Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Red Mist (Kay Scarpetta #19)

by Patricia Cornwell (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 9,053 ratings · 1,107 reviews

The new Kay Scarpetta novel from the world's #1 bestselling crime writer.

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, where an inmate has information not only on Fielding, but also on a string of grisly killings. The murder of an Atlanta family years ago...more

Hardcover, 512 pages

Published December 6th 2011 by Putnam Adult (first published 2011)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Novels Of 2011

37th out of 292 books — 972 voters

2012: What the Over 35s Have Read So Far

128th out of 3,525 books — 698 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 30, 2011 Charity Kountz rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have been a longtime fan of Patricia Cornwell's work, particularly her heroine Kay Scarpetta. The series depicted her as a strong, capable, confident, and committed to a work few people would be willing to do. Her commitment was admirable. However, in this book, this characterization has begun to unravel at the seams.

For some reason I cannot quite understand, Cornwell has changed Scarpetta from a focused scientist to a self-absorbed, unconfident, vindictive and paranoid character who is extrem...more

21 likes · like · see review

Aug 07, 2012 Sean rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction-thriller, horror, contemporary-fiction

I am actually rather upset with this latest in the Scarpetta stories, so much so I feel compelled to note down my thoughts. Steadily over the years I've read most of them, I think missing 'Port Morturary', but it can't be that which was the problem, as I've read the entire series out of order, having read 'Trace' first, a few others and then went back and read the first 5, and it has never really bothered me, which shows how good a writer Cornwell can be.

I felt this story to be completely bereft...more I am actually rather upset with this latest in the Scarpetta stories, so much so I feel compelled to note down my thoughts. Steadily over the years I've read most of them, I think missing 'Port Morturary', but it can't be that which was the problem, as I've read the entire series out of order, having read 'Trace' first, a few others and then went back and read the first 5, and it has never really bothered me, which shows how good a writer Cornwell can be.

I felt this story to be completely bereft of what has made the stories in the past so beguiling. I felt it was flat, stale, lacking in mystery and surprises, and generally uninteresting. I forced myself to finish it. Usually I'm happy to return to familiar characters, but this time I felt little for any of them. Perhaps I have grown out of these stories, and am tired of crime fiction, as I just don't feel it any more.

In fact, as a twin myself, I personally found the novel very difficult to read and upsetting. From memory, it is the most violent and unsettling depiction of murder so far in the series, and I think this time the plot and crime scene at the house in particular were so extreme, Cornwell has finally scared me off. She may have written a book on Jack the Ripper (which I found fascinating and terrifying), but Cornwell is too skilled to resort to similar levels of violence in her work.

It is not just this novel I've failed to connect with. The last enjoyable Scarpetta novel I remember was the aptly named 'Scarpetta', and I firmly believe the last great novel in the series was 'The Last Precinct'. I think she should have ended the series there, or perhaps, at the latest, finished things with 'Scarpetta', as it has been painful to follow such a great heroine since.

To conclude, I'd like to thank Cornwell for entertaining me for the majority of this special series, but this will be the last book of hers I'll read. Thank you for Kay, Pete, Lucy, Benton and Jaime, who almost became like a family to me. I just hope for others the series improves, or ends soon, as it is long past its peak. I'll happily return to my classics, where I am rarely distressed or left cold like here.
(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Dec 05, 2011 Chris Wolak rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

Red Mist is another strong entry in the Scarpetta Series. In some ways I liked it more than last year’s Port Mortuary because the action is more consistent throughout. In Port Mortuary there was a lot of Scarpetta sitting around thinking and being paranoid. In Red Mist Scarpetta is on the move in Savannah, Georgia. She's not on her own turf, doesn't have the trappings of her power base, and isn't in charge. She's also gone to Georgia against the advice of her FBI profiler husband, Benton, and ot...more Red Mist is another strong entry in the Scarpetta Series. In some ways I liked it more than last year’s Port Mortuary because the action is more consistent throughout. In Port Mortuary there was a lot of Scarpetta sitting around thinking and being paranoid. In Red Mist Scarpetta is on the move in Savannah, Georgia. She's not on her own turf, doesn't have the trappings of her power base, and isn't in charge. She's also gone to Georgia against the advice of her FBI profiler husband, Benton, and others. So there’s much more action. However, Scarpetta being who she is, there's still a lot of paranoia. From the get-go nothing is going right for Scarpetta. The car she rented wasn't available and she finds herself driving a smelly old van to the Georgia Prison for Women where she's to meet with one of the inmates.

