Port Mortuary

Written by Patricia Cornwell

Narrated by Kate Burton

The world’s bestselling crime writer Patricia Cornwell presents the extraordinary eighteenth novel in the Kay Scarpetta series, in which Kay Scarpetta is confronted with a case that could ruin her professionally and personally.

Kay Scarpetta has been training at the Dover Port Mortuary, mastering the art of "virtual autopsy"—a groundbreaking procedure that could soon revolutionize forensic science. And it is not too long before these new skills urgently need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, apparently
from a heart condition, eerily close to Scarpetta’s home. But when his body is examined the next morning, there are stunning indications that he may have been alive when he was zipped inside a pouch and locked in the cooler.

When the revolutionary 3-D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, she realizes that this is a case of murder—and that she is fighting a cunning and uniquely cruel enemy. Now it is a race against time to discover who and why before
more people die. But that time is running out …

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781705081679

Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime authors with novels translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. Her novels have won numerous prestigious awards including the Edgar, the Creasey, the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Prix du Roman d’Aventure. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Patricia has written a definitive book about Jack the Ripper, a biography, and three more fiction series among others. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the forensic technologies that inform her work. She was born in Miami, grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston. 

Reviews for Port Mortuary

[iansales_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read Port Mortuary while travelling back home from Copenhagen by train. These books are becoming increasingly easier to polish off in a single sitting, even if they seem to be getting longer. Mostly, I suspect, that’s because I know the character of the protagonist, Dr Kay Scarpetta, pretty well now after 18 novels, and also probably because the plots are beginning to settle into something of a rut. Again, a puzzling murder is the springboard to a conspiracy to attack Scarpetta’s profile, credibility and relationships.

Scarpetta has spent six months at Dover Air Force Base, where US casualties from the invasion of Iraq are shipped. Shortly before this, she had set up a new forensic centre in Cambridge (Massachusetts), and left it under the command of Dr Jack Fielding, a character familiar from earlier books. But when a body appears to have bled out while in the freezer in this new centre, and Fielding has gone AWOL, Scarpetta is helicoptered in to fix things.

Unfortunately, nothing looks good. The centre is falling apart, things cannot, er, hold. The dead man in the fridge was murdered using some strange weapon which left pockets of air in his chest cavity. Benton is treating a young man on the spectrum, a near-genius working in the R&D department of a nearby defence contractor, who has confessed to murder a small boy by hammering nails into his head. Benton is convinced the man has been manipulated into confessing - but by whom?

Scarpetta is also having flashbacks to the autopsy of two young women she performed for the US military in South Africa, back at the beginning of her career. She knows their murders were staged, likely by government agents to foment hatred - Cornwell seems to think Afrikaaners were black South Africans, which is, well, the exact opposite - but has always regretted following the party-line.

The murder of the boy and the man who bled in the fridge turn out to be linked, and clues point back to the defence contractor’s R&D lab. Fielding is also involved somehow. It all slots together neatly - Cornwell has been doing this for a while - but it does, unfortunately, fall back on Cornwell’s favourite solution: the super-intelligent psychopath who manipulates everyone around them. And Cornwell throws in an ending she over-used in the first few books of the series, where the villain of the piece attacks Scarpetta at home and is defeated.

Port Mortuary has moved back to first person, and is far more introspective than earlier books. There are a lot of words on the process, and means, of discovering the facts surrounding the two murders. Plus, everyone seems to know what’s going on, but is deliberately keeping Scarpetta in the dark. It makes for a frustrating read at points.

I’m not sure where to rank Port Mortuary among the Scarpetta books I’ve read. Too much in it feels like retcon, and Cornwell’s changes in narrative style - we’re eighteen books into the series here! - make it hard to get a real purchase on the series arc. Lucy’s inconsistent aging notwithstanding - cf Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone books, which stuck so rigorously to their internal chronology her last book, Y is for Yesterday published in 2017, was set in 1989. I do like the Scarpetta novels, I like their focus on the science and, increasingly, technology of forensic pathology. But they’re nowhere near as rigorous - perversely - than other series in the same space I like.

[chris.wolak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Patricia Cornwell is the only writer who has gotten me out of bed during a late night reading frenzy to double check that the doors and windows are locked.

She's also one of the few writers whose release dates I track for new books and I usually buy them on the lay down date. This time around I was happy to get an early review copy.

I'm also thrilled that she's coming to Chicago! She'll be at the Borders in Oak Brook, IL on Thursday, 12/3/10, at 7pm. Please call the store for the latest details: 630-574-0800. [Disclosure: I work there part-time.]

