Patricia Cornwell

Cornwell hopes readers take away that failure does not define one's worth.

“failure is not a measure of your worth because if it were, I wouldn't be talking to you right now”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 1:08:21

Cornwell says she reluctantly wrote about Larry King's conduct, distinguishing flirtation from abuse of power.

“I'm sorry I had to say what Larry King did, because there's a difference between sloppy flirty”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 18:56

Cornwell says her mother's burning of the family's clothes was the event that shaped the rest of her life.

“That event changed everything that would ever happen to me ever again because if she had not done that”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 11:31

Cornwell says she decided to write the memoir after reading a script with a character based on her that she did not recognize.

“when I read a draft of a script, I didn't recognize the character and it wasn't the writer's fault”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 10:08

Cornwell advises ride-share passengers to carry an item they could use for self-defense if abducted.

“make sure when you are doing ride sharing, you always have something in your pocketbook or your pocket or your coat”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 30:41

Cornwell recommends calling 911 to verify an unexpected lone police officer at the door because fake uniforms are available.

“you say, I'm sorry, I'm not expecting you. I'm calling 911 to see why you're here”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 27:37

Cornwell warns that wearing convention name tags in public lets predators feign familiarity.

“People go to conventions and they walk out on the sidewalk with a name tag on”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 24:03

Cornwell describes scanning parked cars for clues that would mark their owners as potential victims.

“I look at every car I walk between. And I think if I were a bad person, what information are they leaving in their car”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 24:39

Cornwell says the rise of CSI and competitors taught her never to assume she had arrived.

“Never think that you've arrived that you don't have to try as hard”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 1:07:39

Cornwell says Scarpetta is motivated by justice for the living, including preventing killers from striking again.

“Justice is for the living. It's not for the dead”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 49:23

Cornwell advocates alarm systems for home security.

“First of all, I'm a big advocate of alarm systems”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 27:12

Cornwell counters that home invasions can occur at any time and occupants can become victims of opportunity.

“home invasions during the day or the night, it may not make any difference what time of day it is”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 26:40

Cornwell says reading scripts for the TV series is making her a better writer by encouraging her to show rather than tell.

“I actually think it's making me a better writer because when you watch how, when you read scripts and more scripts”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 1:04:12

Cornwell maintains her firm belief that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper.

“And there's been nobody like Walter Sickert. And I can see why he got away with it. And I don't care what anybody says. I totally believe he did it”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 1:00:55

Cornwell argues the Ripper's attacks were not precise but escalated in violence, which police failed to recognize.

“what the police never figured out, which is really obvious if you do this research is that the Ripper got more and more violent”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 58:40

Cornwell says the cases in Postmortem were inspired by the South Side Strangler murders but share no details with the real victims.

“none of the details have anything to do with what happened with the real people”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 53:55

Cornwell argues that curiosity about autopsies is not morbid but reflects the privilege of reconstructing what happened.

“your very curiosity about an autopsy and anybody's real curiosity is anything but morbid. It's not morbid”

Morbid: True Crime: A Sit Down With Patricia Cornwell (May 4, 2026) · Listen from 47:34