Patricia Cornwell

Cornwell hit the mother lode with the creation of character Kay Scarpetta, forensic pathologist. Readers of legal drama everywhere fell hard and fast. Scarpetta is warm and caring, guarded and detached, knowlegable and professional all at once. She is one of the most well-developed characters in the genre, and readers can't help but admire her.

But Cornwell didn't stop there. She surrounded her main character with a well-developed supporting cast: FBI Special Agent Benton Wesley, Detective Pete Marino, and Scarpetta's computer-genius niece Lucy, also a former FBI agent. Together, this team of highly trained professionals face the most heinous crimes known to man. They are compassionate and dedicated, both individually and as a team. It is an absolutely addictive cast. If you're not reading Cornwell, you're not truly immersed in the legal thriller genre. I recommend all the Scarpetta novels, but suggest you start with the older ones, as Cornwell has created a history between these characters that cannot be fully appreciated by starting with her more recent novels and working backwards.

Cornwell has also ventured away from the Scarpetta story line and, in my humble opinion, failed miserably with Isle of the Dogs. The characters were interesting enough, and the story may have succeeded if not for the talking trout... Don't ask. I consider this the only blemish on Cornwell's otherwise stellar career.