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26th out of 3,450 books
—
7,977 voters
Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta #1)
by
Patricia Cornwell (Goodreads Author)
Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the ma...more
Mass Market Paperback, 440 pages
Published
December 30th 2003
by Pocket
(first published 1990)
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Mysteries have long been recreational reading for me. About every fourth or fifth book, I read is a mystery sandwiched in between literary best sellers and stellar non-fiction. I've been meaning to get around to Patricia Cornwall and had picked up a few of her books at yard sales, but I was waiting until I found the first book in her Kay Scarpetta series before I dove in. Postmortem won numerous awards when it came out in 1990 including the Edgar and the Anthony awards.
For the first 100 or so pa...more
For the first 100 or so pa...more
If you can handle scary, and can look past gory and profane, Patricia Cornwell's novels are AMAZING. Aside from good old J.K. and Harper Lee, Cornwell is my favorite author. I'm convinced that all the CSI-esque shows were spawned from her books, and if you like that kind of thing, you'll LOVE these. Gripping, intense, nightmare-inducing ... plus you might learn some new things.
Start with the older books in the series, her newer works aren't as good.
Start with the older books in the series, her newer works aren't as good.
16 likes · like · see review
May 06, 2013
Tea Jovanović
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-for-pleasure
Patrišu mi je otkrila krajem 90-ih moja tetka koja živi u Americi i koja je njen vatreni obožavalac... :) Dosta čitalaca je voli ali se to nikad ne bi reklo po prodaji njenih romana... Šteta, moglo bi to i bolje...
Recommended by my local librarian friend...she wouldn't let me just checkout "Scarpetta," the latest in this series, no-o-o-o, she makes me start at the very beginning, with this first, published in 1990. Well, and I did have to get up one night and make sure all my doors and windows were locked as I was reading the book at midnight.
And I kept making concessions for the year, like yeah, I bet this DNA stuff was pretty impressive for 1990, and I can kinda understand why she's explaining all this...more
And I kept making concessions for the year, like yeah, I bet this DNA stuff was pretty impressive for 1990, and I can kinda understand why she's explaining all this...more
7 likes · like · see review
This was the first Patricia Cornwell novel I read, and I expected it to be good because she's an author you see around a lot. However I was disappointed with this book.
The book felt long. It was extremely detailed when it came to describe the technology used. I skimmed over most of those parts because the technology was extremely dated and it was hard to follow what she was saying. Also it described red-tape procedures in her lab that just put me to sleep.
Suspects were brought up and never rea...more
The book felt long. It was extremely detailed when it came to describe the technology used. I skimmed over most of those parts because the technology was extremely dated and it was hard to follow what she was saying. Also it described red-tape procedures in her lab that just put me to sleep.
Suspects were brought up and never rea...more
I read a few Dr. Scarpetta-murder mysteries, starting off with this one. Patricia Cornwell had me scared and on the edge for the second time in my life! The first time was as a young girl, about 8 years old watching my first - and last- Frankenstein movie. Good Lordie, I distinctly remember the dark, sleepless, horrifyingly scary night in my bed, too scared to call out for rescue ! Well, this time around was a wee bit better. Only a little! I locked every door, every window, every freezer yes, j...more
1 like · like · see review
I think this was the book that got me into Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Then next I know, I am cruising used bookstores, and the whole e-reader thing hits! Thank Heavens for me! Because of a neurological disorder, it's advantages are too many to not! The ease when you live in nowhere is one.
