Questions about genre and character apply to any of the Scarpetta novels, although Postmortem deserves special attention as the first and most honored of the series. The four contexts of the hard-boiled detective stories, feminist detective writing, the literature of serial murder, and scientific detectives also offer good starting points for discussion of any of the books.

1. How do you respond to Scarpetta?

Do you like her? How would you describe her? How does she endure the horrors she sees as she investigates?

2. How is Scarpetta like or unlike other detectives whose adventures you have read — Poe's Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe?

How does she compare with other classic and contemporary female sleuths?

3. Within the mystery genre, what makes Cornwell unique? How does her book stand out?

4. Do Cornwell's books remain in their genre? Are they good as detective fiction and as mainstream literature...