The issue of manipulation is set up early in this novel. When we first see the warden she's re-shelving a book about manipulation, Kathleen, the prisoner Scarpetta visists, is a compulsive manipulator, and Jamie Berger’s manipulation of other people’s egos for her own purposes is duly noted. In contrast, Scarpetta is blunt and honest, but the manipulation, both subtle and blatant, converges to put her pre-disposition to paranoia into overdrive.

Red Mist starts on June 30th and ends on July 4th. Scarpetta is going to visit Kathleen, the mother of Dawn Kincaid. Dawn is the woman who tried to kill Scarpetta in Port Mortuary. Kathleen is the woman who sexually abused Cornwell's long-time employee Jack Fielding when he was underage. Dawn Kincaid, we learned in Port Mortuary, is actually the child of Kathleen and Jack.

Scarpetta's meeting with the warden is weird, the meeting with Kathleen is weird, and then Scarpetta unexpectedly meets with Jamie Berger. Berger, Cornwell fans know, is a high powered New York City DA and Scarpetta's niece Lucy’s former lover. Marino is in the picture, of course, and eventually Benton and Lucy join the fray as well.

People start dying. A major character among them. An old case is re-opened and Scarpetta finds herself embroiled in a mess created by several other women. There's some good "old fashioned" forensic investigative work in this novel. The final scene at the house I thought was a little too quick and neat, but otherwise this was a satisfying read.

As usual Cornwell slips in some helpful medical/health advice. Did you know that menthol in throat lozenges actually causes temporary loss of vocal cord functioning? You’re better off finding some slippery elm throat lozenges which are all natural and have no menthol.

I know a few people who were fans of Cornwell's earlier novels that stopped reading the series. They've asked me if I think the series has gone down hill. I do think that Cornwell went through a bit of a slump of some kind, but the last three books seem to be getting the series back on track. For some readers I've wondered if they just got tired of Scarpetta because she's a strong, but deeply flawed character and Cornwell seems to be trying to explore those flaws. Or did Cornwell's move away from first person narration distance early readers? (Note: She is back to first person narration.) I stopped reading the series for a few years but then went back to it because I enjoy the characters even if I don't always like what Cornwell does with them. I took a break from the series because I got dismayed by the cruelty, inhumanity, and terror Cornwell was exploring through the perspective of the serial killers and their victims. Now, however, she's back to focusing on Scarpetta's perspective and I much prefer that. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Scarpetta and her crew.

Cornwell revamped her website to coincide with the release of Red Mist: http://www.patriciacornwell.com/

Disclosure: I read a pre-publication edition of Red Mist that I requested from the publisher.(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Sep 01, 2012 Julie H. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Not the best in the Kay Scarpetta series by far, but certainly not the worst. Parts of this story were really intriguing, but I couldn't get past the fact that the savvy Dr. Scarpetta who deftly handled such potential foes as wily prison warden Tara Grimm, delusional convict Kathleen Lawler whose amoral choices resulted in the destruction of Kay's former employee Jack Fielding (among others), the highly manipulative tactics of former NYC attorney (and sometimes alter-ego) Jaime Berger, and a hos...more Not the best in the Kay Scarpetta series by far, but certainly not the worst. Parts of this story were really intriguing, but I couldn't get past the fact that the savvy Dr. Scarpetta who deftly handled such potential foes as wily prison warden Tara Grimm, delusional convict Kathleen Lawler whose amoral choices resulted in the destruction of Kay's former employee Jack Fielding (among others), the highly manipulative tactics of former NYC attorney (and sometimes alter-ego) Jaime Berger, and a host of others in this outing would insert herself in a series of situations in which she knew herself to be compromising the case and/or knowingly sidestepping best practices.