I've been reading Cornwell since the late 1990s when I first started getting into mystery novels and her characters--Kay Scarpetta, Pete Marino, Lucy Farinelli, and Benton Wesely--are like old friends to me. Her first novel, Postmortem (1991) is still, I believe, the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity Awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure in a single year. She has been credited with starting the whole CSI craze due to her meticulous and engaging incorporation of the latest forensic investigative techniques and technology in her Scarpetta novels.

When I first started reading the Scarpetta novels I lived in Charlotte, NC where Cornwell is considered a bit of a home girl because she was a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and went to college up the road at Davidson.

Port Mortuary takes Kay Scarpetta in a fresh new direction, but the novel is a bit slow on action. The book, however, never dragged for me. I just realized at one point that I was still reading about Scarpetta thinking after X number of pages. I won't go so far as to say I am disappointed with this novel, but it wasn't the action packed thriller that I was anticipating. Port Mortuary started strong, but I think it got a little bogged down in Scarpetta's internal musings. I would've preferred to see Scarpetta engage in more action and to see more interaction between the main characters, but that's not the book Cornwell wrote. And I know she has her reasons.

I'm looking at this novel as setting up lots of potential thrills going forward. Scarpetta certainly learns a lot about herself in this story and tensions are set up between the characters and various organizations for future harvesting. I know Cornwell fans will enjoy the novel and the new direction it is taking Scarpetta. Actually, the more I write about this novel the more fascinating it seems. I can't wait to talk with people who've read it to compare notes.

In this entry in the series we learn of Scarpetta's early work with the Air Force to pay off her medical school loans before she started her professional career. There's also a dark secret that's been haunting her and which she's been hiding since the Reagan years. Scarpetta has been appointed chief of the new state of the art Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts which is a joint venture between state and national government (including the military), MIT, and Harvard. However, she's been away at Dover Air Force Base practically since the new facility opened participating in an internship to learn how to conduct virtual autopsies using CT-assisted technology.

The four month internship has dragged on into six months and all is not well back home at the Cambridge Forensic Center where Scarpetta left Jack Fielding in charge. But Scarpetta doesn't know that all is not well. She's been cocooned working long hours at Dover. And no one is really telling her anything these days. Then, a young man drops dead near Scarpetta's house in Cambridge. His body is taken to the Cambridge Forensic Center where his body starts to bleed in the cooler overnight. Anyone whose read Cornwell knows that dead bodies don't bleed, which means the man may have been put in the cooler while he was still alive. Scarpetta's reputation is on the line. She may not have been there, but she's in charge and while she's been away standards have slipped and her second in command, Jack Fielding, has disappeared. Pete Marino and Lucy Farinelli helicopter in to Dover to take Scarpetta home to Cambridge. General Briggs, Scarpetta's commanding officer at Dover and the only one who knows about her earlier, dark secret, seems to want to interfere with her domain. All of this, along with a few other things, makes Scarpetta a little paranoid, which sets up her internal musings. The story takes off from there.

Cornwell delivers more of her trademark incorporation of the latest techniques and technology in crime scene investigation--virtual autopsies and various nano technologies--all the while maintaining a deep sense of respect for the victim's of crime as well as other living creatures. Excuse me one cryptic remark, but going forward I'll be looking a little closer at flies on the wall after having read this novel.

Diehard Cornwell fans will no doubt pick-up Port Mortuary asap and, as always, it'll be like reconnecting with old friends.

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

NOT WORTH THE EFFORT... Oh where oh where did the REAL Patricia Cornwell go? Those older books where you couldn't put them down... geeze... I HATED picking this one up! The characters are horrid. They're doing unrealistic things... there isn't ONE that I LIKED... they've all been abducted and had their personalities changed to unlikable. UGH.

[ameise1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another Scarpetta case that grabs you from the beginning. Kay is brought back to her institute in Boston earlier than planned. Her deputy seems to have vanished and suspicious cases multiply. Kay, who gave her deputy a chance, has to realize that she is shamelessly deceiving her and her institute.
The medical and technical topics are complex, which gives the whole thing a certain spice.

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a whole new level of respect for how much thought and background that goes into these books on a scientific level. I enjoyed the book, thought the plot twist happening inside Scarpetta's circle was interesting as opposed to having an enemy "outside the circle." I also closed the book thinking that like in a TV show, this book was also a cliffhanger, a set up for the next book. Scarpetta's world has completely evolved into something that is wasn't before.

