If You Like Patricia Cornwell...

You may also enjoy these medical mysteries and forensic thrillers.

A Rumor of Bones  by Beverly Connor
Lindsay Chamberlain has a problem. People keep finding bodies in shallow graves and bringing the bones to her. It's not that she doesn't know what to do with the remains. As an anthropologist who specializes in archaeology, she is an expert in the forensic analysis of bones. It's the bones of missing children, however, that disturb her, and lately she's had more than her share. Also try the rest of the Lindsay Chamberlain series.

The Bone Collector  by Jeffrey Deaver
Lincoln Rhyme is a legend in his field, the man who literally wrote the book on forensic analysis of crime scenes. He is also a quadriplegic, his spine having been irreversibly damaged during a cave-in at an underground murder site. As the novel opens, Lincoln has reached the end of his emotional tether and wants only to die. At the eleventh hour, with oblivion within his grasp, Lincoln is visited by a pair of detectives who offer him something he can't quite refuse: a new – and unusual – case. Also try the rest of the Lincoln Rhyme series.

Brain Dead  by Eileen Dreyer
Trauma nurse Timmie Leary-Parker's quest for the truth behind a rash of deaths of senior citizens at a reputable health facility threatens to draw her into a deadly conspiracy that could jeopardize her own life. Also try Head Games.

Where There’s a Will  by Aaron Elkins
In Edgar-winner Elkins's solid 12th whodunit to feature forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver, Oliver's Hawaiian vacation turns into a busman's holiday, as he and close friend John Lau, an FBI agent who's also enjoying some downtime, get involved in a decade-old mystery surrounding the deaths of two elderly Swedish brothers who owned a huge cattle ranch. Also try the rest of the Gideon Oliver series.

Final Jeopardy  by Linda Fairstein
Like her creator, Fairstein, Alexandra Cooper is New York City's assistant district attorney for sex crimes prosecution. A Hollywood actress staying at Alex's vacation home on Martha's Vineyard and driving a rental car charged to Alex's credit card is murdered. Was Alex really the intended victim and the murderer someone she had once prosecuted? Also try the rest of the Alexandra Cooper series, including 2006’s Death Dance.

Harvest  by Tess Gerritsen
While serving as a second-year surgical resident at Bayside Hospital, Abby DiMatteo meets 17-year-old Josh O'Day, who is desperately in need of a new heart. An accident victim with severe head trauma comes to Bayside and is a match. All systems are go, but at the last moment Nina Voss, beloved wife of zillionaire Victor Voss, arrives at the hospital for heart transplant surgery, and Josh goes back on hold – a clear violation of National Organ Registry policy. Also try her other medical thrillers, starting with Under the Knife.

Fever Cell  by Leornard Goldberg
In the ninth Joanna Blalock novel, Goldberg plunges Joanna, a forensic detective and partner Lieutenant Jake Sinclair into a plot to turn a viral medical nightmare into a terrifying reality. Also try the rest of the Joanna Blalock series.

The Face of Deception  by Iris Johansen
Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is persuaded by billionaire magnate John Logan to reconstruct the face of an adult murder victim. It turns out to be a very dangerous job yet as she is left in a specially equipped lab in rural Virginia. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, the phones are tapped and Logan himself acts at once – ruthless, charming and desperate. Also try the rest of the Eve Duncan series, including the most recent Stalemate.

The Trudeau Vector  by Juris Jurjevics
An American epidemiologist quite literally drops into the frozen Canadian north to find out what has caused several scientists to die spectacularly gruesome deaths. First novelist and Soho Press cofounder Jurjevics weaves his great fondness for the fragile, seductive, polar environment with carefully researched viral lore in a largely successful thriller about bio-terror and the pathologists who keep us safe in our beds.

Dangerous Attachments  by Sarah Lovett
Evaluating a sociopathic inmate named Lucas Watson, forensic psychologist Sylvia Strange finds him unfit for release, only to become the target of the entire Watson clan. Also try the rest of the Sylvia Strange series.

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
As forensic scientist Temperance Brennan works on the dismembered remains of a murder victim, she begins to suspect – despite the skepticism of local police – that there is a link between this homicide and the torture-killing of a teenager several years earlier. Also try the rest of the Brennan series, including 2007’s Bones to Ashes.

Grave Instinct  by Robert W. Walker
FBI medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran takes on a vicious new adversary as she is taunted by a brutal and gruesome serial killer who is scalping, murdering and eating his way across the Southeast. Also try the rest of the Jessica Coran series.

Privileged Information  by Stephen W. White
Clinical psychologist Alan Gregory finds his personal and professional life jeopardized when three female patients die mysteriously and confidential disclosures between therapist and patient uncover a psychopathic killer. Also try the rest of White’s Alan Gregory series, the most recent of which is Missing Persons.