Where to Start with Patricia Cornwell
- Best entry point → The First Scarpetta Collection: Postmortem / Body of Evidence
- Start the Kay Scarpetta series → Postmortem
- What fans keep coming back to → Body Of Evidence
- Best narrator for Patricia Cornwell → The Body Farm
- Highest rated by listeners → The Last Precinct (Kay Scarpetta #11)
- 1
The Last Precinct
Kay Scarpetta • Book 11
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.36 ABR Score (43.2K ratings)★ 3.92 Goodreads (42.1K) ★ 4.71 Audible (1.2K)16h 56m listening time • Released 2015 - 2
The Body Farm
Kay Scarpetta • Book 5
Narrated by C.J. Critt
★ 4.35 ABR Score (82.0K ratings)★ 4.07 Goodreads (81.3K) ★ 4.7 Audible (657)11h 33m listening time • Released 2023 - 3
Unnatural Exposure
Kay Scarpetta • Book 8
Narrated by C.J. Critt
★ 4.26 ABR Score (66.5K ratings)★ 4.07 Goodreads (64.5K) ★ 4.38 Audible (2.1K)11h 16m listening time • Released 2004 - 4
Black Notice
Kay Scarpetta • Book 10
by Patricia Cornwell, Kate Reading
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.25 ABR Score (47.0K ratings)★ 3.93 Goodreads (45.7K) ★ 4.61 Audible (1.3K)12h 20m listening time • Released 2015 - 5
Sharp Force
Kay Scarpetta • Book 29
Narrated by January LaVoy
★ 4.25 ABR Score (12.2K ratings)★ 4.1 Goodreads (11.4K) ★ 4.48 Audible (858)10h 54m listening time • Released 2025January LaVoy's precise, ice-cold narration transforms this serial killer procedural into something genuinely unsettling—she makes you feel Scarpetta's exhaustion and the killer's impossible ghost-like movements with equal dread.
- 6
All That Remains
Kay Scarpetta • Book 3
Narrated by C. J. Critt
★ 4.24 ABR Score (80.7K ratings)★ 4.07 Goodreads (77.4K) ★ 4.46 Audible (3.3K)12h 32m listening time • Released 2011 - 7
From Potter's Field
Kay Scarpetta • Book 6
Narrated by C.J. Critt
★ 4.24 ABR Score (64.5K ratings)★ 4.06 Goodreads (64.1K) ★ 4.63 Audible (416)12h 9m listening time • Released 2023 - 8
The First Scarpetta Collection: Postmortem / Body of Evidence
Kay Scarpetta #1-2 • Book 1
Narrated by C. J. Critt
★ 4.24 ABR Score (7.6K ratings)★ 4.31 Goodreads (1.1K) ★ 4.34 Audible (6.5K)11h 25m listening time • Released 2011 - 9
Body Of Evidence
Kay Scarpetta • Book 2
Narrated by C. J. Critt
★ 4.21 ABR Score (90.5K ratings)★ 4.04 Goodreads (86.8K) ★ 4.43 Audible (3.7K)12h 48m listening time • Released 2011 - 10
Postmortem
Kay Scarpetta • Book 1
by Patricia Daniels Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.20 ABR Score (260.2K ratings)★ 4.03 Goodreads (259.9K) ★ 4.57 Audible (297)15h 12m listening time • Released 2023 - 11
Livid
Kay Scarpetta • Book 26
Narrated by January LaVoy
★ 4.19 ABR Score (29.1K ratings)★ 3.91 Goodreads (26.7K) ★ 4.39 Audible (2.4K)10h 30m listening time • Released 2022January LaVoy's razor-sharp narration cuts through the courtroom chaos and procedural tension, making this the most engaging Scarpetta in years. Her performance transforms what could be procedural routine into genuinely gripping audio drama.
- 12
Identity Unknown
Kay Scarpetta • Book 28
Narrated by January LaVoy
★ 4.16 ABR Score (23.6K ratings)★ 4.07 Goodreads (22.4K) ★ 4.46 Audible (1.2K)10h 12m listening time • Released 2024January LaVoy's sharp, controlled narration cuts through Cornwell's forensic detail work, making this 28th Scarpetta feel urgent and genuinely unsettling rather than procedural-by-numbers.
