英國銀河圖書獎（Galaxy British Book Awards）2008年度最佳驚悚小說獎。

From America's # 1 bestselling crime writer comes the extraordinary new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel. The "book of the dead" is the morgue log, a ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to take on a new meaning. Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it's time for a change of pace, not only personally and professionally but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues-including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy-offer expert crime-scene investigation and autopsy services to communities lacking local access to modern, competent death investigation technology. It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start-with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run Scarpetta out of town. And that's before the murders and other violent deaths even begin. A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multimillion-dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible. Kay Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones confronting her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write in her own. The first name in forensics. The last name in suspense. Once again, Patricia Cornwell proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

    首席女法醫(yī)凱·斯卡佩塔決心改變步調(diào)，移居南卡羅來納的歷史古城查爾斯頓，展開私人法醫(yī)病理學(xué)的嶄新事業(yè)，協(xié)助缺乏調(diào)查死亡案件能力與現(xiàn)代科技的地區(qū)，然而這一切不過是開啟連串暴力謀殺的前奏。一具具尸體送進她工作的停尸間，檢驗文字被寫進那本被稱為“死亡名簿”的停尸間日志里。在找出解答、揪出兇手之前，日志上的名字仍持續(xù)增加，或許下一個被登錄的姓名將會是凱·斯卡佩塔……

 

Name: Patricia Cornwell Biography Patricia Cornwell writes crime fiction from an unusually informed point of view. While many writers are, as she says, conjuring up "fantasy" assumptions regarding what really goes into tracking criminals and examining crime scenes, Cornwell really does walk the walk, which is why her novels ring so true. Before becoming one of the most widely recognized, respected, and read writers in contemporary crime fiction, she worked as a police reporter for The Charlotte Observer and as a computer analyst in the chief medical examiner's office in Virginia. During this period of her life, Cornwell observed literally hundreds of autopsies. While the vast majority of people would surely regard such work unsavory beyond belief, Cornwell was acquiring valuable information that would not only help her write the groundbreaking 2002 study Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed but would also enrich her fiction with uncommon authenticity. "Most of these crime scene... read more Name: Patricia Cornwell Also Known As: Patricia Daniels Cornwell (full name) Current Home: Boston, MA and New York, NY Date of Birth: June 9, 1956 Place of Birth: Miami, Florida Education: B.A. in English, Davidson College, 1979; King College Awards: Edgar Award for Postmortem, 1991; Gold Dagger for Cruel and Unusual, 1993 *Patricia Cornwell'sofficial web site Biography Patricia Cornwell writes crime fiction from an unusually informed point of view. While many writers are, as she says, conjuring up "fantasy" assumptions regarding what really goes into tracking criminals and examining crime scenes, Cornwell really does walk the walk, which is why her novels ring so true. Before becoming one of the most widely recognized, respected, and read writers in contemporary crime fiction, she worked as a police reporter for The Charlotte Observer and as a computer analyst in the chief medical examiner's office in Virginia. During this period of her life, Cornwell observed literally hundreds of autopsies. While the vast majority of people would surely regard such work unsavory beyond belief, Cornwell was acquiring valuable information that would not only help her write the groundbreaking 2002 study Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed but would also enrich her fiction with uncommon authenticity. "Most of these crime scene shows... are what I call Harry Potter' policing," she said in a candid, heated interview. "They're absolutely fantasy. And the problem is the general public watches these, 60 million people a week or whatever, and they think what they're seeing is true." If Cornwell comes off as a bit vehement in her criticism of television shows meant to simply entertain, that's just because she takes her work so seriously. Not that Cornwell's novels are ever anything short of entertaining, even if their grisly details may require extra-strong stomachs of her readers. She has created a tremendously well-defined and complex character in her favorite fictional crime solver Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell introduced medical examiner Scarpetta in her first novel, Postmortem in 1990. Today, Scarpetta is still cracking cases and cracking open cadavers. (She has even inspired a cook book called Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen.) In addition, Cornwell writes more lighthearted cop capers in her Andy Brazil & Judy Hammer series. Good To Know Cornwell knows what its like to shatter records. Her debut, Postmortem, was the only novel by a first-time author to ever win five major mystery awards in a single year. Cornwell may be a former crime solver, but she shudders to think that her books could actually contribute to crime. In fact, she says she has received "thank you" notes from prisoners who claim they have gleaned information from her books that might help them cover their tracks while committing future crimes. If parody is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Cornwell has a fan in Chris Elliott. The professional wisenheimer published a hilarious takeoff on her true crime book Portrait of a Killer called The Shroud of the Thwacker.

    美國著名作家，“頂級偵探No.1”，作品全球銷售總量超過1億冊。
    早期做過刑事新聞記者、州法醫(yī)辦公室檢驗記錄員與電腦分析員、里士滿市義務(wù)警察，曾接受FBI特訓(xùn)……曲折而獨特的經(jīng)歷，使她成功塑造出一個與福爾摩斯齊名的首席女法醫(yī)——凱?斯卡佩塔。
    正是到了康薇爾的筆下，“法醫(yī)”這個幕后角色才第一次隆重走到臺前，不但使眾多斷頭無緒的案件初露真相的晨曦，甚至成為一批懸案解鎖的鑰匙。眾多媒體為此隆重報道：“斯卡佩塔和作家共同開辟了一個時代，一個讓尸體開口說話的時代?！薄笆紫ㄡt(yī)”令越來越多的媒體和讀者癡迷，以34種文字風(fēng)行全球。