Patricia Cornwell

==Career==
{{BLP sources section|date= February 2017}}
In 1979, Cornwell began working as a reporter for ''[[The Charlotte Observer]],'' initially editing TV listings, then moving to features, and finally becoming a reporter covering crime. In 1980, she received the North Carolina Press Association's  Investigative Reporting Award for a series on prostitution. She continued at the newspaper until 1981, when she moved to [[Richmond, Virginia]] with her first husband, Charles Cornwell (married in 1980), who enrolled at the [[Union Theological Seminary in Virginia|Union Theological Seminary]]. The same year she began working on the biography of [[Ruth Bell Graham]], ''A Time for Remembering: The Ruth Bell Graham Story'' (renamed ''Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham'' in subsequent editions), which was published in 1983. The biography gained a Gold Medallion Book Award from the Evangelic Christian Publishers Association in 1985. It also, however, was a major blow to her friendship with Graham – they weren't on speaking terms for eight years following the book's publication.

Cornwell began work on her first novel in 1984, about a male detective named Joe Constable and met Dr. [[Marcella Farinelli Fierro]], a [[medical examiner]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], and subsequent inspiration for the character of [[Dr. Kay Scarpetta]]. In 1985, she took a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of [[Virginia]]. She worked there for six years, first as a technical writer and then as a computer analyst. She also volunteered to work with the [[Richmond Police Department (Virginia)|Richmond Police Department]]. Cornwell wrote three novels that she says were rejected before the publication in 1990, of the first installment of her Scarpetta series, ''[[Postmortem (novel)|Postmortem]],'' based on real-life [[strangling]]s in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in the summer of 1987. The novel won her various awards including the British [[John Creasey Award]], the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure and the American [[Edgar Award]].

===Scarpetta series===
{{main|Kay Scarpetta}}
The Scarpetta novels include a great deal of detail on [[forensic science]]. The initial resolution to the mystery 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/kay-scarpetta/|title=Kay Scarpetta|date=September 20, 2016|website=Book Series in Order|access-date=June 28, 2019}}</ref> The novels generally climax with action scenes in which Scarpetta and her associates confront, or are confronted by, the killer or killers, usually concluding with the death of the killer. The novels are considered to have influenced the development of popular [[TV series]] on forensics, both fictional, such as ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/flesh-and-blood-a-fascina_b_6145366|title=Flesh and Blood: A Fascinating Talk With Patricia Cornwell|last1=Rubinstein|first1=Mark|date=November 12, 2014|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=June 28, 2019}}</ref> and documentaries, such as ''[[Cold Case Files]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/best-selling-crime-novelist-patricia-cornwell-is-born|title=Best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell is born|website=HISTORY|language=en|access-date=June 28, 2019}}</ref>

Other significant themes in the Scarpetta novels include health, individual safety and security, food, family, and the emerging sexual self-discovery of Scarpetta's niece. Often, conflicts and secret manipulations by Scarpetta's colleagues and staff are involved in the story-line and make the murder cases more complex. Although scenes from the novels take place in a variety of locations around the United States and (less commonly) internationally, they center around the city of [[Richmond, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.howtoread.me/kay-scarpetta-reading-order/|title=Kay Scarpetta Reading Order: How to read Patricia Cornwell books?|date=September 27, 2017|website=How To Read Me|language=en-US|access-date=June 28, 2019}}</ref>

There are two marked style shifts in the Scarpetta novels. Starting from ''The Last Precinct'' (2000), the style changes from [[past tense]] to [[present tense]]. Starting from ''Blow Fly'' (2003), the style changes from a [[First-person narrative|first person]] to a [[Third-person narrative|third person]], omniscient, narrator. Events are even narrated from the viewpoint of the murderers. Before ''Blow Fly'' the events are seen through Scarpetta's eyes only, and other points of view only appear in letters that Scarpetta reads.

Cornwell shifted back to a first-person perspective in the Scarpetta novel ''Port Mortuary'' (2010).

===Andy Brazil/Judy Hammer series===
In addition to the Scarpetta novels, Cornwell has written three pseudo-police fictions, known as the Trooper Andy Brazil/Superintendent Judy Hammer series, which are set in [[North Carolina]], [[Virginia]], and off the mid-Atlantic coast. Besides the older-woman/younger-man premise, the books include themes of [[scatology]] and [[sepsis]].