At times, I felt that Kay was as self-delusional as several characters who appear in this novel. Moreover, her unstated conviction that somehow only she can see all the evidence in the proper light borders on the dangerously monomaniacal path followed to such ill effect by Jaime Berger. In other words, for someone who has lived by her instincts and unusually high personal and professional standards so successfully for so long, Kay's instincts and moral self-compass seem to be desperately in need of calibration. As such, when Kay reflects on Marino's foibles and insists--toward novel's end--that she knows what's best for him, the reader is caught short by her own seeming hypocrisy and lack of self-reflection. The big(gish) plot twist toward story's end is well-telegraphed, and that character deserved a great deal more development in my estimation. All told, the characters readers have invested in so heavily over the course of this series--most notably Kay herself, Lucy, Marino, and Benton--all felt far too two-dimensional and out of their elements here.

I'll certainly continue to read the series, however, it's been so hit-or-miss of late that it doesn't make it to the top of the "must-read" list any longer. I wish that weren't the case, but Red Mist did nothing to change that scenario for the better.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 04, 2012 Teresa Crawford rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been a big fan of Patricia Cornwells from the beginning and I usually find her books quite easy to read since I really like the characters and the story seem to flow easily.

Unfortunately I felt that this book made myself ask over and over again "do people really ramble on to themselves like Scarpetta did in this book"? I've always thought that Marino was the most realistic character in the Scarpetta series, and I felt as if his character was pushed aside somewhat in this book and left som...more

9 likes · like · see review

Oct 24, 2012 Anna Mcmullen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book confused me. Where are the strong, self-possessed women characters? Why does it feel like the author is bored with what she's created? If this was a first reading of Cornwell's work I wouldn't be coming back.

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 03, 2012 Tracie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Patricia Cornwall is back on her game with Red Mist. She seemed to have backed away from the very thing that made her books so interesting, forensic pathology, to delve into relationship issues. Kay Scarpetta is an excellent pathologist, but she doesn't always do as well in her personal life as she does in her professional life and I felt many of the recent books built around Scarpetta were lacking. Red Mist takes Kay back to the things she does best: finding clues in bodies, solving mysteries,...more

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 07, 2012 Rachel Nowakowski rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read nearly all of this in one day, just a smidgeon left over for the next! Not read a Scarpetta in ages and have read this out of sync but had a short yelp of glee when I realised that the story has moved on, Benton and Scarpetta are married and she has some happiness in her life. Have always loved the characters, the relationships between Kay and Marino, Kay and Lucy, and Kay and her various workmates are touchingly observed and well written. I am always annoyed at the negative comparisons bet...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 03, 2012 Bev rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery, kindle

Many people have given this book a very bad review on Amazon.com. I disagree. While I wouldn't give it five stars, I might give it 3-1/2. It was a relief to see the return to somewhat normal relationships and personalities of the characters we have come to know over the years (and not as how they have changed as a result of the horrible things Cornwell has done to them in previous books). Kay's insecurities & the food are back, but Kay is not overly neurotic. Benton has a bit more meaty role...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 19, 2012 Sherrie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I've been a Cornwell fan since the beginning. But the last 4 or 5 novels have been headed in a direction that results in this, the weakest effort yet. Somewhere along the line, Cornwell lost a good editor and/or gained a bad one, because what used to be sharp, taut writing now goes on and on and ON. The meeting between Scarpetta and Berger that lays out the plot of the book took over 100 pages. It could have easily been done in 30. Or less. The entire novel is filled with over-long, over-emotion...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jul 05, 2012 KRM rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been reading Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books for years. The first 8 or 9 novels in the series are some of the finest forensic crime fiction ever written and many writers before and since have yet to beat the high quality of these books - Cornwell included. The last couple of years her books have gone rapidly downhill in regard to quality.

