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Books similar to the Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell


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Dd is really into this series as well as medicine/anatomy/forensic science in general. She wants to go into medicine, so I introduced this series to make the idea more tangible to her. Any recommendation for books along the same vein? 

I read a few of the Scarpetta books long time ago and can't remember whether it's cookie cutter throughout the series, but at least DD is off the phone/computer and reading books again. 

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3 minutes ago, Amateur Actress said:

Kathy Reichs has a similar series, with a forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan.  The TV series, "Bones", is based off these books.  

Oh, and Kathy Reichs also has a YA series, "Virals", with Temperance Brennan's niece, Tory.  

I've watched a few episodes and forgot that it's based on the books. Thank you!

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1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I second the Reichs series. I felt like the Scarpetta series got sort of dark - on the protagonist’s end- as the series progressed and I had to stop reading it. 

Maybe Jeffrey Deaver- I cant remember how good those were. I just know in high school and early college I had similar interest to your daughter and those were all authors I read! 

 

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Not forensics exactly , but she might like Ann Rule too.

Thanks for the warning and the recommendation! 

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SHe might also like Jonathan Kellerman-it's more on the psychological side of forensics, but has a similar feel to the earlier Cornwell books (I had to stop reading the later ones. I assume the author had a turn for the worst in her everyday life or something, because they really got bad-and for a series that takes place heavily in morgues, that's saying something). Faye Kellerman also writes mysteries, although hers are more the "police procedural/amateur sleuth" variety. Hers talk quite a bit about Orthodox Judaism, which makes them really interesting on another level.

 

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2 hours ago, Kareni said:

I haven't read the Scarpetta series, but how about some non-fiction? I've not read any of these but have heard good things about them ~

Actually I should have asked for non -fiction as well.

Funny enough Dd borrowed Stiff during the same time as the Scarpetta marathon and has really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the other books, I'm going to see if our library carries them.

 

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On 8/14/2019 at 7:49 PM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I second the Reichs series. I felt like the Scarpetta series got sort of dark - on the protagonist’s end- as the series progressed and I had to stop reading it. 

Maybe Jeffrey Deaver- I cant remember how good those were. I just know in high school and early college I had similar interest to your daughter and those were all authors I read! 

Like everyone else I loved the first few Scarpetta books then they got sort of sad and dark.  I used to really enjoy the Deaver books also.

On 8/16/2019 at 11:33 AM, dmmetler said:

SHe might also like Jonathan Kellerman-it's more on the psychological side of forensics, but has a similar feel to the earlier Cornwell books (I had to stop reading the later ones. I assume the author had a turn for the worst in her everyday life or something, because they really got bad-and for a series that takes place heavily in morgues, that's saying something). Faye Kellerman also writes mysteries, although hers are more the "police procedural/amateur sleuth" variety. Hers talk quite a bit about Orthodox Judaism, which makes them really interesting on another level.

 

I recently went back I caught up on the Alex Delaware series and I never stopped reading Faye Kellerman’s Decker.  Both series have actually held up quite well.......I love Faye Kellerman’s books and have reread the first few several times.

fwiw.....another Reich’s fan.

Another series I really enjoyed is Stephen White’s Dr. Alex Gregory.  It’s another psychologist series which has now ended after like 20 books.  The series became darker but nothing comparable to Scarpetta.😉 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1241240.Privileged_Information?ac=1&from_search=true

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I thought of another forensic mystery series which is far gentler than any of the ones we have been talking about so far.  Sharyn McCrumb wrote a series of books about a forensic anthropologist back in the 90’s https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135104.Sick_of_Shadows?from_search=true which I really enjoyed.  No where near the detail as these are cozy mysteries.

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On 8/16/2019 at 8:25 AM, ClemsonDana said:

I agree about the Scarpetta books getting weird, although I enjoyed the first several, and Kathy Reichs is also good.  The Rizzoli and Isles TV show is also based on books - in the books by Tess Gerritsen.  

I enjoyed the first several Gerritsen books (and love the show), but I have not read the last few. Some of the ones I read I am not sure I'd be okay with for a teen, although it has been several years. Then again, several of the Scarpetta ones in recent years have been pretty dark and gruesome too. 

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Books I loved in high school (and beyond): 

A Not Entirely Benign Procedure by Perri Klass 
Medical Detectives by Bernard Roueche ( true stories of investigations of outbreaks/public health mysteries)  
The Deadly Dinner Party (similar medical mysteries) by Jonathan Edlow 
Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders
Anything by Atul Gawande, especially Complications and Better
Anything by Oliver Sacks about Neurology...An Anthropologist on Mars, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat are three really good ones, all clinical neurology tales 
Similar to Sacks...books by Harold Klawans, Toscanini’s Fumble is one
Jerome Groopman’s How Doctors Think
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the Making of a Medical Examiner 
by Judy Melinek 
The Making of a Woman Surgeon by Elizabeth Morgan (interesting from the perspective of a woman who was one of the first in her field) 

Fiction: 
Robin Cook’s medical thriller’s: Coma is the classic but there are a bunch
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
The Chemistry of Death and others in the series by Simon Beckett (forensic series set in the UK....pretty graphic but really really good) 
The Body Farm series by Jefferson Bass (series of mysteries by a William Bass and Jon Jefferson...Bass was the real life doctor in charge of the Body Farm in Tennessee which is the premier lab for forensic research, Jefferson is a journalist who he teamed with to write the books). 

(FYI, I’m a pediatrician. These were all favorites of mine in high school or since high school. A warning is that my Mom pretty much let me read anything so I don’t really remember if all of these are typically high school appropriate.) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This week’s topic on the Book a Week thread happens to be Medical and Legal Thrillers.  I thought I would put a link here because a couple of the links @Robin M provided are particularly helpful imo https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/691514-book-a-week-2019-bw37-52-books-bingo-medicallegal-thrillers/

 

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On 8/14/2019 at 6:49 PM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I felt like the Scarpetta series got sort of dark - on the protagonist’s end- as the series progressed and I had to stop reading it. 

 

I agree with this. I would definitely pre-read some of her latest books. Several of them were dark and disturbing. It might bother a teen. I stopped reading hers because of this. 

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