Hugin & Munin Journal

I came to Scarpetta from the wrong side of the morgue. I have not read Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels, and forensic thrillers have never been my natural habitat. My crime reading has leaned more towards Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, while Mindhunter and The Wire remain among my reference points for investigative television. I also watched Bones for years, at least until it drifted away from the qualities that had once made it sharp. So I approached Scarpetta not as a guardian of the books, but as a viewer curious to see a famous crime character receive the prestige-television treatment. The ingredients are formidable: Nicole Kidman as Kay Scarpetta, Jamie Lee Curtis as her difficult sister Dorothy, two timelines, a lavish production and decades of source material behind the forensic-thriller premise. The first season is beautiful, strongly acted and consistently watchable. It is also uncertain about what should organise all that talent. It...