Patricia Cornwell was born June 9th 1956 in Miami, Florida to Marilyn ("Pat") and Sam Daniels. Her father was an appellate attorney, her mother a secretary. The parents divorced and Marilyn and the three children (Patricia and two brothers) moved to Montreat, North Carolina, when she was seven. Ruth and Billy Graham lived two miles down the road and it was Ruth Graham who once gave her a leather-bound journal and told her to write. She transferred from King College, Tennessee to Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. After graduating she married her former English professor (Charles Cornwell who is seventeen years her senior) and newly married she started as a reporter for the Charlotte Observer in 1979. Soon she became a police reporter and in 1984 she took a job in the Virginia medical examiner's office. For six years she worked at the morgue, first as a technical writer, then as a computer analyst. She also volunteered to be a city cop and got her first taste of community policing. In 1988 she decided she didn't want to be a preacher's wife and she and her husband divorced in 1989.

In 1983 Patricia Cornwell wrote A Time for Remembering (1983), a biography of Ruth Bell Graham, wife of the evangelist Billy Graham. . A new version: "Ruth, a Portrait: The Ruth Bell Graham Story" was published by Doubleday in September 1997. ISBN: 0385488793

Between 1984 and 1986, Cornwell wrote three novels based on her crime desk experience, but all were rejected. Disheartened, she wrote to Sara Ann Freed, an editor at Mysterious Press, the one publishing house that had softened its rejection with encouragement. Freed told her to dump the male detective who was then her central character. She suggested expanding Scarpetta, who in Cornwell's early works played only a minor role. And so in 1990 Patricia Cornwell got her first novel published, Postmortem (the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasy, Anthony and Macavity awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Adventurei, in a single year). Scribner had acquired Postmortem in a two-book deal for less than .500 after several other houses had turned it down. After Postmortem had become a success, the price went up quite a bit. In March 1991 she signed a 5,000 deal for the paperback rights for Body of Evidence.

The six books, Patricia Cornwell did for Scribner, were all edited by Scribners executive editor, Susanne Kirk.

Patricia Cornwell now splits her time between Richmond, Virginia and Los Angeles. She has kept her link to Davidson College and sponsors scholarships to Davidson students with exceptional abilities in creative writing. In June 1996 her name came up in the wake of a bizarre real-life drama. A then 41 year old ex-FBI agent Eugene Bennett had repeatedly claimed that his ex-wife was a lesbian and that she had an affair with Patricia Cornwell in 1992 when the now 42 year old Marguerite Bennett worked as an instructor and hostage negotiator at FBI's Quantico facilities. Eugene Bennett did some rather bizarre things ending on June 23, 1996, when he took his wifes minister hostage and planted pipe bombs at the Northern Virginia Community College where Marguerite Bennett worked as a police lieutenant. For this he was found guilty of attempted murder (and several other accounts) by a jury on February 11, 1997, (despite an insanity claim) and recommended for 61 years in prison. On May 15 1997 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison..

On March 1 1996, 6 of Patricia Cornwell's books were on the USA Today list of the 25 most best-selling mystery books to date. 1. The Body Farm 2. From Potter's Field, 8 Postmortem, 14 Cruel & Unusual, 15 Body of Evidence, 24 All That Remains.

Several of her books are loosely based on real crimes in the Virginia area, such as the colonial parkway murders and the southside strangler.. See Paul Mones: Stalking Justice about the Southside Strangler. (Timothy W. Spencer was convicted of four murders committed during a three-month period (September - November 1987) while Spencer was living in a south Richmond halfway house after being released from prison. The victims were: Susan Tucker, 44, Debbie Dudley Davis, 35, Susan Elizabeth Hellams, 32, and Diane Cho, 15. Spencer was sentenced to death for each of these murders and died in the electric chair in 1994.)

