Top Retellings of Classic Tales
Helen asked this question about Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, #15):
Is it necessary to have read all the previous books in this series to read this one? I was given this book by a friend who was moving out of state and didn't want it anymore and I would like to read it but I don't know if I want to read all the books preceding this one.
Ilya Tr In my opinion, if you read this book first, you may not want to read any more books from Scarpetta series :-). It could be read by itself, but it woul…moreIn my opinion, if you read this book first, you may not want to read any more books from Scarpetta series :-). It could be read by itself, but it would be impossible to understand some subtleties of relationships between characters.
This is an OK novel, in my opinion, but far from the best. I would really recommend starting from the early books.

I think, starting with highly promoted "Predator" the series went downhill for some time. It felt like P. Cornwell just ran out of "mystery" ideas in her novels. It became increasingly about Scarpetta herself with culmination in "Scarpetta" novel ( I had to force myself to stick with it and finish). K. Scarpetta is the worthy character developed over 15 or so novels, but the "Scarpetta" novel was just unnecessary, in my opinion. "Book of the Dead" came just before the "Scarpetta" and still was on the down slope.

"Black Notice" and "Last Precinct" are the must read from P. Cornwell, and in that particular order. Novels before them were very good as well. This series needs to be started earlier. Books in the series are somewhat connected, not by story lines, but by character relationships.(less)
flag
More questions about Book of the Dead…
Image for Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead
by Patricia Cornwell (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more