But wow, I can't say that I find Dr. Scarpetta not at all awesome, with a lot of personality: but what I like the best is she remembers while in the "midst of it" and having had a short (relatively I guess) time in ER...more
But wow, I can't say that I find Dr. Scarpetta not at all awesome, with a lot of personality: but what I like the best is she remembers while in the "midst of it" and having had a short (relatively I guess) time in ER...more
The blurb: The Scarpetta novels include a great deal of detail on forensic science. The initial resolution to the mystery is found in the forensic investigation of the murder victim's corpse, although Scarpetta does considerably more field investigation and confrontation with suspects than real-life medical examiners. The novels generally climax with action scenes in which Scarpetta and her associates confront, or are confronted by, the killer or killers, usually concluding with the death of the...more
2 likes · like · see review
Story good and well written. Science well explained. However, Scarpetta..ugh zero stars. She's smug, thinks she is better than anyone, certainly better than any man. She has real issues with authority. she dislikes apologies. She has a temper as well, she gets irritated easily, and hates being wrong, or people doubting her word. Quite possibly out of all the books I have read, one of my most disliked protagonists. Getting on the story. Someone is murdering, and torturing women on the evening of...more
1 like · like · see review
I could not stand the main character in this book. Kay Scarpetta clearly hates all men. Every single male in the book is portrayed in a negative light, even when they actually do things to help Kay. On top of that I have trouble sympathizing with the overly defensive rich doctor.
Additionally Cornwall is clearly a tech head since she mentions a lot of technology in detail. She's accurate and certainly knew what she was talking about at the time, but it HEAVILY dates the book. I can't really fault...more
Additionally Cornwall is clearly a tech head since she mentions a lot of technology in detail. She's accurate and certainly knew what she was talking about at the time, but it HEAVILY dates the book. I can't really fault...more
4 likes · like · see review
I was wondering who started this whole forensic science fiction writing book business. I loved Kathy Reichs book and the entire series with Temperance Brennan. I started to fall in love through the forced watching of Bones and then I heard that the whole television series was based on a book I practically flipped my lid rushing to the library to get my hands on the series. And then I fell madly in love with murder mystery books. Sorta.
I've always been the type to read Mary Higgins books but this...more
I've always been the type to read Mary Higgins books but this...more
Having read all her newer stuff, I saw this in a bookshop and decided to go back to the beginning where it all began. Somehow I had missed this one, the very first in the Kay Scarpetta series. Maybe because it was initially published in 1990.
I definitely enjoyed it more than some of her later books. Her writing style was more descriptive and the plot easier to follow. In the special edition I picked up which commemorates 20 years of Kay Scarpetta, I was fascinated to read the extra chapter at th...more
I definitely enjoyed it more than some of her later books. Her writing style was more descriptive and the plot easier to follow. In the special edition I picked up which commemorates 20 years of Kay Scarpetta, I was fascinated to read the extra chapter at th...more
“Dr. Scarpetta?”
“Yes?” I reached for the lamp and switched it on. It was 2:33am. My heart was drilling through my ribs.
“Pete Marino here. We got us one at 5602 Berkley Avenue. Think you’d better come.”
And so we meet the divorced, forensically brilliant and professionally troubled forty-something Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta in the wee hours of the morning, as she is called to the fourth grisly crime scene of an unidentified serial killer we soon realise has taken a dange...more
“Yes?” I reached for the lamp and switched it on. It was 2:33am. My heart was drilling through my ribs.
“Pete Marino here. We got us one at 5602 Berkley Avenue. Think you’d better come.”
And so we meet the divorced, forensically brilliant and professionally troubled forty-something Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta in the wee hours of the morning, as she is called to the fourth grisly crime scene of an unidentified serial killer we soon realise has taken a dange...more
5 likes · like · see review
La primera novela de la Dra. Scarpetta. Por lo visto, Cornwell fue de mejor a peor, pues la novela que leí primero (algo sobre moscas) fue aceptable, tirando a mediocre. Esta primera es mucho mejor. Los personajes sonn bien estructurados e interesantes, en particular Scarpetta misma y Marino. Scarpetta es la forense extremadamente capaz, pero a veces llena de dudas e insegura, tenaz e inteligente, pero vulnerable. Un perfil que la hace creíble (aunque a veces es algo pesada, la señora). El Tenie...more
When I went into hospital unexpectedly to give birth to my daughter (5 weeks early) I was away from home, staying with friends. I stayed in hospital for 10 days, during which time I may have gone mad if my friend hadn't brought in one of her books for me to read. Though I like some crime fiction, and I love noir, I would not have chosen to read a Patricia Cornwell book in ordinary circumstances. So I went in with a certain pre-conception – it would be dull, it would be fluff, it would be boring....more
The first book in Cornwell's mega-selling Kay Scarpetta series, Postmortem is a brilliant debut novel that still puts all its CSI clones to shame. Cornwell writes with grit, which is rare in a female author, and has the technical know-how to maintain an aura of complete scientific authority throughout. Cornwell does surprisingly good dialog, and her male characters act totally authentic, never serving as props for some cutesy romantic subplot. Of course, this is an old book, and the technology i...more
No me van demasiado las novelas detectivescas/policíacas, y las evito siempre que tengo otros géneros para leer. Se me hacen repetitivas y frías y nunca me dejan buen sabor de boca.
