"Perhaps we identify with Emma because we too feel an emptiness at the center of things-an emptiness we try to fill with books, with fantasies, with sex, with things. Her yearning is nothing more or less than the human condition in the modern world. Her search for ecstasy is ours."-Erica Jong "Madame Bovaryhas a perfection that not only stamps it, but that makes it stand almost alone: it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance...

Dr. Leigh Culver loves practicing medicine in Timberlake, Colorado. It is a much-needed change of pace from her stressful life in Chicago. The only drawback is she misses her Aunt Helen, the woman who raised her. But it's time Leigh has her independence, and she hopes the beauty of the Colorado wilderness will entice her aunt to visit often. Helen Culver is an independent woman who lovingly raised her sister's orphaned child. Now, with Leigh grown,...

In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity ... and whether he is stalking the princess or Adelia herself.

When Dr. Kay Scarpetta, freelancing from South Florida, returns to Richmond, Virginia, at the request of the recently appointed Chief Medical Examiner, who claims that he needs her help to solve a crime, she finds that nothing is as she left it: her former lab is being demolished; the chief isn't really the one who requested her; her former assistant chief has personal problems that he refuses to reveal; and a glamorous FBI agent meddles with the...

Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life -- great friends, family, and successful career -- aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she decides to make some major changes in her life, quitting her job as an optometrist, and moving house, she finds herself on a wild journey that may or may not include a second chance at love.

While chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta investigates the remains of a dismembered woman in a Virginia landfill, she receives an e-mail message from the killer inviting her to download photos of the victim. By the author of Hornet's Nest. Dr. Kay Scarpetta becomes both investigator and victim when she is contacted over the Internet by a murderer who is threatening to loose a deadly virus on the world.

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns with the remarkable twenty-fourth thriller in her popular high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning -- except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta,...

"Caught between two worlds, Caleb Stoltz is bound by a deathbed promise to raise his orphaned niece and nephew in Middle Grove, where life revolves around family, farm, faith--and long-held suspicions about outsiders. When disaster strikes, Caleb is thrust into an urban environment of high-tech medicine and the relentless rush of modern life. Dr. Reese Powell is poised to join the medical dynasty of her wealthy, successful parents. Bold, assertive,...

Dr. Ellie Sullivan has just completed her residency at a large urban hospital. While jogging in a park nearby she witnesses the fatal shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals. She is targeted by a shadowy criminal couple called the Landrys, and, as the only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. After Agent Max Daniels takes over the Landry case he pledges to protect Ellie until...

"A medical mystery wrapped in a contemporary love story set in the Pacific Northwest"-- Across the Puget Sound in a rural hospital on the Olympic Peninsula an unidentified patient lies unconscious, the victim of a hit and run. In Seattle, ICU doctor Charlotte Reese receives a call: Jane Doe will be transferred to her care. But when the patient arrives -- with only tubes keeping her alive -- Charlotte has to dig through x-rays and MRIs to determine...