Patricia Cornwell, American journalist and author

Patricia Cornwell is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in Richmond, Virginia, where most of the stories are set. The plots are notable for their emphasis on forensic science, which has influenced later TV treatments of police work. Cornwell has also accused Walter Sickert of carrying out the Jack the Ripper killings. However, Sickert is not considered a serious suspect by most who study the case, and strong evidence shows he spent most of 1888 outside the UK, and was in France at the time of most of the Ripper murders. Her books have sold more than 120 million copies.