I very rarely give up on reading a book before the end (I've only done this perhaps 5 times in the past 10 years) but Red Mist is so incredibly bor...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 04, 2012 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just not sure I can read another Scarpetta--and I used to love Cornwell's Scarpetta series. I would give this one three and a half stars--pretty good, but Cornwell seems to be struggling to find a place where she can add new regular characters to the roster, and Kay Scarpetta can find new challenges. She didn't accomplish that with this book.

The first half of the book is tediously chatty. Endless rounds of guarded, double-meaning conversations, where Kay verbally conquers a variety of foes--a fe...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2012 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, medical, murder-mystery, series, thriller

I used to really enjoy the Kay Scarpetta series, but books 14 - 16 were so disappointing (and somewhat awful)that I was ready to stop reading them. Because I had invested so much time into the books, I felt I needed to keep reading them. Thankfully, 17 and 18 redeemed themselves for me, so I expected 19 to be satisfying as well. Alas, I'm tired of whiny Lucy who is always going to be a miserably angry person, pathetic Pete Marino who falls for the wrong woman every time because he loves Kay, and...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Kathy Davie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense

Nineteenth in the Kay Scarpetta suspense series revolving around a forensic pathologist and her group of friends and co-workers.

My Take
It's a fascinating uncovering of a nine-year-old murder and future terror with a very scary look inside the minds of killers. And their delight in destroying people before and after being arrested. Then there's the frame-up of Kay as this story completes what began in Port Mortuary . The betrayals certainly seem neverending.

It's interesting to read Kathleen Lawle...more

like · see review

Feb 19, 2012 Bonnie E. rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read several of the Scarpetta books although it had been awhile since the last time I'd picked one up. I read the other book reviews after I finished Red Mist and I am surprised at how negative many of them are. I enjoyed this book. It's unusual in the sense that most of the main characters (protagonists and antagonists) are female. Scarpetta's main support network (Lucy, Benton and Marino) are not developed nearly as much, so there is a real advantage to having read Scarpetta beforehand, o...more

like · see review

Feb 16, 2012 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was one of the better Scarpetta books because it had a good ending, and it was set largely in the Savannah area. All the usual characters are there -- Benton, Lucy, Marino. A lot of the story is set in a women's prison, so there were disturbing details as that depressing life was shown. Also, the legal system has it's flaws. "Victims have no rights while they're being victimized and few rights during the slow, tedious grind of the criminal justice process. The injuries don't heal but contin...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 12, 2012 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

This one confused me. I had to check it out from the library twice with a gap in between but as I started it I was pretty excited that this seemed like it was going to be a great Scarpetta book. I used to really love this series but it just seemed to veer off track somewhere and I no longer buy the books.

I think this turned in to an okay Scarpetta book. Good but I'll honestly probably forget the plot within a month. This one is basically a continuation of the last book, where all sorts of murder...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 21, 2011 Randall Farmer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Red Mist is book 19 of the Scarpetta novels (where has the time gone!), and that I'm perfectly capable of enjoying book 19 of a series says more about me (get those knuckles off the ground, stand up straight when you walk on your hind legs) than the book. The book is easy to read, the characters reveal little new of themselves (despite the Scarpetta's endlessly introspective nature), the growing tension wonderful, the red herring factor and perp identity surprise just about perfect for this type...more

like · see review

Dec 13, 2011 Christine Wright rated it 5 of 5 stars

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell is a roller coaster ride that will keep the reader guessing until the very end. It is the sequel to Port Mortuary in that it answers all the questions that remained with the reader. From the very first page the reader becomes “one” with the thoughts & actions taken by the lead character Dr. Kay Scarpetta. I found myself taking on the emotions and fears of this character. The reader begins to question the motives of those who had been allies to Dr. Scarpetta in t...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Melinda Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I want to love each book that Cornwell puts out. And I notice a trend that she's gone back to the good ol' days of first person storytelling, which can work for or against her, depending on the interest in the novel. Unfortunately I felt that this one was a little too talky and not enough on the action front to keep readers interested. Secondary characters like Marino, Benton, and Lucy have all taken a back seat to Scarpetta's stream of consciousness monologues, which are lengthy and overdone th...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2012 Bryan Higgs rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

