To elaborate - Scarpetta is the title character (Kay Scarpetta) in a series of books written by Cromwell. She has written in the 'Scarpetta' series:

Postmortem (1990), Body of Evidence (1991), All That Remains (1992), Cruel and Unusual (1993), The Body Farm (1994), From Potter's Field (1995), Cause of Death (1996), Unnatural Exposure (1997), Point of Origin (1998), Black Notice (1999), The Last Precinct (2000), Blow Fly (2003), Trace (2004), Predator (2005), Book of the Dead (2007), Scarpetta (2008), The Scarpetta Factor (Due for release October 2009).

These will elaborate to the entire story of her Scarpetta character (her sister, the effect of serial killer Temple Gault who reoccurred in several books, her relationship to Benton, etc.) The whole series is well written, intelligent, full of action, and romance, and you almost always learn something. And it helps to see the progress of Scarpetta's story rather than brief 'flashback' info.
I have read 10 of these books (then life got really busy and I don't read much any more) but I was HOOKED on the first book (Postmortem) which was the first appearance of Gault, and within the first few books you realize what a catalyst this serial killer is in her life within the book. They are amazing books by themselves, but as a story you read from the first book and it progresses and develops into the last is another thing. It will blow you away!
Don't stop at this book, the series is worth the page turning.
(and to make it better buy starting from the beginning and work your way to the newer books. It's well worth it)
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