Kay Scarpetta is coming back for her 30th case.
Scribner announced in a news release that it will publish Patricia Cornwell’s Rapid and Fatal, a new installment in her series of thrillers featuring medical examiner Scarpetta, next year. Scribner published the first six books in the Scarpetta series; the four most recent novels featuring the character were published by Grand Central.
Cornwell introduced Scarpetta in the 1990 novel Postmortem, and 28 more books have followed in the series, including The Body Farm, Black Notice, Flesh and Blood, and, most recently, Sharp Force. The novels have sold more than 120 million copies worldwide.
Rapid and Fatal will follow a billionaire couple who are found dead in their home after being stung by yellowjackets. Scarpetta suspects the deaths are not accidental.
News of the novel comes during a busy year for Cornwell. Scarpetta, an Amazon Prime Video series based on her novels, which stars Nicole Kidman in the title role, premiered in March. Cornwell’s memoir, True Crime, was published in May by Grand Central.
“When I wrote Postmortem in the late 1980s, it made the rounds in New York City, one publisher after the next turning it down,” Cornwell said in a statement. “Then one night I got a phone call that would change my life. Scribner thought the crime novel original, the protagonist Dr. Kay Scarpetta unusual and dynamic. Postmortem went on to win five major thriller awards, launching the forensic craze. None of it would have happened without Scribner, and it seems fitting if not karmic that I’m returning there for my 30th in the Scarpetta series, Rapid and Fatal. I feel as if I’ve come home after many years away.”
Rapid and Fatal is slated for publication on Jan. 19, 2027.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