===Jack the Ripper theorist===
Cornwell has been involved in a continuing, self-financed quest for evidence to support her theory that Victorian painter [[Walter Sickert]] was [[Jack the Ripper]]. In pursuit of this hypothesis, she has written two books: ''[[Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed]]'', published in 2002, and ''Ripper: The Secret Life Of Walter Sickert'', published in 2017. In total, she is said to have spent a reported $6m on Ripper-related research.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Saner |first1=Ermine |title=Interview ‘I lived in a state of terror’: Patricia Cornwell on childhood trauma, her new novel and the search for Bigfoot |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/20/i-lived-in-a-state-of-terror-patricia-cornwell-on-childhood-trauma-her-new-novel-and-the-search-for-bigfoot |access-date=28 February 2024 |publisher=The Guardian |date=20 November 2023}}</ref> 

She wrote ''Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed'' to much controversy, especially within the British art world and among Ripperologists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artcyclopedia.com/feature-2002-11.html |title=November Article: Portrait of the Artist as a Serial Killer |publisher=Artcyclopedia.com |access-date=January 30, 2012}}</ref><ref name="casebook1">{{cite web|url=http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-artofmurder.html |title=Jack the Ripper - The Art of Murder |publisher=Casebook |access-date=January 30, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-pamandsickert.html |title=Jack the Ripper - Patricia Cornwell and Walter Sickert: A Primer |publisher=Casebook |access-date=January 30, 2012}}</ref> Cornwell denied being obsessed with Jack the Ripper in full-page ads in two British newspapers and has said the case was "far from closed".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1555958,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=The Grand Old Ripper | date=August 25, 2005 | access-date=May 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4190572.stm | work=BBC News | title=Author denies 'Ripper' obsession | date=August 27, 2005 | access-date=May 21, 2010}}</ref> In 2001, Cornwell was criticized for allegedly destroying one of Sickert's [[painting]]s in pursuit of the Ripper's identity.<ref name="guardianrip">{{cite news | last = Gibbons  | first = Fiachra | title = Does this painting by Walter Sickert reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper? Author rips up canvas in attempt to prove artist was killer | newspaper = The Guardian| date = December 8, 2001 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2001/dec/08/art.artsfeatures | access-date = October 20, 2009 | location=London}}</ref> She believed the well-known painter to be responsible for the string of murders and had purchased over 30 of his paintings and argued that they closely resembled the Ripper crime scenes.<ref name="guardianrip"/>  Cornwell also claimed a breakthrough: a letter written by someone purporting to be the killer had the same watermark as some of Sickert's writing paper.<ref name="guardianrip" /> Ripper experts noted, however, that there were hundreds of letters from different authors falsely claiming to be the killer, and the watermark in question was on a brand of stationery that was widely available.<ref name="casebook1"/> 

French art expert [[:fr:Johann_Naldi|Johann Naldi]] validates the author's theory, claiming to have found a portrait that he attributes to the French painter [[Jacques-Émile Blanche]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=De Boishue |first=Pierre |date=February 3, 2024 |title=Jack l'Éventreur : l'incroyable portrait qui relance l'enquête |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/histoire/archives/jack-l-eventreur-l-incroyable-portrait-qui-relance-l-enquete-20240203 |work=Le Figaro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gandillot |first=Thierry |date=February 17, 2024 |title=Jack l’Éventreur. Et si c’était lui ? |url=https://lejournal.info/article/jack-leventreur-et-si-cetait-lui/ |work=Le Journal. info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Isaac |first=Anne-Emmanuelle |date=February 14, 2024 |title=Jack l’Eventreur : le visage du célèbre tueur enfin révélé ? |url=https://video.lefigaro.fr/figaro/video/jack-leventreur-le-visage-du-celebre-tueur-enfin-revele-le-livre-de-johann-naldi/ |website=Le Figaro TV}}</ref> For Naldi, the discovery of this painting, which depicts a man who appears to share Sickert's features, is "visual confirmation of Patricia Cornwell's theory".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cauet |first=Ella |date=March 8, 2024 |title=L’identité de Jack L’Eventreur dévoilée dans un tableau ? |url=https://www.radioclassique.fr/culture/lidentite-de-jack-leventreur-devoilee-dans-un-tableau-le-galeriste-johann-naldi-raconte-son-enquete/ |work=Radio classique}}</ref>

=== TV appearance ===
She made a brief appearance on the police procedural drama ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' in the episode "[[Criminal Minds (season 7)|True Genius]]" as herself.