In 1990, writer Patrica Cornwell earned 00 for her first Dr. Kay Scarpetta mystery Postmortem. She signed a new contract worth million with the publisher, G.P.Putnam, for three future Scarpetta mysteries. The deal, brokered by ICM(International Creative Management)'s Esther Newberg, includes hardcover and paperback books. It is for the North American rights; foreign sales mean more money. Putnam and Cornwell already have a two-book contract that pays million for two Scarpetta mysteries, according to Cornwell. The first under that contract, Cause of Death, was published July 1996.

In 1996 the Putnam Berkley Group (with Phyllis Grann as CEO) managed to steal Patricia Cornwell away from Scribner, partly because she was unhappy about Scribner's timing of the release of The Body Farm. It clashed with Putnam's release of Clancy's Debt of Honor and thus probably prevented Patricia Cornwell from being first on the New York Times best-seller list. Cause of Death was published by Putnam in July 1996. The first non-Scarpetta mystery Hornet's Nest came out in January 1997. (Amazon books have a very good service, that can notify you automatically when new books pop up, but with best-selling authors the old rumour mill will beat it.)

Also check out the official website, "The Official Patricia Cornwell Web Experience", http://www.patriciacornwell.com/

Kay Scarpetta is the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia. She is located in Richmond and works closely together with police officer Pete Marino and FBI profiler Benton Wesley. Her niece Lucy is a computer whiz kid and often helps with computer related problems.
A brief resume of the Scarpetta books

Postmortem NY, Scribners 1991
Body of Evidence NY, Scribners 1991
All That Remains NY, Scribners 1992
Cruel & Unusual NY, Scribners 1993
The Body Farm NY, Scribners 1994
From Potter's Field NY, Scribners 1995
Cause of Death NY, Putnam, July 1996
Hornet's Nest NY, Putnam, January 1997
Unnatural Exposure NY, Putnam, July 1997
Point of Origin NY, Putnam, July 1998
Southern Cross NY, Putnam, January 1999
Black Notice NY, Putnam
The Last Precinct November 2000
Blow Fly, G. P. Putnam's Sons, October 1., 2003 (paperback edition June 2004)
Trace, Putnam, September 2004 (paperback edition June 2005)
Predator, October 25., 2005

Postmortem starts in Richmond, Friday June Sixth 1989. Kay Scarpetta is 40 years old and was appointed Chief Medical Examiner less than two years ago. She is divorced from Tony, her husband for 6 years. She smokes and drinks her coffee black. She also dates Bill Boltz, who is the Commonwealth's attorney for Richmond City. Benton Wesley is a FBI suspect profiler, who also teaches at the National Academy in Quantico. Pete Marino is detective sergeant in Richmond and pushing fifty. Lucy is 10 years old and fiddles with high school level math and science and even Oracle tables for fun.

A series of homicides began less than two months before we enter the story. Abby Turnbull is a journalist writing for the "Times" and is rather annoying for the authorities. She is also the sister of Henna Yarborough. The victims in Postmortem are

* Brenda Steppe, killed April 19. 1989>
* Patty Lewis, killed May 10. 1989>
* Cecilie Tyler, killed May 31, 1989>
* Lori Anne Petersen, killed June 7. 1989>
* Henna Yarborough, killed June 14. 1989>

[Dates based on remarks on page 187 of Body of Evidence that these strangling cases were a year or so ago]

Body of Evidence starts October 30. 1990. Pete Marino has recently been promoted to Lieutenant and drives a new Ford, rather than the familiar old Plymouth. He is in his early fifties. Mark James, who had an affair with Kay Scarpetta in law school more than fifteen years ago, resurfaces.

After being terrorized by an unknown stalker, Beryl Madison, a bestselling novelist flees from Richmond and goes to Key West. Within hours of her return to Richmond, she is brutally murdered in her home. The victims in Body of Evidence are

* Beryl Stratton Madison, killed on October 29. 1990
* Cary Harper, killed on November 10. 1990>
* Sterling Harper, died on November 11. 1990>
* Al Hunt, died on November 16. 1990

[Dates based on remarks on pages 283 and 311-312 that April 10. 1979 was 11 years ago]

All That Remains starts on Saturday, last day of August 1992. Lucy is a high school sophomore and 16 years old in February 1993.

A serial killer is murdering young couples and concealing their bodies deep in Virginia's woodland until all that remains are the bones. One of the victims is the daughter of Pat Harvey, who is coordinating the federal agencies involved in fighting drug abuse. Abby Turnbull investigates the cases for the Washington Post. She has a close relationship with Kay since her sister was killed by the serial killer described in Postmortem. The victims in All That Remains are

* A dog, Dammit, killed August 1984?
* Jill Harrington and Elizabeth Mott, killed September 14. 1984?, found the day after
* Bruce Philips and Judy Roberts, killed June 1. 1990, found ten weeks later
* Jim Freeman and Bonnie Smyth, killed July 29. 1990, found November 12. 1990
* Ben Anderson and Carolyn Bennett, killed March 1991, found September 1991
* Susan Wilcox and Mike Martin, killed February 1992, found May 15. 1992
* Frederick Cheney and Deborah Harvey, killed August 31. 1992, found January 12. 1993

[Dates based on list of murders on pages 26 - 28 and the remark on page 313 that Jim and Bonnie died in the summer of 1990]
Abby Turnbull is killed during the investigation of the murders sometime during April 1993.

Cruel & Unusual starts Monday, December 13th 1991. Kay meets her old law professor Grueman again. She remembers him as "the most misogynistic and arrogant professor I encountered during my thirty-some years of formal education". Lucy is 17 years old and more than a little annoyed that Kay hasn't visited her since Mark died. "Why are men always more important than me ?".

On December 13th 1991 the brutally wounded body of a 13-year-old boy Eddie Heath is found. He dies three days later. Also a horoscope writer, Jennifer Deighton, is found dead in her garage and the only fingerprint found on the scene seems to belong to Ronnie Joe Waddell, a criminal, executed on December 13. The victims in Cruel & Unusual are

* Robin Naismith, killed by Ronnie Joe Weddell, September 4. 1981
* Eddie Heath, shot December 13. 1991, died three days later
* Jennifer Deighton, killed December 18. 1991, found in her garage the following day
* Susan Dawson Story, killed December 24. 1991
* Frank Donahue, killed December 29. 1991
* Helen Grimes, killed Januar 20. 1992

[Dates based on the death of Mark James]

The Body Farm starts on Monday October 16th 1993. Lucy is 21. Soon about to graduate from University of Virginia. Benton Wesley and Kay Scarpetta's relationship gets more personal. Pete Marino has recently been promoted and assigned to the First Precinct in Richmond. He is in his early fifties. During the hunt for Emily's murder, he becomes very close friends with her mother, Denisa Steiner.

The murder of Emily Steiner, age 11, in North Carolina looks very much like the handiwork of Temple Gault.
The victims in The Body Farm are

* Emily Steiner, killed on October 1. 1993
* SBI agent Max Ferguson, killed on October 16. 1993

[Dates based on a remark that it is almost two years since Gault's last killing]

From Potter's Field starts on Sunday December 24th 1994 while Scarpetta and Pete Marino are handing out blankets to the poor in Richmond. Kay has bought a new black Mercedes S500 in October 1994. Lucy has taken up smoking much to Kay's annoyance.

Temple Brooks Gault teases Kay Scarpetta with new killings. The victims in From Potter's Field are

* Jane Doe, killed on Sunday December 24. 1994
* Officer Davila, killed on December 26. 1994
* Detective Jakes, killed on December 28. 1994
* Sheriff Lamont Brown, killed on December 28. 1994
* Detective Maier, killed on December 30. 1994

[Dates based on remark on page 95 that the events in The Body Farm was last October.]

