Patricia Cornwell
Born	June 9, 1956 (1956-06-09) (age 51) Miami, Florida
Occupation	Novelist, 1990 - Present
Nationality	American
Literary movement	Crime Novel
Debut works	Postmortem
Influences	William M. Bass, John E. Douglas,

Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels on June 9, 1956) is a contemporary American author. She is widely known for writing a popular series of crime novels featuring the fictional heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. If you hold the copyright to an image (e. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Florida. ... Miami redirects here. ... This article is about work. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mystery_fiction. ... Postmortem is a crime fiction novel by author Patricia Cornwell. ... Overview Dr. William M. Bass is a forensic anthropologist renowned for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. ... John E. Douglas (born June 18, 1945) is a former FBI agent and one of the first profilers. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mystery_fiction. ... Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. ... A coroner is the presiding officer of a special court to investigate deaths that occur under unusual circumstances where conventional criminal proceedings are not immediately called for. ...

In 2002, Cornwell claimed to have solved the mystery of the Jack the Ripper murders by accusing noted artist Walter Sickert, though her conclusions and methods have been widely criticized. Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (May 31, 1860 in Munich (Germany) – January 22, 1942) was an English impressionist painter. ...

Biography

Life

A descendant of abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, Cornwell was born in Miami, Florida. Cornwell says that there are numerous links between herself and the main character in her novels, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist. They are both Miami-born, divorced, worked in forensic science, and had troubled relationships with their late fathers. This article is about the abolition of slavery. ... Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe. ... Miami redirects here. ... Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. ...

In Body of Evidence, the second of the Kay Scarpetta novels, Scarpetta says that her career in pathology can be traced back to "the terrible crime of my father's death."

Cornwell told The Times ^[1] that her first interaction with the legal system came at the age of five, when she appeared before a grand jury to give evidence against a neighborhood security guard who :

Soon afterwards, Cornwell's family moved to Montreat, North Carolina, where her mother was hospitalized for depression and the children were placed in the foster care system. By her late teens, Cornwell told The Times ^[1], she was anorexic and suffered from depression. Billy Graham's wife, Ruth Bell, encouraged Cornwell to write, she says : Montreat is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Largest metro area Charlotte metro area Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (901 km)  - % water 9. ... On the Threshold of Eternity. ... Anorexia (deriving from the Greek word ανορεξία = without appetite (αν = without + όρεξη = appetite)) is the medical name for loss of appetite. ... The Reverend William Franklin Graham, Jr. ...

In 1979, Cornwell started working as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and soon began covering crime. Her biography of Ruth Graham Bell : A Time for Remembering (renamed Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham in subsequent editions), was published in 1983. In 1984, she took a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia. For six years she worked there, first as a technical writer and then as a computer analyst. She also volunteered to work with the Richmond Police Department. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In the 1980s, Cornwell wrote three novels that she says were rejected before the publication, in 1991, of her first major success, Postmortem. After the success of Postmortem, Cornwell bought five houses and as many cars in one year. Then, after an evening out with actress Demi Moore, who was visiting to discuss playing Scarpetta in a film, Cornwell crashed her Mercedes, was convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to 28 days in a treatment center. ^[2] A Scarpetta movie has yet to be made. Demi Moore (born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. ...

After studying the criminal brain for her 2005 book, Predator, Cornwell said she reversed her position in support of the death penalty and concluded that the mind is formed by nature and nurture acting upon each other, which does not mean that someone is chemically doomed to become a psychopathic murderer. In her interview with The Times ^[1], Cornwell used similar concepts to describe herself, saying that she was “wired differently”, in a direct reference to her struggle with bipolar disorder : Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... For other uses, see Bipolar. ...

"My wiring’s not perfect and there are ways that you can stabilize that. I have certain things that run in my own ancestry," she told The Times adding, "It’s not unusual for great artistic people to have bipolar disorder, for example. The diagnosis goes back and forth but I’m pretty sure that I am. I take a mood stabilizer."

