Postmortem

I would love to meet the iconic Dr. Kay Scarpetta in real life. She is amazing.

Patricia Cornwell has written twenty-seven brilliant novels about this intriguing chief medical examiner. In this debut work, Dr. Scarpetta has to track down a serial killer.

Attention to detail, tight plotlines, and friendship and family drama had me locked in from the start. I was instantly transported to Dr. Scarpetta’s universe. It’s a great one.

When I was in my Pathology residency at the University of Virginia, I had a two-week rotation at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. 

By coincidence, someone told me about Postmortem written by a former employee of the office, Patricia Cornwell. I went to the library to check it out and was offered the audio version on cassette. 

On my 90-minute drive to my first day of the rotation, I listened to this book and wanted to keep driving as I was hooked. I was glad I did stop as not only did I observe the… show more.

I’m the type of reader that loves a series, and Cornwell does it perfectly. Her writing pulls you into the pages of her thrillers, and the everyday life of forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta. Almost, as if you are a part of the Scarpetta family, or at the least, following along beside her in her work. The intrigue and suspense kept me turning the pages, falling down that rabbit hole, and whispering to myself, “I didn’t see that coming!”