Cause of Death starts on December 31, 1995 when Scarpetta is called to a ship wharf where a scuba diver is reported dead. Lucy is 23 years old and has graduated from University of Virginia.

The victims in Cause of Death are

* Ted Eddings, killed on December 31. 1995
* Danny Webster, killed on January 2. 1996

[Dates based on remark about Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995)]

Hornet's Nest

Unnatural Exposure starts on November 12, 1996 while Scarpetta is giving a lecture series in Ireland. Pete Marino is commander of the city police homicide department.

Point of Origin. starts on Sunday afternoon June 8, 1998. [Dates based on remarks on page 282 about Lady Diana and Versace].

Black Notice

The victims in Black Notice are

* Kim Luong
* Diane Bray

The Last Precinct starts on December 18. 1999, and picks up where Black Notice stopped. Pete Marino is still captain and at last it is revealed what his son does for a living.

[Dates based on remarks on page 1, 52 and 371].

The victims in The Last Precinct are

* Susan Pless, killed on December 5, 1997
* Rosso Matos, killed on December 23, 1999
* Mitch Barbosa, killed on December 23, 1999
* Benny White, killed on January 16, 2000

Blow Fly

Takes place in Florida in May 2003.

[Dates based on remarks on page 1].

The victims in Blow Fly are

* 10 women disappearing in the spring of 2003

Trace

Takes place in Richmond.

The victims in Trace are

* Gilly Paulsson, killed December 4.
* Mr. Whitby, killed December 18.

Inconsistencies

Weekdays don't match with the corresponding dates in the calendar.
All That Remains states that Jim and Bonnie was killed in the summer of 1990 and that July 29 that year was a Saturday. The Body Farm takes place in 1993 but October 1 is reported to be a Sunday. Within each book the information seem to be consistent but alas it doesn't fit the normal calendar. Apparently Patricia Cornwell is using the day of week for the year in which she writes a novel rather than for the year in which the plot takes place.

All That Remains takes place in 1992, but according to Cruel & Unusual Mark James was killed in February 1991 and so he shouldn't appear in All That Remains.

In Postmortem Cecille Tyler is described as a receptionist at a Northside investment firm on page 74 and as a receptionist at an employment agency on page 154. [Brought to my attention by C. Swetnam.]

In From Potter's Field Pete Marino says that the police don't know what Gault did with Eddie Heath's clothes. In Cruel & Unusual Eddie's clothes are described as found by his body in a pile. [Brought to my attention by Julia Hann.]

Lucy has grown from 10 to 21 in just 4 years.

Also Dorothy is supposed to have been just 18 when Lucy was born and if Kay really is 30 years older than Lucy (as mentioned in Postmortem) that means that Dorothy was born, when Kay was twelve and so she must have been just a baby when their father died. But the impression (from Body of Evidence) is that Dorothy is about the same age as Kay.

In The Body Farm Kay Scarpetta is in Knoxville, Tennessee following a football game between Tennessee (The Vols) and South Carolina (The Gamecocks). The next day Scarpetta refers to the sky as Carolina blue. Only Carolina blue is the team color for North Carolina (The Tar Heels), not South Carolina. [Brought to my attention by Eddie Bryant.]
Scarpetta stays at the Hyatt in Knoxville and remarks on how crowded the city is because of Tennessee's homecoming game. If she was there for homecoming weekend, she wouldn't find a room in the town, let alone the Hyatt. [Brought to my attention by Rochelle Rolson.]

On page 159 in The Body Farm Kay claims that she and Frank Lord attended the same Catholic high school in Miami, although not at the same time. This is strange since this must have been the all-girl "Our Lady of Lourdes Academy".

In From Potter's Field the police code ten-seven is interpreted as End-of-tour. Actually ten-seven means out-of-service, and ten-fortytwo means End-of-tour.