[melannc-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I usually enjoy when Patricia Cornwell writes about Kay Scarpetta, but this one was really disjointed. I found myself constantly wondering if I had missed a page. The premise was interesting - it starts with a body that bleeds the day after it arrives at the morgue.

[madcatter-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Truly awful.
Felt as though Cornwall was being paid by the word and was maximizing payment.
Couldn't listen to the audiobook. Found myself mentally yelling at her to get to the (expletive) point.

[lizhd-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I can't remember the last time I thought a new Scarpetta novel lived up to the the early books. This one is long and...ridiculous! All of the action takes place within about 24 hours (how these middle-aged characters are supposed to be functioning so well while suffering from fatigue and sleep deprivation is beyond me--Kay Scarpetta is most definitely not Jack Bauer...). And to say that the plot is coincidence-driven doesn't even begin to convey the absurd convergence of events as the narrative unfolds. But did I read the whole book? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Just don't ask me why.

[cindyb29 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Written before Red Mist, but I read it after. Very satisfying to know what will happen; didn't ruin it for me, but written in first person which came across as somewhat arrogant and self-congratulatory

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This Scarpetta book is OK, but not great. It begins with the Dover AFB's Port Mortuary...a flimsy pretense but a great way to emphasize that organization. Although there is a bit of swirling and eddy around technology, the story is all about what happens after the return from Dover and deterioration of her company in Scarpetta's absence. The book then emphasizes Scarpetta, to the detriment of everyone else in the story. Marino, for example, is relegated to the status of a large hulk that can't be trusted. Tell me again why Scarpetta left Richmond? The perpetrator gets caught as always and we move on to another Cornwell novel.

[jenwdwrd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love the Scarpetta novels. I enjoy the character as well of the style of writing.

[fmrox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returns from a year long educational tour with the United States medical examiner's office to find her Cambridge0based medical examiner office in utter confusion and complete disarray. It appears her second in command led the place near to the brink of disaster and she is left to pick up the pieces.
Cornwell's novels still aren't what they used to be. In this one she returns to her earlier format of first person, present tense. While present tense does not bother me, I no longer enjoy first person. The story once again hits close to home as the killer or killers is after one of her own. The ending isn't very satisfying. And it's too long for a novel.

[librarian1204 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice to read a Scarpetta in the old style. The later ones were more weird than good. This book is back to basics. The story that originally hooked us as readers .

[dragonflydee1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Halfway through this book I was banging my head against the wall--come on, get on with the story. Then, it dawned on me (duh) that we were supposed to be feeling Kay's angst, her confusion, guilt and fear and a premonition about the horrors to come. After I realized this, the book was better for me, but still not my favorite Cornwell novel.

[jancolsum_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Oh,so tedious and repetitive. I listened to it on audio-book in the car, and when my son asked if we were going to be listening to "crazy, grumpy woman" again,I decided that I couldn't discribe it any better than that. I wouldn't suggest anyone subject themselves to 10+ hours of this.

[lrobe190 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Port Mortuary, is literally a port for the dead. Kay Scarpetta, now the chief medical examiner of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts, is involved in a couple of cases: the mysterious sudden death of a man and the murder of a child (whose confessed killer seems to be innocent). Soon she begins to suspect the two cases are related—joined by a piece of high-tech hardware found in the first victim’s apartment—and before too long, she realizes she’s facing what could be her most clever foe yet. (Desc. Booklist)

I've read all of the Kay Scarpetta novels and always enjoy the forensics and the science behind solving the mystery. I found the pacing in this novel very slow. It's told in first-person, and

[dickmanikowski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting book in that the entire book (nearly 500 pages) takes place over the course of 30 hours. Lots of introspection, lots of flashbacks.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Can't say this was one of my favorite Scarpetta novels, but I am intrigued and think I will read the next one to see if the mystery of Fielding is resolved.

