Forensic Queens: La Plante & Gerritsen

Trial and Retribution — Lynda La Plante

The legal procedural that proves courtroom drama can be as tense as a manhunt. La Plante pivoted from police procedurals to the courtroom with Trial and Retribution, a franchise that follows cases from crime scene to verdict — and sometimes back again when the verdict's wrong. The formula works because La Plante understands that justice is messy: defence barristers aren't villains, prosecutors aren't heroes, and the truth often lands somewhere between a confession and reasonable doubt. The tension comes from watching the legal machinery grind through evidence that readers already know is incomplete. As of July 2026, Patina's Crime collection includes rotating preloved copies of La Plante's courtroom thrillers alongside her earlier Tennison novels. Explore our current copy of Trial and Retribution | Browse more Crime books at Patina

Whole Life Sentence — Lynda La Plante

Jane Tennison's final case is a cold case that refuses to stay cold. Whole Life Sentence closes out the Tennison prequel series — the novels that trace her career from ambitious detective to the hardened DCI we met in Prime Suspect. This one's a decades-old murder investigation that keeps circling back to corrupt colleagues and institutional cover-ups, which is classic Tennison territory: the crimes she solves are often less shocking than the colleagues who helped bury them. La Plante writes procedural detail like someone who's spent years interviewing detectives, and the payoff is fiction that feels uncomfortably plausible. The title refers to the UK's most serious criminal sentence — no parole, no release, life means life. Explore our current copy of Whole Life Sentence | Browse more Crime books at Patina

Blind Fury — Lynda La Plante

A DI with a killer instinct and a case that won't quit. Blind Fury follows Detective Inspector Anna Travis — Tennison's protégée — as she hunts a serial rapist whose MO keeps evolving just ahead of the investigation. La Plante's Travis novels sit somewhere between police procedural and psychological thriller: the crimes are brutal, the forensics are detailed, and the institutional politics are as dangerous as the suspects. What makes this one pulse is La Plante's refusal to let Travis be a Tennison clone — she's younger, angrier, less willing to play the long political game, which means she makes mistakes that cost her. The paperback format holds up well to multiple reads, which this one will get. Explore our current copy of Blind Fury | Browse more Crime books at Patina

Alibi: A Trial & Retribution Thriller — Lynda La Plante

An airtight alibi is only airtight until someone finds the leak. Alibi returns to the Trial and Retribution franchise with a case built entirely on one question: can a defence team dismantle an alibi that looks flawless on paper? La Plante structures this one like a chess match — every piece of evidence the prosecution introduces gets countered by the defence, and the jury's left to decide whether reasonable doubt means "probably guilty but we can't prove it" or "genuinely innocent." The courtroom scenes crackle because La Plante writes dialogue that sounds like actual barristers, not TV barristers — formal, cutting, relentlessly logical. It's a lean 300-page procedural that doesn't waste a sentence. Explore our current copy of Alibi | Browse more Crime books at Patina

Last to Die — Tess Gerritsen

Orphans, boarding schools, and a killer who's already planned their next move. Last to Die is Rizzoli & Isles #10, and Gerritsen uses the milestone to pivot from serial killer procedurals to something closer to gothic thriller territory. A group of orphaned teens at a Massachusetts boarding school becomes the target of someone methodically eliminating anyone connected to their families — and detective Jane Rizzoli can't work out if the killer's motive is revenge, inheritance, or something darker. Gerritsen's medical background shows up in the autopsy scenes, which are forensically precise without turning into textbooks, and Maura Isles gets more page time here than in earlier instalments. The boarding school setting adds claustrophobia that hospital morgues and Boston crime scenes can't match. Explore our current copy of Last to Die | Browse more Crime books at Patina