In Cause of Death Kay Scarpetta meets a Major General in navy service. However the navy rank is admiral, not general.
Kay Scarpetta chronology (fictitious)

Patricia Cornwell is extremely cautious about giving away facts that can pinpoint events in her books and the few facts given don't match all that well. See Inconsistencies. [Really, Kay should be smart enough to figure out that she lives in a fictive universe.]

* 1949 ?? Born in Miami, Florida
* 1962 ?? Her father dies
* 1966 ?? Graduated Saint Michael's
* 1968 ?? Graduated Our Lady of Lourdes Academy
* 1970 ?? Graduated Cornell
* 1973 ?? Graduated as a M.D. from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
* 1974 ?? Enlists on Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
[Georgetown is the oldest Roman Catholic & Jesuit University in the U.S.]
* 1975 ?? Meets Mark James in Georgetown Law School
* 1977 ?? Splits up with Mark James and is engaged with Tony
* 1977 ?? Graduated Georgetown Law School
* 1977 ?? Marries Tony
* 1977 ?? Back to Johns Hopkins as a residency
* 1983 ?? Divorced from Tony
* 1983 ?? Meets Mark James again, but the relationship breaks in much the same way again. He moves to Colorado, she goes to Richmond.
* 1983 Deputy Chief Examiner at the Dade County Medical Examiners Office in Georgetown
* 1984 Moves to Richmond, Virginia
* 1984 Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia
* 1991 Mark James is killed on February 18
* 1991 Kay moves to another part of Richmond
* 1993 She quits smoking in October

The persons

Kay Scarpetta, born in Miami, Florida of Italian American parents. She spent three years in Georgetown University Law School. In all the novels so far she is Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. There are four district offices. Central Office in Richmond, Tidewater in Norfolk, Western in Roanoke and Northern in Alexandria. Kay gave up smoking in 1993 and it seems that she also cut back on the black coffee, she used to drink. At least she drinks decaffeinated coffee in Cruel & Unusual and Darjeeling tea in The Body Farm. She lives in a wealthy area of Richmond, near Windsor Farms and although she has moved around a few times she stays within the area. She likes Italian cooking and is an excellent cook herself. She prefers black Mercedes cars and this is not her only German trait.

Tony Benedetti, Kay's former husband of 6 years.

Temple Brooks Gault, from Albany, Georgia is a serial killer, who takes a certain delight in leaving confusing and disturbing evidence behind. He is introduced in Cruel & Unusual and continues his killings in The Body Farm and From Potter's Field. He is the son of Peyton and Rachael Gault. He has a twin sister Jayne. His uncle Luther Gault won the Medal of Honor in World War II and later served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring as a major general. Luther died in Seattle in 1989 at 78. Peyton and Rachael Gault recently moved from Albany to Beaufort, South Carolina, because of a flood that destroyed the family house. Temple went to a private college in North Carolina called Davidson but was kicked out after a year. He has a black belt in karate. He started his criminal record by kicking a man in the head and killing him. In 1993 he was 31 years old and the manslaughter had happened two and a half year ago.

Pete Marino is a police officer, who has moved to Richmond from New York and is a member of the VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) team in Richmond. The second member is Benton Wesley. In 1993? he and his wife Doris are divorced after 30 years of marriage, and Pete needs to start from scratch building new relationships. This doesn't go too well, but Doris doesn't seem to find what she is looking for, so maybe they will come together again. Pete and Doris have a son, Richard (aka Rocky and Ricky), who lives in Darien, Georgia. Pete Marino is more than a bit homophobic [Maybe Richard is homosexual?], besides having a very unhealthy way of living and he displays all symptoms of a man steadily working towards a stroke or a heart attack. In December 1991 his blood pressure was 150/110 and he was getting ready for a prostrate turp.

Lucy, Kay's niece, daughter of Dorothy. She adores Kay and despises her own mother. She is a computer wizard and has very few friends. It is more than hinted at that she rejects men because she has been rejected by both her mother and Kay because of their affairs with men. She starts dating other girls and in the later books she has a steady girlfriend Janet, who is also with the FBI.

