Patricia Cornwell is a renowned American crime writer, born on June 9, 1956, in Miami, Florida. She is widely acclaimed for her best-selling novels featuring the character Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. The first novel in this series was inspired by a series of sensational murders in Richmond, Virginia, where many of her stories are set. Her plots are notable for their emphasis on forensic science, significantly influencing later television treatments of police work.

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 and paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring all aspects of forensic science across film, television, and literature. The novel went on to win multiple prestigious awards, including the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize, marking it as the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year.

To date, Cornwell's books have sold over 120 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. Her literary career is not confined solely to the Kay Scarpetta series; she has authored a definitive account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, two cookbooks, a children’s book, and a biography of Ruth Graham. Additionally, she has developed other series based on Win Garano and Andy Brazil.

Though she now resides in Boston, Cornwell was raised in Montreat, North Carolina, and earned her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979. Her career in writing began at the Charlotte Observer, where she rapidly advanced from listing television programs to covering the police beat, gaining widespread attention for her series on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte.

Beyond her novels, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies and contributes to numerous fields including philanthropy, animal rescue, and biomedical technologies. She co-founded the Conservation Scientist Chair at Harvard University Art Museums and serves as a member of McLean Hospital’s National Council, advocating for psychiatric research. Her advice to aspiring authors is, “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer.”