^[1]

As a teenager, Cornwell suffered from anorexia and as an adult suffered from substance abuse issues. She has befriended and supported numerous high-profile Republican candidates and conservatives, including George W. Bush. She became close friends with the family of the Reverend Billy Graham, often serving as the family's unofficial spokesperson on Don Imus' radio show. Cornwell was particularly vehement about supporting the desires of Graham's elderly wife, Ruth Bell Graham, who wished for the two to be buried together near their home in the mountains of North Carolina, rather than at a "Billy Graham Museum" in Charlotte that was being planned by Graham's eldest son, Franklin. For the symphonic black metal band, see Anorexia Nervosa (band) For other uses, see Anorexia Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... The Reverend William Franklin Graham, Jr. ... John Donald Don Imus, Jr. ...

Among her hobbies are hiking, diving, tennis, and drawing caricatures whenever she has the time.^{[citation needed]}

She has also played the part of "Denise" in the Matlock episode "The Formula" under the name Patricia Daniels.^{[citation needed]} Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom. ...

Relationships

Cornwell's father, Sam Daniels, was one of the leading appellate lawyers in the United States and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ...

Cornwell traced her own motivations in life to the psychological abuse she says she suffered from her father, who she says walked out on the family on Christmas Day in 1961.

He was very analytical and had a pristine, sharp mind, but his problem was that emotionally he was unable to connect with people, and could be very cruel," she told her interviewer. A sociopath? the interviewer asked. "I don't know what his diagnosis would be, but he didn’t seem to feel much remorse when he did very harmful things. He wasn’t even nice to me on his deathbed. We knew it was the last time we’d see each other; he grabbed my brother's hand and mouthed 'I love you,' but he never touched me. All he did was write on a legal pad "How’s work?" ^[1]

Shortly after graduating from Davidson College with a B.A in English, she married one of her English professors, Charles Cornwell, who was 17 years her senior. Professor Cornwell left his tenured professorship to become a preacher and Patricia began writing a biography of Ruth Bell Graham. Davidson College is a private liberal arts college for 1,700 students in Davidson, North Carolina, USA. Both the town and college were named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson, a Revolutionary War commander. ...

In 1989, Cornwell and her husband divorced.

On 15 May 1997, Eugene Benett was sentenced to 23 years in prison by a court in Prince William County, Virginia, for trying to kill his wife, Marguerite Bennett, whom he accused of deserting him for a lesbian relationship with Cornwell. ^[3] is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ...

In her later years she has quietly been involved in a lesbian relationship. Cornwell recently married under the recent court-order changes allowing Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. The couple reside in the Boston area. ^[4] This article is about same-sex desire and sexuality among women. ... Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004 because the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in Goodridge v. ...

Political activism

Since 1998, Cornwell has donated at least $130,000.00 ^[5] to the Republican Party, and has made additional individual contributions to Republican U.S. Senate candidates including George Allen, John Warner, and Orrin Hatch. She has occasionally supported specific Democratic candidates as well, including Hillary Clinton (for senate), Nicola Tsongas, Charles Robb, and Mark Warner. ^[6] The Republican Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America, along with the Democratic Party. ... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... George Felix Allen (born March 8, 1952) is a former Republican United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. ... John William Warner (born February 18, 1927) is an American politician, who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and has served as the Republican senior U.S. Senator from Virginia since January 2, 1979. ... Orrin Grant Hatch (born March 22, 1934) is a Republican United States Senator from Utah, serving since 1977. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties The Democratic... REDIRECT Hillary Rodham Clinton   This is a redirect from a title with another method of capitalisation. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Charles Spittal Chuck Robb (born June 26, American politician. ... Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Virginia and a member of the Democratic Party. ...

Charitable donations

Cornwell has made several notable charitable acts, including founding the Virginia Institute for Forensic Science and Medicine, funding scholarships to the University of Tennessee's National Forensics Academy, Davidson College's Creative Writing Program, and donating her collection of Walter Sickert paintings to Harvard University. Founded in 1999 as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine is a premier provider of education, training, and research. ... The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system in the American state of Tennessee. ... Davidson College is a private liberal arts college for 1,700 students in Davidson, North Carolina, USA. Both the town and college were named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson, a Revolutionary War commander. ... Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (May 31, 1860 in Munich (Germany) – January 22, 1942) was an English impressionist painter. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ...

Writings

The Scarpetta novels include a great deal of detail on forensics. The solution to the mystery usually is found in the forensic investigation of the murder victim's corpse, although Scarpetta does considerably more field investigation and confrontation with suspects than real-life medical examiners. The novels are considered to have influenced the development of popular TV series on forensics, both fictional, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and documentaries, such as Cold Case Files. The word forensic (from Latin: forensis - forum) refers to something of, pertaining to, or used in a court of law. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a popular Alliance Atlantis/CBS police procedural television series, running since October 2000, about a team of forensic scientists. ... Cold Case Files is a program on the A&E Network hosted by Bill Kurtis which documents various diverse unsolved crime scenarios by using modern forensics and technology, criminal psychology and recent breakthroughs in the case(s) involving previously silent witnesses. ...

Procedural details are part of the allure of her novels. Cornwell herself worked at a crime lab in Virginia as a technical writer and computer analyst but not in any official medical or forensics capacity. Her attempts to portray herself as an expert in those fields have caused some bad feelings from those who have formal training and licensing, including Kathy Reichs, who is both a board-certified forensic anthropologist and a crime novelist. This article is about the U.S. state. ... Kathleen Joan Kathy Reichs is native of Chicago and works as a forensic anthropologist, an academic, and bestselling writer of mystery novels. ... Forensic anthropologists can help identify skeletonized human remains, such as these found lying in scrub in Western Australia, circa 1900-1910. ...

Other significant themes in the Scarpetta novels include health in general; individual safety and security; food; and family. Although scenes from the novels take place in a variety of locations around the U.S. and (less commonly) internationally, the city of Richmond, Virginia is featured prominently. Nickname: Motto: Sic dic Itur Ad Astra (Thus do we reach the stars) Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government  - Mayor L. Douglas Wilder (I) Area  - City 62. ...

Besides the Scarpetta novels, Cornwell has written three more light-hearted police fictions featuring Andy Brazil, as well as a number of works of non-fiction, including cookbooks featuring Northern Italian cuisine. The Scarpettas originally came from northern Italy.

Cornwell is the recipient of numerous prizes for crime writing, including the Edgar Award, Britain's Gold Dagger Award, and the Sherlock Award. ^[7] The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. ...

Controversies

Jack the Ripper

Main article: Portrait of a Killer

Cornwell has been involved in a continuing, self-financed search for evidence to support her theory that painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. She wrote Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed, which was published in 2002 to much controversy, especially within the British art world. ^[8] and also among Ripperologists. ^{[9] [10]} Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (ISBN 0-425-19273-3) is a 2002 book by crime novelist Patricia Cornwell which presents the authors theory that British painter Walter Sickert was the 19th-century serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. ... Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (May 31, 1860 in Munich (Germany) – January 22, 1942) was an English impressionist painter. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (ISBN 0-425-19273-3) is a 2002 book by crime novelist Patricia Cornwell which presents the authors theory that British painter Walter Sickert was the 19th-century serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. ...

Cornwell has denied being obsessed with Jack the Ripper in full-page ads in two British newspapers ^[11] and has recently said the case was "far from closed." ^[12]

Litigation surrounding The Last Precinct

Leslie Sachs, author of The Virginia Ghost Murders (1998), claimed there were similarities between his novel and Cornwell's The Last Precinct. In 2000, he sent letters to Cornwell's publisher, started a Web page, and placed stickers on copies of his novel alleging that Cornwell was committing plagiarism. Cornwell successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against Sachs. The court ruled that his claims were baseless and he was ordered to stop placing the stickers on his book. The court also shut down his web site for false advertising and required booksellers to remove the stickers that were already on copies of The Virginia Ghost Murders. ^[13]. The Last Precinct is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. ... For other uses, see Plagiarism (disambiguation). ... Look up Injunction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Sachs allegedly fled the country so that he could escape the injunction. He continues to charge that Cornwell plagiarized his work, used her influence to subvert justice, and is part of a vast conspiracy to oppress him. Cornwell has recently taken Sachs to court over cyberstalking and libel ^[14]. Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk someone. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

Bibliography

Fiction series

Kay Scarpetta series

• Postmortem (1990) ISBN 0-684-19141-5
• Body of Evidence (1991) ISBN 0-684-19240-3
• All That Remains (1992) ISBN 0-684-19395-7
• Cruel and Unusual (1993) ISBN 0-684-19530-5
• The Body Farm (1994) ISBN 0-684-19597-6
• From Potter's Field (1995) ISBN 0-684-19598-4
• Cause of Death (1996) ISBN 0-399-14146-4
• Unnatural Exposure (1997) ISBN 0-399-14285-1
• Point of Origin (1998) ISBN 0-399-14394-7
• Black Notice (1999) ISBN 0-399-14508-7
• The Last Precinct (2000) ISBN 0-399-14625-3
• Blow Fly (2003) ISBN 0-399-15089-7
• Trace (2004) ISBN 0-399-15219-9
• Predator (2005) ISBN 0-399-15283-0
• Book of the Dead (2007) ISBN 0-399-15393-4

Postmortem is a crime fiction novel by author Patricia Cornwell. ... Body of Evidence is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. ... All That Remains (1992) is the third book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author Patricia Cornwell. ... Cruel and Unusual (1993) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ... The Body Farm (1994) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ... From Potters Field (1995) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ... Cause of Death (1996) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ... Unnatural Exposure (1997) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ... The Last Precinct is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. ... Blow Fly is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. ... Trace is a 2004 novel by the American writer Patricia Cornwell. ... The 14th novel in the Scarpetta series, written by Patricia Cornwell. ...

Andy Brazil series

• Hornet's Nest (1997; Andy Brazil) ISBN 0-399-14228-2
• Southern Cross (1999; Andy Brazil) ISBN 0-399-14465-X
• Isle of Dogs (2001; Andy Brazil) ISBN 0-399-14739-X

Cover Art Hornets Nest (1997) is a book by author Patricia Cornwell. ...

At Risk

• At Risk (2006) ISBN 0-399-15362-4 (originally a serialization for The New York Times)
• The Front (2008)

The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

Other

• Life's Little Fable (1999; children's book) ISBN 0-399-23316-4

Non-fiction

• A Time for Remembering (1983; biography of Ruth Bell Graham; later reissued as Ruth: A Portrait) ISBN 0-06-061685-7
• Scarpetta's Winter Table (1998) ISBN 0941711420
• Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen (2002) ISBN 0-399-14799-3
• Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed (2002) ISBN 0-399-14932-5

Ruth Bell Graham is the wife of the noted Christian evangelist Billy Graham. ... Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (ISBN 0-425-19273-3) is a 2002 book by crime novelist Patricia Cornwell which presents the authors theory that British painter Walter Sickert was the 19th-century serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. ...

Omnibus

• The First Scarpetta Collection. Postmortem and Body of Evidence (1995) ISBN 0-316-91125-9
• A Scarpetta Omnibus: Postmortem, Body of Evidence, All that Remains (2000)
• A Second Scarpetta Omnibus: Cruel and Unusual, The Body Farm, From Potter's Field (2000)
• A Third Scarpetta Omnibus: Cause of Death, Unnatural Exposure & Point of Origin (2002) ISBN 0-316-72472-6
• The Scarpetta Collection Volume 1: Postmortem and Body of Evidence (2003) ISBN 0-7432-5580-1
• The Scarpetta Collection Volume 2: All that Remains and Cruel and Unusual (2003)

Awards

• The only author to receive the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity Awards, and the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure in a single year for Postmortem (1991)
• Gold Dagger for Cruel and Unusual (1993) ^[15]
• Sherlock Award for best detective

References

• Patricia Cornwell Moves To Richmond, Style Weekly, January 31, 2006
• ''"A Family at Cross-Purposes: Billy Graham's Sons Argue Over a Final Resting Place", Laura Sessions Stepp, Washington Post, December 13, 2006
• ''"Crime Novelist Tries to Ward Off Internet Attacker", David Mehegan, Boston Globe, June 7, 2007
• "Me, stalkers and my lesbian lover", Irish Independent 12 December 2005
• "I'm not weird, I'm just wired differently," interview by Andrew Billen in The Times, London, 6 December 2005
• "Best-selling author Patricia Cornwell wins preliminary injunction barring unknown author from creating bogus "scandal" to promote his book "Virginia Ghost Mysteries" by falsely claiming that Cornwell had plagiarized from it." Entertainment Law Reporter, Vol. 22, No. 6, November 2000.
• Cornwell v. Sachs, 99 F.Supp. 2d 695, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10823 (E.D.Va. 2000)

The Irish Independent is Irelands best-selling daily newspaper. ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 6 is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official website
• Times interview
• Patricia Cornwell on Internet Book List