Pero decidí leer ésta por varios motivos, y tengo que decir que no me ha decepcionada nada. He disfrutado mucho.
La escogí porque me hicieron la promesa de que iba a estar entretenida leyendo, que no iba a aburrirme. Y como necesitaba algo que me enganchará (porque me faltaban dos libros para completar el reto de 30 qu...more
Pero decidí leer ésta por varios motivos, y tengo que decir que no me ha decepcionada nada. He disfrutado mucho.
La escogí porque me hicieron la promesa de que iba a estar entretenida leyendo, que no iba a aburrirme. Y como necesitaba algo que me enganchará (porque me faltaban dos libros para completar el reto de 30 qu...more
“Postmortem” was nothing like what I thought it was going to be but then, I had never read a Cornwell novel before. I had thought that this was going to be your typical murder mystery with a female doctor who solves the crime, however that is not the case with Patricia Cornwell. Her novel is filled with science from the processes of a forensic pathologist to the machines used to catalog and process evidence. The incredible details from timelines of processing evidence, to how crime scenes are ma...more
This is the first novel in the long running Dr Kay Scarpetta series. When we meet Scarpetta she is forty and has recently become the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. She is currently involved in a series of murders; women who have been strangled in their own bedrooms. Nothing seems to link the victims and Scarpetta feels that Detective Marino is looking in the wrong direction when he suspects the latest victims husband.
A large part of the success of this series, I feel, are the char...more
A large part of the success of this series, I feel, are the char...more
Having read Karin Slaughter books previously before moving on to this author, I can see alot of similarities. It became quite clear that Karin Slaughter was a fan of Patricia Cornwell. This first book of the Scarpetta Series was good particulary if you like knowing about forensic science methods and equipment. The book provides less gruesome scenes than Karin Slaughter novels, but adds more emphasis on procedural things. These procedural and forensic science references do not subtract from the s...more
I read all Kay Scarpetta books, I used to be a real addict when I was younger. I loved all the books up till The Last Precinct, which I thought was the final book of the series! Since then I have read all the new books but I don't really like them.
After reading Port Mortuary I thought it might be fun to re-read the first book in the series.
Despite the fact that this book is undeniably outdated in technological aspects (no cell phones, DNA and computer use are both recent developments), I still...more
After reading Port Mortuary I thought it might be fun to re-read the first book in the series.
Despite the fact that this book is undeniably outdated in technological aspects (no cell phones, DNA and computer use are both recent developments), I still...more
Patricia Cornwell offers up another in her Kay Scarpetta series about a medical examiner.
Scarpetta is now the ME at a center in Boston, MA. She is on assignment in Dover, DE, when she is hastened back to Boston due to an unfortunate occurrence at CDC. A body, which had been brought in the night before, started bleeding--something that dead bodies don't apparently do. When Scarpetta returns to her "home base," she finds that nothing is running the way it should be it and those closest to her hav...more
Scarpetta is now the ME at a center in Boston, MA. She is on assignment in Dover, DE, when she is hastened back to Boston due to an unfortunate occurrence at CDC. A body, which had been brought in the night before, started bleeding--something that dead bodies don't apparently do. When Scarpetta returns to her "home base," she finds that nothing is running the way it should be it and those closest to her hav...more
I first read this book back in the early 90s and thought I'd revisit it. Listening to audiobook read by Lorelei King (which is weird after hearing her read Mercy Thompson and Stephanie Plum series). The audiobook copy I got from library was tapes and the condition was pretty spotty. I was annoyed at the way Lorelei said certain "technical" words like modem or describing hooking up to a database and using SQL. (caveat: I'm a software engineer)
I remember enjoying this book more when I read it the...more
I remember enjoying this book more when I read it the...more
This is the first of the Kay Scarpetta mysteries. Dr. Scarpetta is the Medical Examiner for the state of Virginia working out of Richmond. There is a serial killer in the city, raping and brutally murdering women who appear to have nothing in common. Alongside detective Marino, she attempts to discover who this man is. Is he also the same one breaking into the computer in her office.
