Patricia Cornwell to publish memoir True Crime on May 5, 2026

People reports that bestselling thriller author Patricia Cornwell will release her debut memoir, True Crime, on May 5, 2026, published by Grand Central Publishing in the U.S. and Little, Brown Book Group in the U.K.

The book’s official synopsis says True Crime chronicles Cornwell’s rise from a traumatic, neglectful childhood — including a mother who was institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family and “developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham’s wife Ruth” — to become an award‑winning police reporter, forensic expert and international publishing phenomenon. Cornwell said, “I hope my readers will enjoy a peek behind the curtain of my public life.” The memoir’s cover features a photograph by Annie Leibovitz showing Cornwell in a lab coat in front of a stretcher with a body covered by a white sheet.

True Crime will hit shelves on May 5, 2026 and is available for preorder. Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels are also the basis of a new Amazon TV series premiering on March, 2026 starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis; Karen Kosztolnyik, VP and Executive Editorial Director of Little, Brown Book Group, said Grand Central is honored to publish True Crime.

Key Topics

Culture, Patricia Cornwell, True Crime, Annie Leibovitz, Scarpetta Series, Nicole Kidman