[bacreads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have been a Scarpetta fan for many years but the last few books have been disappointing and this one even more so. I either missed a book or two or can't remember the early ones to know that she was in the military and her over protection of Jack. I found Kay very whinny and the murder less than intriquing. Nothing really seemed to mesh. Cornwall seemed to be making it up as she went along. It was not a compelling read. I am a fan of Reichs and Fairstein and they seem to be able to keep their main characters fresh and interesting. These type of books are my escape and fun reading and I feel cheated when it is neither.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel provides disturbing data about war, the military, and the government. The average person really has no idea what is truly happening due to government intervention and secrecy. This reminds me of many of David Baldacci's books. Another aspect of the Scarpetta series is that people she trusts constantly betray Kay. Marino has assaulted her, Wesley pretended to be death, her father depended on Kay as he died of cancer, and many others such as Kay's mother, Kay's sister, and many of Kay's employees took advantage of Kay's generosity and Kay's sense of liability for every problem. Many readers have states that these most current of the Scarpetta series are not as good as Cornwell's earlier novels. I disagree with this analysis. This novel is written in first person, that of Kay Scarpetta. Kay is an expert in her field, and that expertise is expressed in the novel, which proves to be technically tedious at times for the average reader. Readers are a curious lot with many wanting the fast paced action and short chapters of James Patterson. This is a long and detailed novel that delves into Kay's mind as she works. The story jumps from when Kay first started her career to the current time, as she fears her life is winding down. Scarpetta is no longer that idealistic young woman, but a woman who has survived a man's world and wonders when the hatchet will fall.

[lizarees · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The previous two Scarpetta books were something of a return to form but I found this one unsatisfactory. Some of the characters (Marino, Benton and Scarpetta herself) seem to have changed out of all recognition, Scarpetta's career has taken an unexplained turn, and there's a South African back story we've heard nothing about before.
Every time a new book in the series is published I tell myself I'm not going to bother again, but this time I think I really mrean it.

[labwriter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the risks of an author publishing novels that don't live up to past efforts is that she can lose her good readers, which seems to be what's happened in pretty good measure to Cornwell, if the LT and Amazon citizen "reviews" for this book are any indication. Plus, no less that three people here at LT whose opinions I respect very highly have said that they too have stopped reading her.

The readers who are left, at least some of the ones commenting, have some rather odd things to say about this book:

1. "Too focused on technology." / Since these books are about a forensic pathologist, if they didn't focus on "technology" or the science of forensics, then they would be rather superficial. Cornwell's ability to write about the science involved in her plots has always been a strong point.

2. This goes to the same point as #1 above: "Used jargon that I didn't understand." / One of the reasons I read--anything, be it novels or anything else--is to learn new things. I guess a person is either interested enough in the subject a writer is writing about, or they're not. If someone isn't moved to look up the things they don't understand, one can hardly fault the author or the book for that, and perhaps instead of writing a negative review, that reader ought to choose something else.

3. "No passion between Scarpetta and Benton." / Try a romance novel. I thought the back-and-forth between Scarpetta and her husband Wesley Benton was realistic and probably the best that Cornwell has done with these two characters for awhile. They work together, so they have to maintain a professional relationship as well as personal. The "passion" is there, it's just not the fall-into-bed "passion" of a couple of 20-year-olds.

4. "The fractured plot was too difficult to follow; the story had strange twists." / Huh? I don't know how to judge the exact reading level of a book, but I would say that if a reader can't follow this plot, then they either aren't interested in the forensic thriller genre, or they might need to practice on something less complex. An Alex Cross book by James Patterson comes to mind.

What I liked about the book:

Cornwell has gone back to writing in the first person from the point of view of Kay Scarpetta. I think that's a good choice for her, since she seems to be more solidly in control of her material when she's writing from inside of Kay's head.

Addtionally, Cornwell has some great scenes in this thing, including some wonderful business with a new young male assistant that is screamingly funny. There's another scene where Scarpetta is on a phone call with a patrician Boston mother of a young man with Asperger's; the mother's son is accused of murdering a six-year-old with a nail gun. Scarpetta is responding to this woman who is becoming increasingly voluable and agitated while at the same time Benton is listening to the conversation, responding to Kay. The scene demonstrates the narrative assurance of a pro.

Another thing I liked is that at the end of the book, Kay adopts a new dog named Sock, a rescue greyhound. I love it when writers include pets in their books, if they really do love animals, that is, and what Cornwell does between Scarpetta and this dog is very nice--very sweet--and has the effect of humanizing Kay a little bit. And she can use it.

And I guess finally the plot--I liked it; the story was good. If I find myself stealing time from things I should be doing in order to read a novel, then that's a pretty good indication the book is not only holding my attention, but it's also entertaining or throught-provoking or something beyond the run-of-the-mill.

