The medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the unusual creation of bestselling author Patricia Cornwell. Over 29 books, the crime-fighting forensic pathologist has dealt with difficult cases, problematic home life and office politics.
She now finds herself on screen (on Amazon Prime Video), adapted by Liz Sarnoff, played by the alabaster-skinned Nicole Kidman, and as her younger self, by Rosy McEwen (a terrific work of casting). She is married to FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Simon Baker/Hunter Parrish), but has a relationship of trust and friendship with her high-strung sister Dorothy’s (Jamie Lee Curtis/Amanda Righetti) husband, Pete (Bobby Cannavale/Jake Cannavale). Kay had raised Dorothy’s daughter, Lucy (Ariana DeBose), while her mother was too busy partying. The young woman is troubled and still obsessing over her dead partner Janet (Janet Montgomery), with whose AI avatar she constantly chats.
Into this chaotic cauldron drops a horribly mutilated body lying naked by the railway tracks, that has similarities with a case Kay had helped solve in the past. It had also ended Pete’s career as a cop, for a murder rap he took to protect Kay. Years later, Kay and Benton have returned to Virginia, where he has a palatial mansion and she has been appointed Chief Medical Officer. She brings in Pere as a consultant, which annoys her sister, husband and niece. Her nemesis of the past, Elvin Reddy (Lenny Clarke) is now her boss, and plants his own mole, Maggie (Stephanie Faracy)  as her secretary.
Kay’s life and career start to unravel as the secret she and Pete had kept hidden for decades is about to explode. A set of fingerprints is found on the body connect the victim to a series of homicides 28 years earlier. If it turns out they had the wrong man in 1998, then they would have to pay the price in the present.
The series, based loosely on Scarpetta’s 1990 introduction Postmortem, diverges from the source material in some ways, mainly in the portrayal of Kay. At home, her sister is constantly throwing tantrums and Lucy unloads her trauma on everybody around her. Unlike the cool and professional character in the book, Scarpetta, as played by Kidman, is just weirdly clinical, and also, when it comes to her treatment of Pete, very self-centred. Even Janet’s AI bot can see that Pete is in love with Kay, and Dorothy yells her jealousy without any filters, but Kay is oblivious.
The show has graphic autopsy scenes as Scarpetta handles corpses with a view to collect forensic data, which can be off putting. Readers of Corenwell’s books might be disappointed by the show. Others might find it watchable if the gore doesn’t bother them.
Scarpetta
Developed by Liz Sarnoff
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Simon Baker, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Rosie McEwen and others
Amazon Prime Video
