Scarpetta. Amazon Prime.

Tried watching the first episode, absolutely awful. Two supposedly good actors, written and produced , I believe by them. Well they should stick to what they know best because this was not worth my 30mins of TV.

I think everything is characatured with Nicole Kidman. That's her style I feel.

I was a huge fan of the Scarpetta novels and found I couldn’t sit through the first episode of this. It’s altered and characatured. Hated all the flashbacks.

kircubbin2000

It's pretty awful. If you have ever watched a really good series like Sopranos or Better Call Saul where the writing and characters are perfect it's hard to watch drivel.

I agree completely.

butterandjam

Oooh, thanks for that!

I loved the early Scarpetta books. Later on they became so formulaic (and the writing so sloppy|) I gave up.

To readers who like Scarpetta I recommend the far superior Brunetti detective series by Donna Leon, who is also American but IMHO a better writer/novelist/plotter in every respect. Although all the books can stand alone, if you get hooked I recommend reading them in sequence to fully enjoy DL's mastery of back stories and characterisation.

Inspector Brunetti works in Venice and loves food... just two of the multiple delights awaiting you

I've often recommended reading DL to advanced English language students, because she is an absolute master of it.

Yes, Donna Leon is superb.

I'm another fan of Donna Leon's books. Beautifully written and such a change to have a happily married couple. If you like the Italian angle there are also Camilleri's Montalbano books.

I agree. I’ve read all the Donna Leon’s in order.

kircubbin thank goodness , someone else who thought it was awful.

TwiceAsNice she is petite and pretty with blonde hair in the books. Not sure who you're thinking of! Nicole Kidman is about 8 inches too tall.

It's pretty awful. If you have ever watched a really good series like Sopranos or Better Call Saul where the writing and characters are perfect it's hard to watch drivel.

Gfplux - the first one, Post Mortem. With an extra dimension.

I was a big fan of her early books. Which book is the Prime series based on.

We are enjoying this, it’s not too hard to follow, and easy to pick up on the different actors for different events in the timeline. It’s been some years since I read the books, and my DH has never read any, he’s still understanding, despite not watching any of the gross bits 😁.

thanks for the heads up. will look

dogsmother

I will look out for Donna Leon thank you.

Again the Earlier Donna Leon Brunetti books were excellent, I loved them, but, like Susan Hill, after a while the standard dropped and I haven’t kept up with the latter ones.
For consistency in a crime/detective series try Jane Casey who writes the Maeve Kerrigan / Josh Derwent series.
Also all the J k Rowling (aka Robert Galbraith) Strike series.
I am also thoroughly enjoying the newer autistic DS George Cross series by Tim Sullivan.

I also loved the early scarpetta books and looked forward to the next book being released. Problem for me was they became far too technical and I felt I had to keep rereading whole chapters in order to make sure I was following. Haven’t read them for a few years now. Might give this series a try though, sounds interesting 🤨

Not read the books but the series was excellent. I also found the flashbacks frustrating but got over it. I Hope there is another series to come!

I've just watched the full Scarpetta series and will not be watching any subsequent series or reading the novels. I thought Nicole Kidman was good but Jamie Lee Curtis was really over the top and so was the final scene.

I agree with others that the Brunetti books are good

I remember when I first discovered the Scarpetta books it was way back in the '90s and I thought they were cracking at the time. Somewhere along the line I felt the story lines went off, and there were way too many acronyms creeping in. I have to admit I haven't read one for ages, they were pretty gory from what I remember, which was an aspect I didn't really appreciate about them which puts me off the series as I've heard that it is too. As with so many dramatisations they are rarely as good as the books.

My husband is a huge fan of Donna Leon's Brunetti books, I haven't tried any yet, I probably will, I just have too many books on my pile right now .

I love the Donn Leon "Brunetti" books. IMO it's time that they made a TV series of these, but I guess that filming in Venice could be problematic. (And I can't think of an appropriate alternative filming location. )

Well Nicole Kidman is always Nicole Kidman as far as I'm concerned but unless hair colour is intrinsic to the plot I'd expect her "acting style" to be (usually) a bigger block. This role seems to suit her though.
Maybe the novels paint Scarpetta a bit like Nicole Kidman?


I do admit, novels rarely make better TV in my opinion though.
However, some "weaker" novels with an interesting story are sometimes better on screen.

I have read all of her books but I’m afraid the television will spoil it for me. How the heck is Nicole Kidman cast as her, Scapetta is really dark haired in the books I’m afraid I won’t like it

I will look out for Donna Leon thank you.

NotSpaghetti

I haven't read the books but enjoyed the TV adaptation.
I wasn't confused by the time-shifts.

I expect there will be more...

Perhaps it was less confusing if you hadn’t read the book?

sodapop

My friend & I have tired of Patricia Cornwell's books and those of Kathy Reichs they read more like textbooks now and we don't find them so enjoyable.

Never read Patricia Cornwall Sodapop my friend was a great fan especially Scarpetta but we both read and loved James Patterson the early ones mainly Alex Cross
We also found his later books especially the one he writes with a co author weren’t as good seemed very rushed and lazily written
Have watched Scarpetta on Amazon enjoyed all the twists and turns in the plot but thought some of casting especially Jamie Lee Curtis spoiled it for me