A short life of the author
Patricia Cornwell (b. 9 June 1956) was born Patricia Carroll Daniels in Miami, Florida. She grew up partly in the care of the family of evangelist Billy Graham after her mother was hospitalised for depression. She studied English at Davidson College and worked as a reporter for the Charlotte Observer and then as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia — the experience that directly inspired the Scarpetta series.
Life and Career
Postmortem (1990) — about Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, investigating a serial killer who targets women in their homes — won five major awards and launched a franchise that has now run to over twenty-five novels. The book’s forensic detail — based on Cornwell’s firsthand experience in the medical examiner’s office — was unprecedented in crime fiction and effectively created the forensic thriller genre that later produced television shows like CSI and Bones.
The early Scarpetta novels — Body of Evidence (1991), All That Remains (1992), Cruel and Unusual (1993), The Body Farm (1994) — are the strongest, combining rigorous forensic procedure with genuine psychological complexity. Cruel and Unusual won the Gold Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association.
Major Works and Themes
Cornwell’s innovation was to make forensic science the engine of narrative rather than a decorative element. Scarpetta’s investigations proceed through the examination of physical evidence — trace evidence, wound patterns, decomposition timelines — and the novels require the reader to follow the science to follow the plot. This was genuinely new in 1990 and has since become the dominant mode of crime fiction on television and in print.
Key Works
- Postmortem (1990) — Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, Macavity Awards
- Cruel and Unusual (1993) — CWA Gold Dagger
- The Body Farm (1994)
- Cause of Death (1996)
Collecting Cornwell
Postmortem (1990, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York) — the debut, winner of five major awards — brings $100–$500 for fine first editions in dust jacket. The small initial print run (Cornwell was unknown) makes true firsts scarce.
Body of Evidence (1991, Scribner’s) and All That Remains (1992, Scribner’s) bring $30–$80. Later titles are widely available.
Cornwell signs at book tours. Signed copies of the early Scarpetta novels are less common than later titles. Scribner’s first editions are the standard collected form.