Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.
Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell’s books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored twenty-nine New York Times bestsellers.
Patricia’s novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Celebrating 25 years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.
Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen.
After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.
Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta.
When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She’s helped fund the ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. Patricia is also committed to
funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer.”
Social and Digital Outlets
http://www.patriciacornwell.com
https://www.facebook.com/patricia.cor...
https://twitter.com/1pcornwell
https://instagram.com/1pcornwell/
Other areas of expertise & interests
Forensics | Forensic Technologies | Ballistics | Weapons | Explosives | Pathology & Autopsies | Crime | Historical and Unsolved Criminal Cases | Jack The Ripper | Helicopter Piloting | Suba Diving | Archaeological Excavation Experience |
“Life brings with it strangeness and surprises and upsets”
“Thoughts are odd misfires”
“You know what the best security system is? Window shades.”
“He was pushing fifty, with a face life had chewed on, and long wisps of graying hair parted low on one side and combed over his balding pate.”
“Não imaginava o que seria preciso para me levar à loucura. Se calhar era como morrer. Depois de uma pessoas se passar para o outro lado não se sente a diferença. (Kay Scarpetta)”
“You have to live where you wake up, even if someone else dreamed you there.”
“Blood squirted as his transected femoral artery haemorrhaged to the rhythm of his horrible heart.- From Potter's Field”
“Survival my only hope. Success my only revenge”
“Has all the trappings of a mystery novel, doesn't it?”
“And suddenly the world was filled with wooden faces and flat voices - and, you were alone.”
“The dead have never bothered me. It's the living that I fear.”
“Leaves covered pavement like soggy cereal.”
“Grief was like a seizure that shook me like a storm.”
“I wouldn't want to assume that all men are like you. If I did, I know I would give them up entirely”
“Do no harm and leave the world a better place than you found it.”
“rain slowly slides down the glass as if the night is crying.”