Patricia Cornwell Video Interview On ‘Dust,’ Kay Scarpetta, Sandy Hook, Her New TV Show

Patricia Cornwell, the best-selling crime novelist, is out with her new book Dust, the newest in the popular series featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell is known for uncovering the latest technological advances in forensic science, and the book’s title refers to Scarpetta’s use of forensic imaging in her work. “One of the first things that she does when she’s examining the body, without really moving it or touching it, is she shines a ultraviolet light because sometimes that will cause residues and fibers and other types of trace evidence to fluorescence,” Cornwell told Uinterview exclusively. “So dust comes from the fact that when she shines this light on the body of a women, there’s this electric florescence of these brilliant colors — red, green and blue.”

Cornwell integrates the tragic Sandy Hook 2012 school shootings into Dust. “One of the things that went through my mind, since that part of Connecticut is not that far from where Scarpetta’s headquarters, was, ‘You know, in real life, she probably would have responded and helped her colleagues out in this,'” said Cornwell. “I try to keep Scarpetta in the world that the rest of us inhabit, and it’s a painful decision sometimes because I could look the other way but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”