Book cover for The Scarpetta Factor: Scarpetta (Book 17) by Patricia Cornwell

The Scarpetta Factor

Scarpetta (Book 17)

2009 Released
592 Pages
9-10 Hours
Audiobook Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
BerkleyISBN 9781101148907

Scarpetta, an all-new Original Series, is out now on Prime Video!

Enter the chilling and captivating world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta before Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis bring the mystery to life onscreen.

“The new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia’s masterful storytelling… and a warning……there WILL be BLOOD.” – Jamie Lee Curtis

In this “insistent and gripping thriller” (The Star-Ledger) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell, forensic expert Kay Scarpetta is surrounded by familiar faces, yet travels down the unfamiliar road of fame. . . .


It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta—despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN—to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events, culminating in an ominous package—possibly a bomb—showing up at the front desk of the apartment building where she and her husband, Benton, live. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaire with whom her niece, Lucy, seems to have shared a secret past.

Scarpetta’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a “special factor,” a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.

Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime writers and the author of the Scarpetta series. Her novels have been translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries and won numerous prestigious awards, including the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, Macavity, and the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the cutting-edge forensic technologies that inform her work.

More by Patricia Cornwell

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