I used to like Patricia Cornwell, in her early books. Then, she began to deteriorate. Blow Fly was the one that turned me off completely. It gave the strong impression that she got to the point where the publisher said "Submit it!", and she stopped writing and closed it down, without regard to whether it made sense. I hated it.

I just tried to read this one, one of her latest. I got a little more than 1/3 the way through, and didn't have the patience to continue. The writing was turgid, and the p...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 29, 2013 Danielle Rosheim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Patricia Cornwell has the murder mystery book down to a science, and her Kay Scarpetta character has had me hooked since page 1 of Postmortem. I remember reading her first books back in high school, hiding them behind chemistry textbooks, delusional in thinking it was totally convincing. I've been behind in the series in recent years but have done my best to catch up, and this one did not leave me disappointed. I don't think it's her strongest Scarpetta novel-- it took over 250 pages for a fresh...more

like · see review

Mar 30, 2013 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Red Mist is the 19th book in the Kay Scarpetta series by American author, Patricia D. Cornwell. Forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta visits an inmate at the Georgia Prison For Women, a woman who sexually assaulted Scarpetta’s now-deceased deputy chief, Jack Fielding, in his youth, and bore his daughter, who herself became a brilliant and vicious murderess. As a result of the visit, Kay feels manipulated into meeting with former NY assistant DA, Jaime Berger, and her paranoia is justified as she f...more

like · see review

Sep 05, 2012 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'd thought I'd read all of the Scarpetta novels but it turns out I'd missed this one and the last one ("Port Mortuary"). So I set about to remedy that and I couldn't be more disappointed. I've enjoyed the exacting and sometimes gross detail in the other books in this series but this one was so bloated with detail that it was overpowering. The plot got lost somewhere in acronym-heavy long-winded descriptions of medical technologies that were never even passingly explained and the convoluted char...more

like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Larry Rogers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jim Thompson once wrote that all mysteries share one premise: "Things are not what they seem." Kay Scarpetta's fisrt-person account of the time period following the murder of her self-destructive assistant director, Jack Fielding (see "Port Mortuary"), bears out Thompson's premise. Scarpetta has gone to Georgia to interview the imprisoned mother of the woman who tried to kill Kay several months earlier. (The attempted murderer is the love child of Fielding and the woman Scarpetta visits. Like he...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 21, 2012 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've read every book in Cornwell's Scarpetta series and lately I've been wondering why I keep doing it. It's like she hates her characters or something. There's annoying spoiled Lucy who has a permanent chip on her shoulder. Holier than thou Benton who does no wrong. Poor pitiful Pete who will always be hung up on some strong female character, mostly Kay, though Red Mist he was all hung up on Lucy's ex Jamie (what the hell is up with her?) Why can't he ever get over Kay and move on and grow up?...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2011 Karen Brooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoy Cornwall's Scarpetta books, and this is no exception. The plot is excellent, the familiar characters make a reappearance and the science of murder and death is rendered well. Nonetheless, I found I didn't become as immersed in this tale in quite the way I had the others. Commencing only months after the last book ends with Kay saved from the psychopathic intentions of Dawn Kincaid, Red Mist finds Kay lured to the southern states of the USA, on a mission that she is neither comfort...more