[quiltingdragon · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have loved the Kay Scarpetta series since I started reading adult books, when a friend of my parents gave Dad one to read and I borrowed it - it was several years before I was able to read the others, but I now have almost all of them in hardback, lovingly assembled at garage sales,etc over the years because I have worn out the paperbacks. This one? Not sure if it will get a second read. I was very disappointed, way too much focus on the technology and not enough time with the characters. Perhaps the author needs to reread the early books and see if she can find the character she lost along the way.

[cookiemo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't really enjoy this latest book of Patricia Cornwell's. Most of the book was using jargon that I didn't really understand. eg nanobots and nano particles. Whilst I have a basic understanding of these it wasn't really enough. I found it quite disjointed and lots of it was simply reviewing her past 'adventures.' I did enjoy the last 50 or so pages.
Definitely not one of her better books.

[bohemiangirl35 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I stopped reading the Kay Scarpetta series years ago when Marino transformed from a friend and partner with some insecurities into a self-destructive, off-the-wall cop who breaks the rules and disrespects his and Kay's friendship and work relationship. And Kay allowed it. I wish I had not picked this one up. The back of the book says, "In Port Mortuary, Patricia Cornwell brings Scarpetta together with Marino, Benton, and Lucy in an intimate way that is reminiscent of the early novels..." This book is NOTHING like the early Scarpetta novels.

Kay, whom I absolutely loved in the beginning of the series, has turned into a weak, indecisive, observer in her own life and career. I know that people can be strong in one area of their life and weak in others places in ways that seem incongruous, but Kay seems like she's been lobotomized. Why would everyone need to protect her and not tell her anything about a case that she is involved with? When did she get so fragile? I would never guess that Kay's staff would allow her office to become a dirty, disorganized mess because she takes a few months work at Dover Airforce Base. All of the main characters - Kay, Benton, Marino, Lucy - have turned into something worse than caricatures. They are not at all true to the personalities they were at the beginning of the series.

The story itself seemed like it might be interesting at the start, but it was convoluted and twisted and Cornwell really had to stretch to make it all fit. I'm not even going to describe it.

This novel goes on my very short "hated it" list along with Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Dead and Alive and Iris Johansen's Deadlock.

[rretzler_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The latest in a long line of Kay Scarpetta novels- of the regulars are here - Kay, Benton, Lucy, Marino and even Jack Fielding. The Scarpetta novels in the past have been entertaining, interesting and easy to read.

Cornwell certainly keeps up on the latest in forensics and this book was no exception. However, I felt as though I were missing pieces of Kay's life, even though I have read all of the previous novels. Rather abruptly, Kay is now the Head of the new CFC which has ties to Harvard, MIT and the military, but there is not much explanation of how this happened, or how Jack Fielding became involved.

(Spoiler alert) Also, even though this is a lengthy book, I felt as though the ending were rather abrupt, and it was certainly no surprise - what do we expect to happen when the killer has not been caught, and Kay and Benton head home for a quiet evening.

This was certainly not one of Cornwell's better efforts, it felt as if she just wrote it to get another Scarpetta novel out. Let's hope the next one is better.

[maureen61_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am a huge fan of Patricia Cornwell. I have read all of the Scarpetta books. This one is a disappointment. I was frustrated by the story that featured Scarpetta as an indecisive, troubled womanso unlike her other depictions in past novels. I felt she was disrespected by her husband, niece Lucy ahd Mariono - her gaithful companion. The story had strange twists and really stretched to make circumstances fit together. Many pages - not worth the read.

[onemorepage · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Fractured plot, difficult to follow. I used to love Cornwell's work, but it gets worse and worse. I keep giving her another chance, but I think I have given her one too many. She's lost me, no more, I will spend my precious reading time on someone else.

[josephlyoung · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Convoluted story with lots of details glorifying equipment used by a state Medical Examiner as a Forensic Scientist. Lots of ghosts of the past haunted the story as the dead started to pile up. Kay Scarpetta agonized over real and imagined motivations of her mentors, peers, family and interns while corpses continue to pile up. A tie in with the Military and advanced technology at a Military Industrial Development Complex were red herrings thrown in obscure any trace of an actual story and any possible early solution to the "Who did it" question. The deaths didn't have a obvious common thread and the eventual Killer was not even introduced until late in the book, long after evidence linking other characters to the murders wad advanced. Not one of Patricia Cromwell's better works.

[atechwreck · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Scarpetta returns from Dover where she's been working on military forensics to a mess at her Boston lab. Several mysterious deaths have apparently been mishandled.

Problem is that no one is telling her (or us, the reader) anything, just allowing cryptic comments. The vagueness of the plot and passivity of Scarpetta make this a frustrating read.