The other big Cornwell-approved idea that's baked into Scarpetta 's eight-episode first season is Sarnoff's decision to have Kay's past live alongside her present. The overarching narrative arc finds Scarpetta on the trail of a murderer whose M.O. is disturbingly close to a case she worked decades prior at the start of her career.

Based on Patricia Cornwell's novels, the series also stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana DeBose, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Rosy McEwen and Jake Cannavale.

Exclusive: One of the stars of Prime Video's Scarpetta explains how the new crime series is adapting the 29-book franchise it's based on.

Prime Video's latest thriller, Scarpetta, is just a few hours away. The Nicole Kidman-led series is dropping on Prime Video this Wednesday.

Saloni Gajjar of AV Club gives it a D, saying Scarpetta marks a low point on Nicole Kidman’s journey of increasingly substandard dramas. The series is a “hot mess,” Gajjar writes, and feels more like “one of those fake shows used as punchlines in 30 Rock and Insecure .” Gajjar continues:

Not even three Oscar winners (Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana DeBose) can mask the predictable murder mystery of Amazon's "Scarpetta."