Patricia Cornwell

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Patricia Cornwell
Born	June 9, 1956 (1956-06-09) (age 52) Miami, Florida
Occupation	Novelist, 1990 - Present
Nationality	American
Literary movement	Crime Novel
Influences William M. Bass, John E. Douglas
Official website http://www.patriciacornwell.com

Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels June 9, 1956) is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.

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.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Political activism 5 Charitable donations 6 Writings 7 Controversies 7.1 Jack the Ripper 7.2 Litigation surrounding The Last Precinct 8 Bibliography 8.1 Fiction series 8.1.1 "Kay Scarpetta" series 8.1.2 Andy Brazil series 8.1.3 At Risk 8.1.4 Other 8.2 Non-fiction 8.3 Omnibus 9 Awards 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Early life

A descendant of abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe,^[1] 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, and had troubled relationships with their late fathers.

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. Cornwell later traced her own motivations in life to the emotional abuse she says she suffered from her father, who she says walked out on the family on Christmas Day 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... 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?" ^[2]

In 1961, 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 ^[2], she was anorexic and suffered from depression. Billy Graham's wife, Ruth Bell, encouraged Cornwell to write.

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.

In 1979, Cornwell started working as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and soon began covering crime. Her biography of Ruth Bell Graham, 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.

In 1989, Cornwell and her husband divorced.

[edit] Career

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.^[3]

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, Cornwell used similar concepts to describe herself, saying that she was “wired differently”, in a direct reference to her struggle with bipolar disorder:^[2]

“

My wiring’s not perfect and there are ways that you can stabilize that. I have certain things that run in my own ancestry... 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.[2]

”

As a teenager, Cornwell suffered from anorexia and as an adult suffered from substance abuse issues.^{[citation needed]} She has befriended and supported numerous high-profile Republican candidates and conservatives, including George W. Bush.^{[citation needed]} 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 a particularly ardent supporter of Graham's elderly wife, Ruth Bell Graham, who wished for her and her husband 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.

She has also played the part of "Denise" in the Matlock episode "The Formula" under the name Patricia Daniels.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

Cornwell declined for many years to discuss her personal life in interviews, but on November 11, 2007, The Daily Telegraph published an interview focused largely on her history and identity as a lesbian, including her marriage to Dr. Staci Ann Gruber.^[4] In an April 2008 interview on how Cornwell's life has influenced her writing, in The Times, Cornwell's marriage to Gruber in Massachusetts was also discussed.^[5]

Cornwell's personal life was also in the news in 1996, when former FBI agent Eugene Bennett cited her affair with his wife, Marguerite Bennett, as the motivation for a plot to kidnap and murder his estranged spouse. On May 15, 1997, Eugene Bennett was sentenced to 23 years in prison by a court in Prince William County, Virginia for his role in the plan.^[6]

Cornwell's friendship and affair with Marguerite "Margo" Bennett was detailed in the book: "Twisted Triangle: A Famous Crime Writer, A Lesbian Love Affair and the FBI Husband's Violent Revenge," written by Caitlin Rother with John Hess, released in May 2008 by Wiley. The book tells Margo Bennett's story of struggle, survival and triumph over her husband's abuse and her inner battle over her own sexuality. Gene Bennett kidnapped and then later tried to kill Margo after the Cornwell affair, which prompted the dissolution of the Bennetts' marriage.

[edit] Political activism

Since 1998, Cornwell has donated at least $130,000.00^[7] 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, Nicola Tsongas, Charles Robb, and Mark Warner.^[7]

[edit] Charitable donations

Cornwell has made several notable charitable donations, 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. 1 Million dollar donation to John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the Crime Scene Academy.

[edit] 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.

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.

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, they often feature the city of Richmond, Virginia.

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

[edit] Controversies

[edit] 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]

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]

[edit] 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]

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]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Fiction series

[edit] "Kay Scarpetta" series

In chronological order.

• 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
• Scarpetta (2008)

[edit] Andy Brazil series

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

[edit] At Risk

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

[edit] Other

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

[edit] Non-fiction

• A Time for Remembering (1983; biography of Ruth Bell Graham; later reissued as Ruth: A Portrait) ISBN 0-06-061685-7
• Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham, Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 978-0385-48900-3
• 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

[edit] 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)

[edit] Awards

• The only author to receive the Edgar Award, Creasey, Anthony Award, 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"^[16]
• ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award, 1985 in the Biography/Autobiography category for A Time For Remembering" ^[17]

[edit] 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)

[edit] External links

• www.PatriciaCornwell.com
• Times interview
• Patricia Cornwell: 'Finally, I feel rooted somewhere': In her first British interview since 'marrying' her female partner, Patricia Cornwell explains why she kept quiet about her sexuality for years - and how her new life is transforming her forensically gory novels. Cassandra Jardine reports The Daily Telegraph, London
• Italian site about Patricia Cornwell

Persondata
NAME	Cornwell, Patricia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Daniels, Patricia Carroll
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH	9 June 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH	Miami, Florida
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH