With the Prime Video adaptation of her Scarpetta books now out, her novels have grown in popularity once more. However, it’s not just the series that we’ve been excited about. For the first time ever, the legendary author has released her own memoir. True Crime: A Memoir will be released on May 5, 2026, and it tells a story that you have never heard of before.
It wasn’t easy for Cornwell to write, either, as she shared with Parade, “When I was writing it, especially when I was writing the first draft, I tried to pretend that it was about somebody else. That was easier for me to do.”
“Otherwise, I think I would have been so self-conscious. It’s hard. It’s like looking in a mirror.”
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done emotionally,” she went on to share, as we discussed more of the stories that she shares from her life, “I’m more at peace with it, and it helps that nice people have nice things to say, because I didn’t know how anybody would react.”
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You will find stories that haven’t been told before because she never wanted to look back on them. In fact, in the opening paragraph, she explains that she didn’t think she would write a memoir, because she chooses not to look back. However, now it’s out, and she shares, “I think it’s the right thing to do.”
“People think I’m such a tough person, that I’m fearless. That’s not true. I’ve been victimized. You don’t feel proud of being victimized. I don’t care what anybody says. You don’t wear it like a badge of honor, so that was hard to write.”
So why look back on things that are harrowing and haunting? This was a chance to thank the people who helped her get up when she was down, including Ruth Graham, whom she mentioned multiple times throughout the interview, and you can read her account of Graham’s story in Ruth, A Portrait.
Nicole Kidman in 'Scarpetta' (2026).Prime Video
The heart of the story, right there, makes it clear why this had to be written, and it didn’t take long to do at all. Not that this is a brag. In fact, she doesn’t like to admit how quick it was to write, but that was because the story “started telling itself.”
While also speaking about True Crime, we also discussed the Scarpetta books and the new TV series. After all, I mentioned it to her that Postmortem was the first book I read just by chance of finding it in a gas station and needing something to read 20 years ago, and I became an immediate fan.
“I approach it by doing research, and when Scarpetta is going to show you something, my description is the same as if I’m putting it in the newspaper," she explained to me, "I do that so that if somebody comes across something, they say, ‘I read that in a novel and it turns out to be true.’ I love to put these things in there that people don’t think are true, but they really are.”
“But I’ve addressed what Scarpetta would see if someone is attacked with a microwave weapon — the Havana syndrome — or what it’s like dealing with signal jammers to shut down people’s Wi-Fi so they can do home invasions, and using holographic technology to stalk somebody, which is something that can be done with drones.”
Sure enough, Livid and Sharp Force have both brought these topics up. At first, in Sharp Force, it looks like there is something paranormal going on, and that’s not the first time. There have been mentions of UFOs and other similar topics in her novels, but that’s not because she’s delving into the world of sci-fi or fantasy. It’s all rooted in reality.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 03: Patricia Cornwell attends the Prime Video's "Scarpetta" New York Premiere at Regal Union Square on March 03, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)At the end of the day, the only way to create fulfilling stories is to make them relatable and believable, and that means taking time to research the facts. As Cornwell explained, “I have to know about these things, or I can’t put Scarpetta in the same world that you and I are living in.”
She had lost hope in seeing her books transform into TV shows or movies a long time ago. There have been many attempts, but they all failed in the writing stages. When you don’t get the author involved at an early stage and you’re not really following the books, it’s always going to be a recipe for disaster.
It also helped that the Scarpetta showrunner Liz Sarnoff was also a fan of the books, and Amazon has already proven its ability to craft good book-to-screen adaptations with the likes of Jack Ryan, Reacher, and Cross. If any streamer could pull it off, it was going to be the one that was book-focused when it first started.
Yes, “Nicole Kidman fits the bill.”
The praise didn’t stop with Kidman, either, as Cornwell let me know that, “Rosie McEwen is doing a wonderful job of playing the younger version.”
True Crime will be released on May 5, 2026, and while this is not a memoir to delve into lightly, it is a must-read.
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