All That Remains: A serial killer is loose in Richmond, specializing in attractive young couples whose bodies are inevitably found in the woods months later-- minus their socks and shoes. After months of exposure to the elements, all that remains of this killer's victims has, in every case, left Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta unable even to determine an exact cause of death. Frustrated that her high-tech forensic skills have apparently proved useless, Kay enlists the help of a ace crime reporter and a psychic.

Cruel & Unusual: After a serial killer is executed in Virginia's electric chair, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta retraces the bloody path of the killer because the murders have continued and the deaths are all connected to the man the state executed.