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Cornwell’s Next Move

Patricia Cornwell. Everyone has a theory about her. Seems as if everyone has something to say about her:

-She was the subject of a 1996 scandal involving an alleged lesbian affair and FBI officials, which all lead to a kidnapping, death and a court case.

-A copycat killer used her book Postmortem as a guide. Some people blamed her for that, ‘tho it’s not clear how that one was her fault.

-A strange site that tracks famous people’s DWI charges lists her. And, ummm, why do we need a site like this??

-She’s viewed as obsessed and a bit nutty by some. As an example, Dr. Les Sachs clearly does not care for her.

-She took on Scotland Yard and British criminal history when she figured out the true identity of Jack The Ripper - or so her book argues. She expended countless hours and a huge amount of her personal fortune on her book research then got massacred by the British press for her findings (and hubris). Apparently, the Brits didn’t appreciate Cornwell announcing that she had cracked the case.

-Now, she’s out to “solve” another real-life mystery. This time the issue is the sinking of the Hunley - the Confederate submarine that sank in 1864 just after it torpedoed a Union ship. Cornwell contributed $500,000 to the research and forensics project.

Not sure what to say about all this, but Cornwell sure is an interesting lady. Will say that if I had $500,000 and was looking for a way to get rid of it - short of burning it, of course - I probably wouldn’t use it to research a book. Unless my publisher felt like reimbursing my expenses…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 5:18 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Cornwell’s Next Move”

  1. Karen Scott Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    She ought to concentrate on making sure that her next book doesn’t suck monkey balls like her last three Kaye Scarpetta books. Predator was the biggest disappointment this side of Pearl Harbour.

  2. Jordan Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 10:22 pm

    I’ve never read her work. I did watch the Jack the Ripper special. It was interesting. She certainly had a lot of compelling evidence. As to all the other stuff, way too much drama.

  3. Lara Rose Says:
    April 22nd, 2006 at 1:52 pm

    Interesting about the Dr. Sachs article… right up until the end when he talks about being involved in a major court battle with her. Sounds to me like sour grapes…

    Tho, I’ve read one or two of her books. I didn’t like them at all… and they didn’t stick with me long enough to remember why :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog! :)

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