hours Reading Time

17. The Scarpetta Factor (2009)

The Scarpetta Factor book cover

When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package – possibly a bomb – waiting for her at the front desk. It is the week before Christmas.

  • πŸ“‡ 494 Pages
  • πŸ“ 123,500 - 148,200 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 16 Hours Reading Time

18. Port Mortuary (2010)

Port Mortuary book cover

When the revolutionary 3D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, Scarpetta realizes that this is a case of murder.

  • πŸ“‡ 507 Pages
  • πŸ“ 126,750 - 152,100 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 17 Hours Reading Time

19. Red Mist (2011)

Red Mist book cover

Determined to find out what happened to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, murdered six months earlier, Kay Scarpetta travels to the Georgia Prison for Women.

  • πŸ“‡ 498 Pages
  • πŸ“ 124,500 - 149,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 17 Hours Reading Time

20. The Bone Bed (2012)

The Bone Bed book cover

An eminent paleontologist vanishes from a dinosaur dig site, and Kay Scarpetta receives a grisly communication that gives her a dreadful reason to suspect this may become her next case.

  • πŸ“‡ 463 Pages
  • πŸ“ 115,750 - 138,900 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 15 Hours Reading Time

21. Dust (2013)

Dust book cover

After working one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history, Scarpetta returns home to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she receives an unsettling call.

  • πŸ“‡ 495 Pages
  • πŸ“ 123,750 - 148,500 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 17 Hours Reading Time

22. Flesh and Blood (2014)

Flesh and Blood book cover

First New Jersey, then Massachusetts, and then the murky depths off the coast of South Florida, where Scarpetta checks a shipwreck, looking for answers that only she can discover and analyze.

  • πŸ“‡ 369 Pages
  • πŸ“ 92,250 - 110,700 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 12 Hours Reading Time

23. Depraved Heart (2015)

Depraved Heart book cover

Dr Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy.

  • πŸ“‡ 466 Pages
  • πŸ“ 116,500 - 139,800 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 16 Hours Reading Time

24. Chaos (2016)

Chaos book cover

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.

  • πŸ“‡ 385 Pages
  • πŸ“ 96,250 - 115,500 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

25. Autopsy (2021)

Autopsy book cover

Forensic pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia, the state where she launched her storied career, as the chief medical examiner.

  • πŸ“‡ 400 Pages
  • πŸ“ 100,000 - 120,000 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

26. Livid (2022)

Livid book cover

Kay Scarpetta's testimony in a murder trial pulls her into a case that turns violent outside the courtroom.

  • πŸ“‡ 480 Pages
  • πŸ“ 120,000 - 144,000 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 16 Hours Reading Time

27. Unnatural Death (2023)

Unnatural Death book cover

Unnatural Exposure is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. It is the eighth book in the Dr Kay Scarpetta series.

  • πŸ“‡ 768 Pages
  • πŸ“ 192,000 - 230,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 26 Hours Reading Time

28. Sharp Force (2025)

Sharp Force book cover

Kay Scarpetta follows the evidence in "Sharp Force".

  • πŸ“‡ 400 Pages
  • πŸ“ 100,000 - 120,000 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 13 Hours Reading Time

29. Rapid and Fatal (2027)

Rapid and Fatal book cover

Kay Scarpetta follows the evidence in "Rapid and Fatal".

  • πŸ“‡ 418 Pages
  • πŸ“ 104,500 - 125,400 Word Count
  • ⏱️ 14 Hours Reading Time