Dorothy, Kay's younger sister, writes excellent childrens books, while completely neglecting her own child, Lucy. It is a bit difficult to keep track of the men in Dorothy's life. She married Armando, Lucy's father, while she was very young. Later names include Andy, Ralph and in June 1992 Dorothy flies to Nevada to marry Jacob Blank. In December 1993 Fred has taken over from a husband, whom she divorced the year before, so Jacob doesn't seem to have lasted long. She has been married at least four times.

Armando, Lucy's father. "Dropped dead by the pool when Lucy was still too young to ride a bicycle". Wealthy and 18 years older than Dorothy. Of Latin origin.

Kay's father. He died of chronic lymphatic leukemia while she was just twelve years old. He owned a small grocery store in Miami, Florida, but in the later years Kay's mother took over as he was too often too ill to manage it.

Kay's mother. She is very disappointed that Kay has no children and that Lucy's father wasn't an Italian, i.e. that the family line will be disrupted.

Mark James, Kay's former lover, was killed when a bomb located in a trash can inside London Victoria station exploded on February 18th 1991. His death is described in Cruel & Unusual. He came from an old Boston family, both his father and his grandfather were lawyers and he met Kay in law school. He was Angloamerican, Protestant, etc. He graduated from law school in 1977 ?? and soon married Janet. Janet was killed in a car crash in 1983 ?? and he gave up his practise and joined the FBI. He worked in the field in Detroit for a while, then went under deep cover. He met Kay again while he was investigating Beryl Madisons death.

Benton Wesley, a FBI suspect profiler, works very close with Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino. He has worked with Pete Marino in Richmond for several years before Kay Scarpetta became CME. He holds a masters degree in psychology, and was a highschool principal in Dallas before enlisting in the Bureau. In FBI he worked first as a field agent, then undercover before becoming a profiler. During the span of years covered by the books he becomes the chief of FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (later renamed to the Investigative Support Unit) at Quantico. Also his and Kay's relationship grows gradually stronger and more emotional. Benton Wesley is married to Connie Wesley and has three children. His eldest daughter Michele is a system analyst.

Other persons: Kays secretary, Rose. Her deputy, Jack Fielding. Her fingerprint expert, Vanders. Her computer analyst, Margaret. Her cleaning help, Bertha.
Relevant quotes

Information about Kay Scarpetta's background is given in bits and pieces throughout the books. I've tried to collect most of these into a Patricia Cornwell - Quotes.
Abbreviations

Dedications

* Postmortem: To Joe and Dianne
* Body of Evidence: For Ed, Special Agent and Special Friend
* All that Remains: This book is for Michael Congdon. As always, thanks.
* Cruel & Unusual: This book is for the inimitable Dr. Marcella Fierro. (You taught Scarpetta well)
* The Body Farm: To Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah for his tireless fight against crime
* From Potter's Field: This book is for Dr. Erika Blanton (Scarpetta would call you friend).
* Cause of Death: To Susanne Kirk - visionary editor and friend
* Hornet's Nest: To cops
* Unnatural Exposure: To Esther Newberg - Vision, No Fear
* Point of Origin: With Love to Barbara Bush (for the difference you make)
* The Last Precinct: To Linda Fairstein - Prosecutor. Novelist. Mentor. Best Friend. (This one's for you)

Michael Congdon was her agent for the first four books, but she switched to Esther Newberg after Cruel and Unusual was published in 1993. Some say that Congdon helped revise Cornwell's books and that the quality has dropped after the switch.
Models

Several of Patricia Cornwells persons have real life models

* FBI Profiler John E. Douglas
* Utah Senator Orrin Grant Hatch
* Forensic anthropologist, Professor Dr. William Bass (Dr. Shade in The Body Farm)
* Former Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, David Wiecking
* Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, Marcella F. Fierro

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