Die Again — Tess Gerritsen

A taxidermied big-game hunter and a cold case that spans two continents. Die Again opens with a murder victim who's been posed like a trophy kill — and the forensic evidence points to a decade-old safari disaster in Botswana that left most of the tour group dead. Gerritsen splits the narrative between Rizzoli's Boston investigation and flashbacks to the Botswana trip, which creates dual timelines that converge in the final act. The big-game hunting angle gives Gerritsen room to write visceral survival horror alongside procedural investigation, and the result is a thriller that works as both crime novel and adventure novel. Maura Isles spends most of this one in the lab, which is where she's at her sharpest — forensic pathology as detective work. Explore our current copy of Die Again | Browse more Crime books at Patina

I Know a Secret — Tess Gerritsen

A killer staging murders as religious tableaux, and a detective who's running out of patience. I Know a Secret is Rizzoli & Isles #12, and Gerritsen leans into Catholic iconography as the killer's calling card — victims posed to recreate martyrdom scenes from Renaissance paintings. It's a premise that could tip into Dan Brown territory, but Gerritsen keeps the focus on forensic procedure and psychological profiling rather than conspiracy theory. Jane Rizzoli's at her most ruthless here, cutting through bureaucratic red tape and ignoring chain-of-command protocols because the bodies are stacking up faster than the official investigation can handle. The religious imagery gives the murders a theatrical quality that contrasts sharply with Isles's clinical autopsy reports, and that tension drives the pacing. Explore our current copy of I Know a Secret | Browse more Crime books at Patina La Plante and Gerritsen both write procedurals that trust the reader to keep up — no hand-holding, no expository dialogue explaining what a toxicology report is, no simplifying the legal or forensic jargon. They're writing for an audience that's watched enough crime TV to know the mechanics, and now wants fiction that treats those mechanics seriously. The result is crime fiction that respects the intelligence of both its characters and its readers. Shop all Crime books at Patina Paperbacks →

Where can I buy preloved Lynda La Plante novels in Sydney?

Patina Paperbacks stocks rotating secondhand copies of La Plante's Tennison prequels, Trial and Retribution novels, and standalone thrillers — all shipped Australia-wide from our Sydney base. The Jane Tennison books are the ones readers hunt for first, but the courtroom thrillers hold up just as well. Browse our current Crime collection to see what's in stock today.

Which Rizzoli & Isles novel should I start with if I've only watched the TV show?

Start with The Surgeon (2001), the first novel in the series — it introduces both characters and establishes the forensic procedural rhythm that defines the franchise. The TV adaptation softened some of the darker edges and leaned harder into the partnership's banter, so expect the books to be grimmer and more forensically detailed. Gerritsen's background as a physician means the autopsy scenes are uncomfortably accurate.

Are Lynda La Plante's Trial and Retribution novels connected or standalone?

They're loosely connected — recurring characters appear across multiple books, but each novel focuses on a different case and can be read independently. The TV series (which aired on ITV from 1997 to 2009) followed the same formula, with self-contained two-part cases linked by recurring detectives and barristers. If you prefer reading in order, start with the first Trial and Retribution novel from 1997, but jumping in anywhere works fine.

Does Tess Gerritsen write anything besides the Rizzoli & Isles series?

Yes — Gerritsen wrote standalone medical thrillers throughout the 1990s before launching Rizzoli & Isles in 2001, and she's published standalones since. Harvest (1996) and Gravity (1999) are both worth hunting down if you want Gerritsen's forensic precision applied to organ trafficking and space station disasters. The Rizzoli & Isles novels are her most commercially successful work, but the standalones let her experiment with genre-blending that the series format doesn't allow.

How accurate is the forensic detail in Tess Gerritsen's novels?

Extremely accurate — Gerritsen holds an MD and worked as a physician before turning to fiction full-time in the mid-1990s. Her autopsy scenes, toxicology reports, and forensic procedure descriptions are written with surgical precision, which means they occasionally slow the pacing but never feel inaccurate. Readers who want forensic thrillers that treat pathology as a science rather than TV magic gravitate to Gerritsen for exactly this reason.