Patricia Cornwell's most recent number-one bestsellers include Isle of Dogs (2001) and The Last Precinct (2000). Her debut novel, Postmortem (1991), which introduced chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, received outstanding international acclaim and made her the only author ever to win five major mystery awards in a single year on both sides of the Atlantic for a first novel (the Edgar, Creasy, Anthony, and Macavity awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure).

Other best-selling Scarpetta novels include Black Notice (1999), Point of Origin (1998), Unnatural Exposure (1997), Cause of Death (1996), From Potter's Field (1995), The Body Farm (1994), All that Remains (1992), Body of Evidence (1991), and Cruel and Unusual (1993), which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel.

"It is important to me to live in the world I write about," says Cornwell. "If I want a character to do or know something, I want to do or know the same thing." The award-winning former crime reporter for the Charlotte Observer spent six years working for the Virginia Chief Medical Examiner's Office and as a volunteer police officer before creating her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. In 1999, Scarpetta received the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author.

Known the world over for her brilliant storytelling, the courage of her characters, and the state-of-the-art forensic methods they employ, Cornwell helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation, and serves as the Institute's Chairman of the Board. You can visit the Institute's website at www.vifsm.org. She also supports several institutions that are concerned with victim's support and animal rescue.

Cornwell is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and is also the author of the bestselling Southern Cross (1999), Hornet's Nest (1997), and Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham (1997), a biography of Ruth Bell Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham. Cornwell divides her time between New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut. You can visit her website at www.patriciacornwell.com.

G.P. Putnam's Sons will publish Portrait of a Killer—Jack The Ripper: Case Closed in November 2002.

Photo by © Elsa Trillat