Cruel and Unusual

The inspiration for Season 2 of the Amazon Prime Video series Scarpetta—starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis!

“A knockout” (People) of a thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta isn’t used to planning autopsies on men who are still alive, but that’s exactly what she’s tasked with when serial killer Ronnie Joe Waddell is set for execution. His last words? “Killing me won’t kill the beast.” Enigmatic as they are, they soon prove prophetic: days after his execution, another body is found—with Waddell’s fingerprints at the crime scene.

How did a dead man commit a murder? Did Scarpetta autopsy the wrong man? And why can’t she shake the feeling that she might be next?