Get our latest staff recommendations, award news and digital catalog links right to your inbox.
Table of Contents
About The Book
“A knockout” (People) of a thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.
Dr. Kay Scarpetta isn’t used to planning autopsies on men who are still alive, but that’s exactly what she’s tasked with when serial killer Ronnie Joe Waddell is set for execution. His last words? “Killing me won’t kill the beast.” Enigmatic as they are, they soon prove prophetic: days after his execution, another body is found—with Waddell’s fingerprints at the crime scene.
How did a dead man commit a murder? Did Scarpetta autopsy the wrong man? And why can’t she shake the feeling that she might be next?
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (March 2, 2027)
- Length: 368 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668270981
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
Praise for Patricia Cornwell
“Cornwell…[has] brought new life to the moribund detective fiction genre. Her intelligent, self-made heroine gets our respect because she is extraordinarily competent at her job, and so thoroughly devoted to it…Cornwell’s renderings of death are lucid, intricate and beautifully compassionate, showing again and again how the examination of the dead illuminates the passions of the living.”
—The New York Times
“Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who keeps us coming back to Patricia Cornwell’s sprawling crime novels, is one tough broad.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Patricia Cornwell is a “masterful mysterian.”
—Kirkus
“Her writing is masterful.”
—Booklist
“Cornwell’s books run on high octane fuel, a cocktail of adrenalin and fear.”
—The Times (London)
“Everyone knows Scarpetta; she has the wit, intelligence, and strength that any forensic sleuth should own. This never-stop action plot is yet another gift to readers from Patricia Cornwell-a literary artist that is never going to stop writing some of the best and most memorable thrillers out there.”
—Suspense Magazine
“I grew up in Richmond where Patricia Cornwell’s electrifying debut novel Postmortem was set. I still remember the thrill of following one of crime fiction’s greatest characters, Kay Scarpetta, as she hunted down a killer.”
—David Baldacci, New York Times bestselling author of Strangers in Time
“Iconic. Bold. Brilliant.”
—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark
"A knockout."
-- People
"Ingenious...a first-rate storyteller."
-- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Engrossing...an extremely effective novel of suspense, in all its varieties...Corwell's sleuth is the best in the business."
-- Entertainment Weekly
"Classic Cornwell...chilling...riveting...utterly convincing."
-- Richmond Times-Dispatch
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
-
Book Cover Image (jpg): Cruel and Unusual
Media Tie-In Trade Paperback 9781668270981
-
Author Photo (jpg): Patricia Cornwell Photograph by Tony Luong(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit





