Patricia Cornwell, the bestselling author of the mega-popular Dr. Kay Scarpetta series, has always been a bit of an enigma. While achieving enormous literary success, she has remained fairly guarded with her public appearances and typically does not tour at the rate that many of her contemporaries do. It is also rare to see her at book festivals or award shows, which only further cements her mysterious persona.

Finally, something Cornwell claimed would never happen has become a reality. She has written a memoir. TRUE CRIME fills in all the gaps and questions about Cornwell and provides an unflinching look at a childhood marred by abuse and neglect. Readers will be able to appreciate the origins of the Scarpetta series and how its eventual success would forever change Cornwell while never ceasing to remind her of who she really is.

"TRUE CRIME shines a light on one of the most remarkable literary talents of our time and how her success was built upon a family history that none of us truly understood until now."

Cornwell was born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Montreat, North Carolina. Her best friends were her brothers, Jim and John, who were always there to help deal with a mother who suffered from mental illness and a father who abandoned them to start a relationship and eventually a new family with his secretary. Her mother Marilyn’s psychotic depressive episodes severely impacted Cornwell, who later battled a serious eating disorder and her own levels of depression. She became obsessed with the Reverend Billy Graham in the early 1960s and even followed around the traveling evangelist, who she believed held all the answers for her family. 

Marilyn’s eventual break with reality would lead to permanent placement in a mental hospital, while Cornwell and her brothers would be moved around between close family friends and blood relatives to avoid being placed in foster care. Their father never came to their rescue, though they all held out hope for it.

While in college, Cornwell became fascinated with Victorian literary works from writers like Tennyson, Milton and Dickens. In 1979, she began working as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer, where she honed her first-rate investigative and research skills and even received a three-page letter from poet Allen Ginsberg that inspired her. After kicking around several ideas for various novels, she published her first Scarpetta mystery, POSTMORTEM, in 1990. It would go on to receive many accolades, including the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Novel, which Princess Margaret presented to her.

The Scarpetta series grew out of Cornwell’s job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia, where she worked for six years, first as a technical writer and then as a computer analyst. She also volunteered with the Richmond Police Department. Her inspiration for producing great mystery plots came from her love for writers like Dame Agatha Christie. She even dreamed of meeting Christie and having her say that she would be taking her place. This was a startling premonition that many might consider prophetic as the Scarpetta novels are unmatched in the forensic science and criminal investigation fields in much the same way that Christie mastered the art of the perfect murder mystery.

Cornwell has never said much about her sexuality. Her marriage to a college sweetheart fell apart, and she reasons that she always has considered herself to be bisexual. She spends some time talking about her longtime partner, Staci Gruber, but even this relationship is kept mostly on the surface and is not discussed in great detail.

The final pages highlight the filming of the Prime Video series “Scarpetta,” which stars Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in the title role. This grew out of what seemed like decades of discussions about potential movies and TV shows that were to feature everyone from Jodie Foster to Angelina Jolie to Demi Moore. 

Overall, TRUE CRIME shines a light on one of the most remarkable literary talents of our time and how her success was built upon a family history that none of us truly understood until now.