Authors · NYT Hardcover Fiction

Patricia Cornwell

Charting Sep 18, 1994 → Oct 26, 2025 · 221 weeks with chart power

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Image credits

Photo: Siren-Com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Honours

Author of the Week

NYT Hardcover Fiction
36 crowns
19942025
Longest reign 5 weeks (Jul–Aug 1996) · First crown Aug 1995

Peak Power: 8.66%; week of Sep 28, 1997
Career Power: 1,825; share-weeks
Crowns: 36; weeks crowned Author of the Week

Peak Year: 254; November 1996 – October 1997
Peak Five Years: 798; February 1996 – February 2001
Top-five weeks: 105; weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity: 221; weeks with chart power
Dominance: 15.24%; week of Sep 5, 1999
Comebacks: 3; Nov 2003 · Nov 2007 · Jan 2011

Ranked by weekly Power Share, part of the ChartReign Power model — not the list's own positions. How it works →

Exponentially smoothed share of the week's total power (the primary metric).

Titles on the NYT Hardcover Fiction

30 books · 1,825 share-weeks of Career Power

Power contributed is what each book earned this author: their weekly Power Share, split across their books (a featured credit takes its reduced share). Book Power is the book's own figure, the same for every author on it. Bar length compares books within this list.

Title	Peak	Weeks	On chart	Power contributedPower	Book Power
Unnatural Exposure	#1August 1997	13	August 1997 – October 1997	136.7	136.7
Cause of Death	#1July 1996	12	July 1996 – October 1996	125.2	122.5
Hornet's Nest	#1February 1997	11	February 1997 – April 1997	117.6	117.6
The Last Precinct	#1November 2000	14	November 2000 – February 2001	114.7	114.6
Predator	#1November 2005	12	November 2005 – January 2006	105.6	105.4
Point of Origin	#1July 1998	11	July 1998 – October 1998	104.5	104.5
Scarpetta	#1December 2008	11	December 2008 – March 2009	100.6	100.6
Southern Cross	#1January 1999	10	January 1999 – April 1999	100.1	100.1
Black Notice	#1August 1999	10	August 1999 – October 1999	98.9	92.6
From Potter's Field	#1August 1995	10	August 1995 – October 1995	91.1	91.0
Trace	#1September 2004	10	September 2004 – November 2004	88.4	86.8
Blow Fly	#1November 2003	13	November 2003 – January 2004	86.4	85.9
The Body Farm	#2September 1994	10	September 1994 – November 1994	70.1	70.1
At Risk	#1June 2006	8	June 2006 – July 2006	68.9	68.9
Book of the Dead	#1November 2007	10	November 2007 – January 2008	58.7	58.7
Isle of Dogs	#1October 2001	6	October 2001 – December 2001	56.0	56.0
Port Mortuary	#1December 2010	6	December 2010 – January 2011	46.7	46.7
Flesh and Blood	#3November 2014	7	November 2014 – January 2015	38.4	38.4
Red Mist	#2December 2011	5	December 2011 – January 2012	34.5	34.4
The Scarpetta Factor	#2November 2009	6	November 2009 – December 2009	33.6	33.6
The Bone Bed	#4November 2012	5	November 2012 – December 2012	31.4	31.4
Dust	#3December 2013	4	December 2013 – December 2013	24.3	24.3
Depraved Heart	#3November 2015	3	November 2015 – November 2015	20.1	20.1
The Front	#4June 2008	3	June 2008 – June 2008	18.3	18.3
Identity Unknown	#5October 2024	2	October 2024 – November 2024	14.0	13.9
Chaos	#7December 2016	3	December 2016 – December 2016	11.6	11.6
Livid	#5November 2022	2	November 2022 – November 2022	11.1	11.1
Autopsy	#8December 2021	2	December 2021 – December 2021	8.7	8.7
Unnatural Death	#9December 2023	1	December 2023	5.0	4.8
Sharp Force	#11October 2025	1	October 2025	3.7	3.6

At their peak

1996 in books →

Patricia Cornwell's best twelve months on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list ran from November 1996 to October 1997. The most powerful authors over those weeks:

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.

Their decades: the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s, the 2020s.