PATRICIA CORNWELL s most recent bestsellers include Red Mist, Port Mortuary, and Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed. Her earlier works include Postmortem the only novel to win five major crime awards in a single year and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain s prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the best crimenovel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author.