This was my first Patricia Cornwell book, and I really liked this mystery. I tend to shy away from thrillers, espe...more
This was my first Patricia Cornwell book, and I really liked this mystery. I tend to shy away from thrillers, espe...more
I have never been a fan of procedurals and Cornwell's job as ME was just too bloody for me to ever get into her. Then I inherited a dozen of her novels and thought, I love Bones. I love Rizolli & Isles. I'll try this. And I loved it. Her first novel. I believe I have a first edition. She used 3 names "Patricia Daniels Cornwell" and the cover was not great. So, before she was famous. And no edition info at all. Subsequent editions always have the info but first editions sometimes don't. She's...more
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, having seen the rave reviews on Goodreads. If you like criminal mysteries, then this book is definitely for you. Unfortunately, I'm not a CSI/Law and Order/SVU type of gal, so this wasn't as exciting and intriguing as the book promises to be. I like the main character though because she's a strong, independent woman who seems smart and capable, ready to handle even the most gruesome murders. I just don't understand how a medical examiner bec...more
A minha atribuição de estrelas pode ser em parte injusta. Foi um livro lido numa altura em que tive pouco tempo para ler, e o cansaço era uma constante. Talvez por isso o tenha lido com menos entusiasmo como habitual.
Neste livro é contado a evolução das investigações de uns crimes cometidos com um modo operandis bastante similar. Estamos a falar de um serial killer. Kay Scarpetta, médica-legista chefe e detective é chamada a estudar os casos, a par com o detective Marino. Trata ela das investiga...more
Neste livro é contado a evolução das investigações de uns crimes cometidos com um modo operandis bastante similar. Estamos a falar de um serial killer. Kay Scarpetta, médica-legista chefe e detective é chamada a estudar os casos, a par com o detective Marino. Trata ela das investiga...more
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This is Patricia Cornwell's first book in the Scarpetta series and it was my introduction to Kay Scarpetta, ME. Written in 1990 when fingerprinting techniques were considered high-tech; DNA matching was considered only slightly more scientifically sound than throwing a dart at pictures of suspects; and, computers had dark screens with green letters, I had to let go and succumb to a major mental time warp. Cornwell includes ample scientific terms and procedures for the time and I can only imagine...more
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Despite the fact that this book is undeniably outdated technologically, I still found it a fascinating glimpse into the rise of technology and forensic science in crime investigation. It's interesting to consider that 20 years ago, DNA was still in its early stages of being used in criminal trials as evidence. Today juries sometimes expect it even in cases where it's not needed (courtesy of the C.S.I. Effect). Keeping the time-frame in mind, I found this book more realistic for emphasizing that...more
Postmortem turned out to be a page turner. It took me some effort to struggle trough the first 100-150 pages, and I even reached a point where I just wanted to put the book back on its shelve. I was irritated by the main character (Kay Scarpetta) and the writing seemed a bit slow. But I'm glad I stuck through it because once I found the rhytm of the book, I started enjoying it.
I suppose some of the negative feelings were caused by the fact that I am a real Kathy Reichs fan, and I kept making com...more
I suppose some of the negative feelings were caused by the fact that I am a real Kathy Reichs fan, and I kept making com...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Women's Myste...: Postmortem | 5 | 37 | Aug 21, 2012 06:00am |
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
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Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Cre...more
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“The dead have never bothered me. It's the living that I fear.”
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“Survival my only hope. Success my only revenge”
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Feb 22, 2012 11:12am