Temperance Brennan Vs. Kay Scarpetta

Both fictional heroines are headstrong as well as strong willed Southern Ladies that fight crime with their forensic skills. Death is their constant companion and their creators have made bucket loads of money off their exploits. Kathy Reichs has written 11 Temperance Brennan books beginning with Deja Dead in 1997 and the TV series Bones lead character is Temperance Brennan. Temperance Brennan of Bonesis based more on the actual creator rather than her alter ego. Talk about having trouble separating fact from fiction.
Kay Scapretta is the brainchild of Patricia Cornwell who introduced the vulnerable tough-as-nails Richmond, Virginia Medical Examiner in 1990 with Postmortem .
How do the two line up. Well, Kathy Reichs is a forensic archaeologist like her character and also slits her time between North Carolina and Montreal much like her character. Cornwell worked in the Virginia ME office but not in any forensic capacity. Score one for Temperance. Scarpetta does predate Brennan by at least 7 years so that one goes to her. Brennan owns a cat, Scarpetta doesn't--one more for Brennan. Reichs uses lots of Southern metaphors that gives Brennan a homey descriptive cadence. Cornwell has a much starker writing style. Points to both, both are equally effective when in high form. But here we come to the crux, Cornwell's form degenerated down to the point that you no longer liked or believed the characters. Reichs seems to have maintained the overall form and integrity of her characters to date, although there seems to be some questions about the latest novel--I haven't gotten that far through the series yet. We will give the point to Reichs. Scarpetta loves to cook and eat--although where she gets the time is beyond me. Brennan eats a lot of take out--a bit more realistic but I will give the point to Scarpetta. So where are we. I think I will weigh down on the side of Reich's and Brennan. Why? Because even though Scarpetta was better than than the previous 4 Scarpetta novels, I am still really pissed off with Cornwall for making a general mess out of all the characters. I have just gotten involved with the Brennan series and I kind of liked the quirky Brennan character in Bones. But I do have to say that up until Marie-France introduced me to the Scarpetta series I mostly read classics, literary fiction and non-fiction. So I guess I have to give Scarpetta credit for making realize that sometimes you just need some light although definitely not light-hearted reading. For light-hearted murder mysteries I recommend Meg Cabot and her Rachel Wells series--Size 12 is not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat, Either, and Big Boned.