Crime Novelist Patricia Cornwell Is Thrilled to Finally Bring Kay Scarpetta to TV

The best-selling author, 69, discusses her spooky origins, a teen eating disorder and the new ‘Scarpetta’ series starring Nicole Kidman as her books’ iconic heroine

Senior Director, AARP Specialized Media

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Published March 11, 2026

After stints as a police reporter and a computer analyst in a medical examiner’s office, writer Patricia Cornwell, 69, turned morgue science into page-turning fiction with her 1990 smash, Postmortem. More than three decades and 29 books later, her iconic heroine — cool-headed forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta — is finally heading to the small screen, played by Nicole Kidman.

“It’s like the runaway bride story,” Cornwell says. “For years, Scarpetta would get all the way to Hollywood — meetings, actors, studios — and then: nothing. Then we’d try again. Nothing.”

But with a little help from her pal Jamie Lee Curtis (who also appears in the show), 67, the Prime Video series Scarpetta will finally premiere on March 11.

Patricia Cornwell photographed for AARP

Tony Luong

While that behind-the-scenes Hollywood drama played out, Cornwell continued writing and sold more than 120 million books, helping ignite today’s obsession with crime procedurals and how science catches killers.

Famous for her meticulous research, high-tech plots and fiercely intelligent heroines, she’s also dabbled in nonfiction — including a headline-grabbing Jack the Ripper theory, a cookbook and her upcoming memoir, True Crime (out in May).

And she’s not done: At home in Boston (where she and her wife, Staci Ann Gruber, a Harvard neuroscientist, like to watch reruns of Grey’s Anatomy), book No. 30 in the series is already underway. Her tease? “Scarpetta’s up against an international killer who’s a master poisoner. Be careful what you eat.”

At a special Facebook Live event (stream it here) Cornwell spoke to AARP's The Girlfriend Book Club about spending time in the morgue, the lure of junk food and seeing her heroine come to life onscreen.

A natural storyteller

I love spooky things. My fourth-grade teacher put a big red circle on one of my papers and said, “You use the phrase ‘all of a sudden’ too often.” I would tell stories all day long, especially to the little kids I babysat. If I wanted to make them sit back down with their Hawaiian Punch, all I had to say was, “He walked under the streetlight, and all of a sudden …”

Writing from pain

When I was 19, I had a terrible eating disorder [anorexia nervosa] and was hospitalized. I felt like the biggest failure on the planet. I dropped out of college. That’s when Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth [who had looked out for Cornwell and her siblings ever since Cornwell’s mother was hospitalized with depression when the future author was 9], said, “I want you to tell your story.” She gave me a journal that I still have. And so, at age 19, I started writing my autobiography.

Not into the genre

I read Nancy Drew as a little kid, but I didn’t read a murder mystery until I decided to write them. I bought three secondhand paperbacks — P.D. James, Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers — to try to learn what people did.

Shakespeare, she is not

I don’t put words on a page so that you’ll say, “Oh, God, look at the poetry of that sentence.” I hope you’ll be transported to a new place, on an adventure, and not be mindful of the bumpy ride getting there.

Spare her the gore

I’m actually very squeamish. I’ve spent days on end in morgues because it’s the only way to tell my stories, the only way to know what I’m talking about. But it’s never been easy. If Staci and I are watching Grey’s Anatomy, she’ll say, “Don’t look!” for some scenes. It’s not even real blood, but I can’t look.

When she knew she’d made it

I remember landing my helicopter at one of my book signings years ago in a shopping mall parking lot in Virginia. [Cornwell is a licensed helicopter pilot.] The line was around the entire mall. People had been waiting since 8 a.m. They brought chairs, and they made it a block party. When I saw that crowd, I almost burst into tears. It wasn’t that I felt famous; it was that I was so moved by all these people — that they would show up for something I did.

Hurry up and wait

It has taken 37 years for Scarpetta to make it to the screen, not for lack of trying. It has been optioned since 1989 and went through one studio after another and many, many famous actresses. We talked to Susan Sarandon. I sat down with Jodie Foster. Demi Moore was very serious about it. But it always fell apart at some stage. I had become friends with Jamie Lee Curtis. She helped make it happen with Prime Video [and costars]. Then Nicole Kidman agreed to take the lead role. We’d been circling each other for over 20 years. The synergy, it sparked. It’s a strange, karmic thing.

jamie lee curtis and nicole kidman in a scene from scarpetta

‘Scarpetta’ stars (from left) Jamie Lee Curtis as Dorothy Farinelli, Nicole Kidman as Kay Scarpetta and Simon Baker as Scarpetta’s husband, Benton Wesley.

Connie Chornuk/Prime

Characters coming to life

I can’t believe these actors are playing characters I created, just me and my little old self in my office, you know? Now, when I’m working on a Scarpetta book, I’m not only seeing the characters from the inside out; I start hearing them from the outside in. I hear Nicole Kidman’s voice, and I go, Is that Nicole saying that or Scarpetta saying that? It’s weird, but I think it’s making my writing better.

Upstaging Kidman

the cover of patricial cornwell's novel post mortem, featuring a photo of nicole kidman, who stars in the tv adaptation scarpetta

‘Postmortem’ (1990), Cornwell’s debut novel, introduced Kay Scarpetta.

Courtesy Patricia Cornwell

I have a little cameo with Nicole. It was like going out on the center court of Wimbledon and hitting one of Billie Jean King’s serves in front of everybody. I thought, Dear God, please don’t let me mess this up. This was the first time I’d ever met her. I patted her on the back and said, “I know that you’ve got to be really nervous right now because you’ve probably never done this before, but I promise it will be OK.” She started laughing, and we had a great time.

Finishing her memoir

I pulled it out of a box, having not seen it in 50 years. And that young person helped this older one write my story. I always said I wouldn’t actually publish it. But there was talk recently of doing a TV show about my life... and I thought, But nobody knows much about my real life. So I decided to write a treatment. And once I started, it was like I had my finger in a wall socket. I couldn’t stop.

Defiantly turning 70

I’ll be 70 in June, and I am not going to take it sitting down. No party, but I’m going to go to the gym. You’re never too old to do push-ups. My goal is to be able to wear a wetsuit again and not be embarrassed.

Pass the junk food

My tendency is to eat Velveeta and Rotel dip with Fritos and get into the tequila — all kinds of things that are not good for you. But as we get older, being sedentary is less forgiving than when we were younger. So I try little tricks. If I’m talking on the phone, for example, I walk in circles in my office.

Regrets, she has a few

If I knew when I was younger what I know now, I wouldn’t do a lot of the stupid things I’ve done. I wouldn’t buy all those Ferraris or a lot of the stuff I did. I mean, I know what it’s like to feel like Elvis on a shopping spree. Going from having no money to making multimillions of dollars was incomprehensible to me, so I had a lot of fun. I felt like I had to prove I was worthy of being “rich and famous.” I don’t have anything to prove like that anymore.

Patricia Cornwell, 69, is an Edgar Award–winning novelist whose memoir, True Crime, comes out in May. Scarpetta, the TV series based on her books, premieres on Prime Video on March 11.

This was adapted from an author interview by The Girlfriend Book Club’s creator and senior executive editor, Shelley Emling. Visit thegirlfriend.com/book-club to view that interview and other great book club content.

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Shelley Emling is Senior Director of Specialized Media at AARP, and Executive Editor of The Girlfriend newsletter, The Ethel newsletter, The Girlfriend Book Club, The Girlfriend Instagram, The Ethel Circle, and The Ethel On-The-Go.