Identity Unknown

THE THRILLING NEW KAY SCARPETTA MYSTERY FROM THE WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER

'Iconic. Bold. Brilliant. Identity Unknown is hauntingly original, impossibly clever and devilishly daring. Scalpel-sharp storytelling, trademark twists and characters that feel like family, this series is one of the all-time greats' CHRIS WHITAKER, author of Sunday Times bestseller All the Colours of the Dark

Summoned to an unnerving, abandoned theme park to retrieve a body, Dr Kay Scarpetta is devastated to learn that the victim is a man she once loved. While teaching in Rome during the early days of her career, Scarpetta had a love affair with acclaimed astrophysicist Sal Giordano that led to a lifelong friendship.

The murder scene is bizarre, with a crop circle of petals around the body, and Giordano's skin is strangely red. Scarpetta's niece Lucy believes he was dropped from an unidentified flying craft. Scarpetta knows an autopsy can reveal the dead's secrets, but she is shocked to find her friend seems to have deliberately left her a clue.

As the investigators are torn between suspicions of otherworldly forces, and of Giordano himself, Scarpetta detects an explanation closer to home that, in her mind, is far more evil . . .

DISCOVER THE SERIES THAT SHAPED THE WORLD OF CRIME FICTION

'One of the best crime writers writing today' Guardian

'Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her' Sunday Times

'Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns' Mirror

'In a league of her own' Heat

PRAISE FOR UNNATURAL DEATH -
A chilling, thrilling, macabre masterpiece. Unnatural Death is Patricia Cornwell at her mesmerising finest. The best just got better -- CHRIS WHITAKER
Sinister, surprising and utterly unputdownable. Cornwell at her brilliant best -- M. J. ARLIDGE
Classic Cornwell with an up-to-the-minute twenty-first-century plot - an intoxicating blend that proves Scarpetta is still queen of the autopsy and Cornwell is still queen of crime fiction. An utterly thrilling roller coaster ride -- ANDREA MARA
An especially good entry in the series BOOKLIST
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL -
One of the best crime writers writing today GUARDIAN
Astonishing . . . Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her SUNDAY TIMES
The top gun in this field DAILY TELEGRAPH
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction THE TIMES
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns MIRROR
A pioneer of the genre of forensic psychological thriller BBC
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age EXPRESS
The queen of the forensic thriller MAIL ON SUNDAY
Cutting-edge SUN
When it comes to forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Slick, fast-paced and brilliant HEAT
Iconic. Bold. Brilliant. Identity Unknown is hauntingly original, impossibly clever and devilishly daring. Scalpel-sharp storytelling, trademark twists and characters that feel like family, this series is one of the all-time greats -- CHRIS WHITAKER
Combines nerve-jangling tension with stomach-turning physical detail . . . A thriller that's out of this world THE TIMES
Another heart-stopping read SUNDAY POST
Scarpetta is one of the best known heroines in crime fiction . . . Here Cornwell gives her some humanity in that she is called to examine the corpse of a man with whom she had an intense affair many year ago DAILY MAIL
Cornwell has been one of most reliable crime-fiction practitioners since Postmortem in 1990 introduced her forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta. Identity Unknown has Scarpetta investigating a murder and finding to her horror that the victim is a man she was once in love with - and who seems to have left her a clue. Cornwell on vintage form FINANCIAL TIMES
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL -- -
Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her SUNDAY TIMES
One of the best crime writers writing today GUARDIAN
Cornwell really is in a league of her own HEAT
One of the all-time greats of this genre SUN
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns MIRROR
The top gun in this field DAILY TELEGRAPH
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction THE TIMES
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age EXPRESS
The queen of the forensic thriller MAIL ON SUNDAY

In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventures - the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Today, Cornwell's novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper's identity, cookbooks, a children's book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and three other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano, Andy Brazil, and Captain Callie Chase. Cornwell continues exploring the latest space-age technologies and threats relevant to contemporary life. Her interests range from the morgue to artificial intelligence and include visits to Interpol, the Pentagon, the U.S. Secret Service and NASA.

Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston.

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