Figuring out the Patricia Cornwell books in order gets a lot easier once you separate the Kay Scarpetta novels from everything else. Scarpetta is still the core of Cornwell’s bibliography, and since those books build on character relationships and long-running storylines, reading them in order gives you the best experience.
This guide organizes Cornwell’s books clearly, so you can read Scarpetta straight through and quickly spot her other series, standalones, and non-fiction. It’s a simple way to find the right starting point without mixing together books that follow completely different paths.
Jump to:
- Kay Scarpetta Books in Order
- Other Patricia Cornwell Books
- Patricia Cornwell Adaptations
- Who is Patricia Cornwell?
- Patricia Cornwell Books FAQ
Kay Scarpetta Books in Order
The Kay Scarpetta series marks the beginning of Patricia Cornwell’s writing career. The series opens with a gruesome trail of strangled victims across Richmond, Virginia.
Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst with a serial killer on the loose. However, this investigation will push Scarpetta to her limits because it is being sabotaged from within, and someone wants her dead.
What follows is a brilliant sequence of novels as Scarpetta uses forensic research to track horrific killers and finds herself entangled in many nail-biting situations.
- Postmortem (1989)
- 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 Unknown (2024)
- Sharp Force (2025)
Other Patricia Cornwell Books
Andy Brazil Series
Brazil, Hammer, and West will be heading to Richmond, Virginia, to address the growing gang problem. They will also bring the police department up to date with the most recent technologies and techniques. In addition, they bring a computer program that tracks criminal activity and a new way to reform officers.
- Hornet’s Nest (1997)
- Southern Cross (1999)
- Isle of Dogs (2002)
Win Garano Series
The Win Garano books follow a younger investigator than Kay Scarpetta, but they still lean into Patricia Cornwell’s interest in crime, politics, and forensic detail. It’s a much shorter series, so this is an easy place to start if you want to sample Cornwell outside Scarpetta without committing to a long reading path.
Captain Chase Series
In this thriller by Patricia Cornwell, Captain Calli Chase races against the clock to stop a plot that could spell doom for humanity. Captain Calli Chase meets her twin sister and discovers the shocking truth about who they are after a disastrous NASA rocket launch.
Children’s Picture Books
- Life’s Little Fable (1999)
Non-Fiction Books
- A Time for Remembering: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham (1983) (later revised and republished as Ruth, A Portrait in 1997)
- Scarpetta’s Winter Table (1998)
- Food to Die For: Secrets From Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen (2002)
- Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed (2002)
- Chasing the Ripper (2014)
- Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert (2017)
- True Crime: A Memoir (2026)
Patricia Cornwell Adaptations
Patricia Cornwell’s work has made it to the screen, but not nearly as often as you might expect from an author with such a long-running and bestselling crime catalog. Most of the adaptations tied directly to her books have been television projects rather than major theatrical releases.
The earliest book-based adaptations on Cornwell’s official TV page are At Risk and The Front, both released in 2010 and based on her Win Garano novels. That was followed by Hornet’s Nest in 2012, adapted from the first book in her Andy Brazil series.
More recently, Kay Scarpetta finally received a larger-scale screen adaptation with Scarpetta for Prime Video. The series is based on Cornwell’s bestselling Scarpetta novels, stars Nicole Kidman as Kay Scarpetta.
Who is Patricia Cornwell?
Patricia Cornwell was born in Miami on June 9, 1956, and is best known as the creator of Kay Scarpetta, the forensic pathologist at the center of her long-running crime series. Scarpetta remains the backbone of Cornwell’s bibliography, but Cornwell has also written the Andy Brazil, Win Garano, and Captain Chase books, along with non-fiction and a children’s picture book.
Before publishing Postmortem, Cornwell worked in Virginia’s medical examiner system, and that background helped shape the forensic detail that made her fiction stand out. Since then, she has become one of the most successful crime writers of her generation, with a long list of bestselling books built around forensic science and psychological suspense.
Patricia Cornwell Books FAQ
What Patricia Cornwell book should I read first?
For most readers, the best place to start is Postmortem. It was Cornwell’s debut novel, it introduced Kay Scarpetta, and it launched the series that made her famous, so it gives you the clearest entry point into her work.
Is Kay Scarpetta based on a real person?
Partly, yes. Cornwell has said Scarpetta was based in part on Dr. Marcella Farinelli Fierro, the former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner. That real-world forensic background is a big reason the series feels so grounded in medical detail.
Are all Patricia Cornwell books about Kay Scarpetta?
No. Scarpetta is easily Cornwell’s biggest and best-known series, but her official bibliography also includes the Captain Chase books, the Win Garano books, the Andy Brazil books, Jack the Ripper titles, and other standalone or non-series work.
Has Patricia Cornwell written any non-fiction?
She has. Cornwell’s official bibliography includes non-fiction and nonfiction-adjacent titles such as Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed, Chasing the Ripper, and her memoir True Crime: A Memoir. So while she’s best known for crime fiction, her catalog isn’t limited to novels.
Is Patricia Cornwell still writing new books?
Yes. Cornwell published Sharp Force in 2025, and her memoir True Crime: A Memoir is scheduled for May 5, 2026, so this is still an active bibliography rather than a finished backlist.
Looking for similar books in order?
If you want more thriller authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Thriller Books in Order index.
One thought on “Patricia Cornwell Books in Order: Scarpetta & More”
Love Patricia Cornwell novels! Can’t wait to see the Scarpetta novel coming out on October 25, 2022!