Karin Dufner Book order (chronological)

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell delivers the twenty-fourth thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta"--

Patricia Cornwell delivers the next enthralling thriller in her high-stakes series starring Kay Scarpetta - a complex tale involving a serial sniper who strikes chillingly close to the forensic sleuth herself.

A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over two thousand miles away in Boston. She has no idea why. But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect the paleontologist's disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age. When she turns to those around her, Scarpetta finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Her niece Lucy speaks in riddles. Her lead investigator Pete Marino and FBI husband Benton Wesley have secrets of their own. Feeling alone and betrayed, Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer both cunning and cruel.

Determined to find out what happened to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, murdered six months earlier, Kay Scarpetta travels to the Georgia Prison for Women, where an inmate has information not only on Fielding, but also on a string of grisly killings.

A desperate mother, her missing child, and a stolen chalice set the stage for a gripping Christmas tale. In this suspenseful narrative, beloved characters Alvirah, a lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and her husband Willy, navigate a mystery that tests Alvirah's deductive skills and Willy's common sense. The story opens with a young woman leaving her newborn on a church rectory doorstep while a man inside steals a precious chalice adorned with a diamond. Both the baby and the chalice vanish without a trace. Fast forward seven years, just before Christmas, and Alvirah and Willy are helping Willy's sister Cordelia, a nun who runs a thrift shop and after-school shelter for local children, prepare for a Christmas pageant. The shelter's future is in jeopardy as the city condemns the building, and plans to relocate to a nearby brownstone are complicated when it is revealed that the property has been willed to a young couple living there. Alvirah suspects the couple are con artists and embarks on a quest to uncover the truth, intertwining the fates of the missing child and the stolen chalice. This tale promises to be a delightful Christmas gift for readers.

It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta - despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN - to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call-in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton Wesley's. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package - possibly a bomb - waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past

Meridian Sozu is a Fenestra—the half-human, half-angel link between the living and the dead. She has the dark responsibility of helping souls transition safely into the afterlife. If people die without the help of a Fenestra, their souls are left vulnerable to be stolen by the Aternocti, a dark band of forces who disrupt the balance of good and evil in the world and cause chaos.Having recently lost her beloved Auntie—the woman who showed her what it meant to be a Fenestra—Meridian has hit the road with Tens, her love and sworn protector, in hopes of finding another Fenestra. Their search leads them to Indiana, where Juliet, a responsible and loving teenager, works tirelessly in the nursing home where she and several other foster kids are housed. Surrounded by death, Juliet struggles to make a loving home for the younger kids, and to protect them from the violent whims of their foster mother. But she is struggling against forces she can't understand . . . and even as she feels a pull toward the dying, their sickness seems to infect her, weighing her down. . . .Will Meri and Tens find Juliet in time to save her from a life of misery and illness? And will Meri and Tens' own romance weather the storms of new discoveries?From the Hardcover edition.

Florida is full of human predators, and they all give Dr Kay Scarpetta the opportunity and the means to do what she does best - persuading the dead to speak to her. And in Boston, Benton Wesley is working on a secret case involving convicted killers. It is a project which gives Scarpetta deep disquiet, as does the behaviour of her niece, Lucy, who is spending too much time in cheap bars looking for casual pick-ups. The Academy is called when a woman's body is found in Boston. She has been tortured, sexually abused, her body tattooed with handprints. The same sort of handprints Lucy had seen on the flesh of her latest pick-up. Meanwhile, Scarpetta and Marino are investigating the disappearance of a family in Florida, called in by a concerned neighbour, but as they search and find the tell-tale signs of abduction rather than disappearance, they also discover that someone had assumed the identity of the caller, and she is now dead. They've been set up, and it becomes clear that someone is tracking their every move.

Rare Book

The United States, perceived as the most secure nation in the fight against terrorism, faces a shattering reality as devastating bombings challenge this belief. These attacks strike at America's Achilles' heel by crippling access to the internet. Susan Connor, an intelligence officer at IAC, uncovers a highly explosive conspiracy. With America cut off from the world and its economy severely impacted, U.S. military units abroad become increasingly difficult to manage. The bombings of internet relay stations on the East Coast herald a looming political and economic catastrophe. Is this a show of force from China to pressure the U.S. into withdrawing support for Taiwan's independence efforts? Or is it the act of militant opponents of "transhumanism," aiming to prevent genetic and nanotechnology from altering humanity's divine design? As Susan Connor and her intelligence colleagues investigate under intense pressure, the political situation escalates unexpectedly and dramatically.

From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Guilt and The 13th Juror comes an electrifying thriller featuring San Francisco defense attorney Dismas Hardy, who faces the case of his career when his family becomes involved. Dismas, a devoted husband and father, is thrown into turmoil when his wife, Frannie, fails to pick up their children from school. His fears are confirmed when he learns that Frannie is in jail, summoned before a grand jury in a murder investigation. She has refused to disclose a secret entrusted to her by a friend, a fellow parent accused of killing his wife, who has now vanished. To free Frannie, Dismas must clear her friend of murder, but finding him proves challenging. As he navigates the intricate world of San Francisco's politics and big business, Dismas grapples with his wife's loyalty to another man, leaving him questioning the nature of truth and the depths of their relationship. What could compel a wife to protect another man at such a cost? With a masterful blend of suspense and emotional complexity, the author delivers a gripping narrative that explores the fragility of trust and the lengths one will go to for family.

Doctor Eric Kensing is living in fear that he is about to be indicted for the death of a patient. That patient was his boss, Tim Markham. But Kensing and Markham aren't just connected by work - Kensing's wife is one of Markham's many lovers. It's not looking good for Kensing, so he enlists the help of lawyer Dismas Hardy. Some say Kensing is not worth saving, although others say that Kensing is a special doctor, prepared to do anything to save a patient's life, even defying proper medical procedure. Despite all the damning evidence, Hardy becomes increasingly sure that Kensing is innocent. Against mounting pressure for an arrest, Hardy knows that the only way to save Kensing is to find the real murderer. And like Kensing, he seems to be working within a system that is set up to thwart him and any attempt at real justice...

Die Fotografin Tally Palmer verlässt ihren Freund Simon Emmet, der panisch reagiert und behauptet, sie sei von Jack zur Trennung gezwungen worden. Detective Inspector Alec Friedman und seine Freundin, die blinde Expolizistin Naomi Blake, glauben ihm nicht. Als Simon niedergestochen wird, entdecken sie ein Geheimnis aus Tallys Kindheit.

Natalies Welt bricht zusammen, als ihre beste Freundin Babs heiratet. Enttäuscht sucht sie Trost bei einem Frauenhelden, vernachlässigt ihren Job und entfremdet sich von ihrer Familie. Erst durch Bab's eindringliche Worte erkennt sie, dass sie ihr Leben ändern muss, um ihre Freundschaft zu retten.

'Beautifully written ... a marvellous read, one of my ten best of the year' Brian Case, Time Out

An assistant curator of Munich's National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a Ph.D. in solving crimes. So when an intelligence agency offers her a luxury Nile cruise if she'll help solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, all 5'11" of her takes the plunge. Vicky suspects the authorities really want her to lead them to her missing lover, the art thief and master of disguises she knows only as "Sir John Smythe." And right in the shadow of the Sphinx she spots him. . . with his new flame. Vicky is so furious at this romantic stab-in-the-back, not to mention the sudden arrival of her meddling boss, Herr Dr. Schmidt, that she may overlook a danger as old as the pharaohs and as unchanging. . . a criminal who hides behind a mask of charm while moving in for the kill.