“Cornwell had been both a police reporter and a morgue assistant. And her character was inspired by a real medical examiner she worked with.”

“She had stopped over in Los Angeles on her way to Australia, and told us she was being courted by all the major film studios, who wanted to option the books – and being ardently pursued by actors, including Demi Moore, desperate to play Scarpetta.”

“Now, more than 35 years (and millions of copies sold) since her debut, Scarpetta is finally on screen, as an Amazon Prime streaming series – and apparently Cornwell is very happy about Nicole Kidman’s central casting as the older Scarpetta.”

“The series is set over two time frames – 1998, which follows the plot of the original (1990) novel, and the present, drawing on elements of her 2020 novel Autopsy.”

“According to the new series, Scarpetta got the wrong man in the original: this discovery and attempt to fix it is what drives the plot.”

“Given the difference in height between the five-foot-11 Kidman and the short Scarpetta of the books, I find myself sympathising with those readers who were bemused by the casting of her ex-husband Tom Cruise as Lee Child’s six-foot-five man mountain Jack Reacher in 2012.”

“Cornwell has talked about “terrible fear” dominating her childhood – and influencing her interest in writing psychopaths. Aged five, as a neglected child with a mentally unwell single mother, she was abused by a security guard and had to testify in court.”