like · see review

Jul 04, 2012 Andreasoldier rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm falling out of love with these books. As Scarpetta moves out of the coroner's lab and into contracting, as things get more computerized and technical, so does she. She's more controlled, and colder, adn that loss of emotion is becoming harder to find. Cornwell writes about emotion, but I'm not feeling it. Scarpetta is starting to leave as cold a corpse.
This books are becoming harder to follow as standalones too. It helps if you've read the others.
In the previous book, Scarpetta was off worki...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 31, 2011 Jason Henderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have come to realize that I keep reading Kay Scarpetta novels-- and I always will-- is the same reason that these are no longer amazing procedural mysteries. Oh, they *were* back when the series started; they were excellent genre mysteries about an embattled medical examiner solving crimes. Now they're a soap opera. You read them to find out what is going through the mind of the main character and the supporting characters. The murders are really a MacGuffin. They must be-- Cornwell spends nea...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2012 Marca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Red Mist is a continuation of Port Mortuary. Kay Scarpetta is on a quest to discover more about what happened to her former deputy chief Jack Fielding. As with Port Mortuary, there are references to a sinister plot against Scarpetta that every character except Kay (and the reader) seem to know about. The plot, when in evidence, is pretty good and kept my attention. However, one has to wade through hours/pages of blah, blah, blah of Kay ruminating ad nauseum about every little thing that in her l...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Did anyone like this book?	28	136	Jun 09, 2013 09:40pm
Cornwell: Buy Red Mist, or skip to Bone Bed	3	26	Jan 03, 2013 03:28am
Description of new novel Red Mist.	3	60	Jan 27, 2012 12:14pm

combine
Other Editions (26)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery > Crime

61 users

Thriller

50 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

27 users

Mystery

9 users

Mystery > Murder Mystery

8 users

Mystery > Detective

7 users

Adult Fiction

6 users

Adult

5 users

Contemporary

4 users

Drama

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Victims
by Jonathan Kellerman
Flash and Bones
by Kathy Reichs
Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
by Faye Kellerman
Silent Mercy
by Linda Fairstein
The Silent Girl
by Tess Gerritsen

About Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. At her first signing, held during a lunch break from the morgue, Patricia sold no copies of Postmortem and fielded exactly one question – an elderly woman asked her where she could find the cookbooks.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Cre...more Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. At her first signing, held during a lunch break from the morgue, Patricia sold no copies of Postmortem and fielded exactly one question – an elderly woman asked her where she could find the cookbooks.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim them all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell’s books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored twenty-three New York Times bestsellers.

Patricia’s novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Over twenty years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, eventually winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Fox 20th Century currently owns the rights to the Scarpetta film, with Angelina Jolie slated to play Kay.

Patricia’s literary career expands outside the realm of the Kay Scarpetta series – she’s authored a definitive account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, two cookbooks (Food to Die For and Scarpetta’s Winter Table), a children’s book (Life’s Little Fable), and a biography of Ruth Graham. She’s also developed two other series based on Win Garano, an upstart Boston detective, and Andy Brazil, an enterprising Charlotte reporter.

Though Cornwell now lives in Boston, she was born in Miami and grew up in Montreat, North Carolina. After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer, taking whatever stories came her way and rapidly advancing from listing television programs to covering the police beat. Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte.

From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta. It was during these years that Patricia penned Postmortem and began submitting it to major publishing houses in New York, without initial success.

When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. She flies her own helicopter, proudly emblazoned with the Scarpetta Crest, everywhere that might inspire her - from dinosaur bone beds to submarine factories to islands which host rare marine specimens.

Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded the National Forensic Academy and created a Chair in Organic Science at Harvard. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She’s helped fund the ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. To stay in shape, she remains an avid tennis player.

Patricia is also committed to funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer."

Her latest book, Red Mist, is available now.(less)

More about Patricia Cornwell...

Books by Patricia Cornwell

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Red Mist

2 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Red Mist

“You have to live where you wake up, even if someone else dreamed you there.” — 14 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Red Mist
avg rating	preview: Red Mist Goodreads rating: 3.66 (9053 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11057626-red-mist?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328002409l/11057626.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11057626-red-mist?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell[/url]

Red Mist (Kay Scarpetta #19)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website