- 13
Blow Fly
Kay Scarpetta • Book 12
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.13 ABR Score (47.5K ratings)★ 3.82 Goodreads (46.5K) ★ 4.55 Audible (1.0K)12h 44m listening time • Released 2015 - 14
A Second Scarpetta Omnibus: Cruel And Unusual / The Body Farm / From Potter's Field
Kay Scarpetta #4-6 • Book 4
Narrated by C. J. Critt
★ 4.12 ABR Score (2.7K ratings)★ 4.13 Goodreads (215) ★ 4.56 Audible (2.5K)11h 42m listening time • Released 2011 - 15
Trace
Kay Scarpetta • Book 13
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.12 ABR Score (39.9K ratings)★ 3.83 Goodreads (39.6K) ★ 4.51 Audible (285)12h 22m listening time • Released 2023 - 16
Unnatural Death
Kay Scarpetta • Book 27
Narrated by January LaVoy
★ 4.10 ABR Score (22.8K ratings)★ 3.97 Goodreads (21.5K) ★ 4.26 Audible (1.3K)11h 48m listening time • Released 2023January LaVoy's measured, clinical delivery transforms Cornwell's forensic procedural into something genuinely unsettling, letting the grotesque details hit harder without melodrama.
- 17
Point Of Origin Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Cornwel...
Kay Scarpetta • Book 9
Narrated by Karen White
★ 4.03 ABR Score (69.6K ratings)★ 4.05 Goodreads (68.3K) ★ 4.29 Audible (1.4K)11h 57m listening time • Released 2015 - 18
Cause of Death
Kay Scarpetta • Book 7
Narrated by C.J. Critt
★ 4.03 ABR Score (58.0K ratings)★ 3.95 Goodreads (56.3K) ★ 4.33 Audible (1.7K)11h 31m listening time • Released 2004 - 19
Flesh and Blood
Kay Scarpetta • Book 22
Narrated by Lorelei King
★ 4.02 ABR Score (25.7K ratings)★ 3.78 Goodreads (23.8K) ★ 4.24 Audible (1.9K)12h 9m listening time • Released 2014 - 20
Predator
Kay Scarpetta • Book 14
Narrated by January LaVoy
★ 4.02 ABR Score (36.5K ratings)★ 3.73 Goodreads (36.2K) ★ 4.37 Audible (286)11h 32m listening time • Released 2023January LaVoy's narration cuts through Cornwell's forensic complexity with surgical precision, making a labyrinthine serial killer case feel genuinely unsettling rather than just procedurally dense.
- 21
The Scarpetta Factor
Kay Scarpetta • Book 17
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 4.01 ABR Score (29.3K ratings)★ 3.76 Goodreads (29.1K) ★ 4.63 Audible (204)16h 8m listening time • Released 2023 - 22
Autopsy
Kay Scarpetta • Book 25
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
★ 4.01 ABR Score (27.3K ratings)★ 3.84 Goodreads (24.6K) ★ 4.15 Audible (2.7K)11h 53m listening time • Released 2021 - 23
Red Mist
Kay Scarpetta • Book 19
Narrated by Kate Burton
★ 4.00 ABR Score (29.9K ratings)★ 3.84 Goodreads (29.5K) ★ 4.48 Audible (368)12h 55m listening time • Released 2023 - 24
The Bone Bed
Kay Scarpetta • Book 20
Narrated by Kate Reading
★ 3.92 ABR Score (28.5K ratings)★ 3.77 Goodreads (28.2K) ★ 4.41 Audible (355)12h 53m listening time • Released 2023 - 25
Chaos
Kay Scarpetta • Book 24
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
★ 3.89 ABR Score (25.9K ratings)★ 3.68 Goodreads (23.2K) ★ 4.07 Audible (2.7K)13h 2m listening time • Released 2016
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