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The Boston author talks filming with Nicole Kidman, her upcoming brutally candid memoir, and more.

Boston’s Patricia Cornwell has spent more than 36 years writing novels about Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

But she never knew what her protagonist looked like until she looked into Nicole Kidman’s eyes in a courthouse.

“People don’t know this, but I’ve never really known what Scarpetta looks like,” Cornwell, 69, tells me from her Boston home just before the red carpet premiere of “Scarpetta.”

The adaptation of Cornwell’s No. 1 New York Times best-selling forensic crime thriller series, centering on Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, starts streaming on Prime March 11, with Oscar winner Kidman in the title role.

In Cornwell’s cameo role as a judge, she recalls, “I’m giving Nicole Kidman the oath, and those blue eyes are looking back at me. I thought: ‘This is Scarpetta looking at me.’ It startled me so much, I forgot what I was supposed to say. I had to stop dead. But I didn’t flub any lines after that.”

Developed and written for television by Emmy-nominated writer, executive producer, and showrunner Liz Sarnoff (“Barry,” “Lost”), “Scarpetta” is  executive produced by Kidman, Cornwell, and Jamie Lee Curtis. 

Curtis stars as Scarpetta’s eccentric sister Dorothy. Bobby Cannavale plays Scarpetta’s good-for-a-laugh partner Pete Marino, Simon Baker plays Scarpetta’s husband Benton Wesley, and Ariana DeBose stars as Scarpetta’s niece Lucy.

Season 1 — based on both Cornwell’s first Scarpetta novel, 1990’s award-winning “Postmortem,” and  2020’s “Autopsy” — switches between the two timelines. Bobby Cannavale’s son Jake plays the younger version of his dad’s character, Marino. Rosy McEwen, Amanda Righetti, and Hunter Parrish play young versions of Kidman, Curtis, and Baker’s characters, respectively.

Prime ordered two seasons. Cornwell tells me Season Two starts filming soon, and will center on two other books.

Kidman told Jimmy Fallon last week on NBC’s Tonight Show that she learned how to perform an autopsy for the role. (Now that’s dedication.)

Kidman and Curtis have embodied the roles so well that Cornwell now envisions the actors while she writes Scarpetta novels. She just finished book 30 in the series, slated to release next year. She discussed book 29, “Sharp Force,” at the Boston Book Fest last fall.

“Now I’ll think of scenes because of what I’ve seen the actors do. I have a scene in the [upcoming] book that I wouldn’t have written had I not watched the sparks between Nicole and Jamie,” Cornwell tells me. 

The adaptation  also makes for an inspirational ending in Cornwell’s brutally candid memoir, “True Crime” (May 2).

“The show is a nice way to end the memoir,” Cornwell says of the book, which she says was often “painful” to write.

I’ve interviewed the author/helicopter pilot/ SCUBA diver a few times over the years and she is endlessly fascinating. She’s told me about her interests — anything from Bigfoot to ghosts, UFOs to excavating historic Jamestown.

In her memoir, she excavates her own traumatic childhood with unflinching honesty: Her dad abandons the family one Christmas day, her mother is institutionalized twice. There’s an abusive foster family, a near-death car accident. She goes on to become a police reporter, then a medical examiner — finally, an award-winning, bestselling novelist.

Born in Miami, Cornwell grew up in North Carolina, and lived in Virginia for a stint. Researching for a Scarpetta book at Harvard Medical School ultimately led to McLean Hospital where she met spouse Staci Gruber. She moved to Massachusetts in 2004.

Cornwell, 69, talks quickly, a ball of energy with a southern twang.  I called to talk both the Prime Video series, and her upcoming memoir.

Boston.com: You’re headed to the red carpet premiere for “Scarpetta.” This is so exciting.

Patricia Cornwell: It is exciting. In fact, it’s such a big deal that I almost can’t focus on it — if I did, it would be overwhelming. I’m just very grateful. It’s been 36 years since the first book came out. But it’s been absolutely worth waiting for when you consider the people in this. 

There are readers who have literally grown up on the book series, like comfort food. A television series affords that same thing. It won’t be identical to the books. The DNA of the stories and characters are there — but this gives people a chance to to live with these characters in a different dimension.

I read that you were protective of the books for a long time. Demi Moore and Angelina Jolie were both names circling adaptations at points. 

I was far more protective of it than I realized. When I was writing my memoir, I read my old journals. I wrote that I was very afraid to give it away. Especially when I was dealing with [the adaptation with] Demi Moore, because that was at the very beginning, 1992.

What changed over time?

Well, in 1992, when I first met Demi, the Scarpetta series wasn’t even two years old. Now, I’m finishing my 30th book. I’m not a kid anymore. I’m more than ready to share it. I wasn’t ready then — I found all these reasons why nobody would work. [laughs]

Why the hesitancy?

Because Scarpetta was all I had. 

Right.

This was something I did that finally made it big. A chance to have a career that I’d always dreamed of. After four failed books, I finally wrote a bestseller. I thought, “What if a movie ruined it? What would I do with the rest of my life?”  I was scared. 

I’m happy to say that I’m not worried about that now. I have a good partnership with the people I work with. 

Jamie Lee Curtis first approached you on this idea about six years ago.

I was writing [the Captain Chase] space thrillers back in those days; she was going into producing. We talked about adapting those. Then she said, “Well, what about Scarpetta?” I’d just ended the option with Fox 2000, the one with Angelina Jolie. 

Next thing I knew, Jamie had the ball and was running down the field. That’s what really made the difference: Jamie. Because of who she is, doors open. The next thing you know, Nicole Kidman is in the mix. 

Nicole said to Jamie, “If I do it, I want you in it.” I’m so grateful Nicole said that, because oh my God, there could be nobody better than Jamie Lee Curtis as Dorothy. It’s just epic.

Was it your idea to cameo as a judge? 

They asked me if I would, and I was thrilled. But it was nerve-wracking, I’ll tell you. I mean, good heavens, if you’re going to do a cameo, that’s a tough one, isn’t it? Standing there with Nicole Kidman?

[laughs] I’d imagine.

I’m like, “Oh my God, please don’t mess this up. Look at this whole room full of cameras and all these people.”  I patted Nicole Kidman’s arm; I said, “Now I know you’re not used to doing things like this, but I promise it’ll be okay, so don’t be nervous.” [laughs]

[laughs] And is that your only cameo?

So far. I told them, “Hey, I’m a cheap date. I’ll do others.” My only rule is, I will not play a dead body. I have to draw the line. No. [laughs]

[laughs] Sounds like you also love Curtis as Dorothy. You said you picture Kidman and Curtis when you’re writing now.

Jamie just blows the roof off. You can’t help but be influenced. It doesn’t bother me. My attitude is: I’m working with some of the most talented people in the world. What I do informs them, what they do informs me. If I’m open-minded, I can get some good ideas.

That’s a great way to look at it. You’re an executive producer. Have you seen the whole series yet?

I’ve read all the scripts, and seen [early versions of] all the episodes. But I haven’t seen the [final versions with] nuances and polishes and music. I haven’t yet seen what everyone’s going to see when it — boom— hits Prime Video.

You mention the show in your memoir, “True Crime.” It feels like a happy ending to a long journey.

I think the memoir will encourage artists, or anyone who dreams. Because nobody gets where they want to go without a lot of failures. You learn more from failures than anything else. You need the inner-strength to keep going when nothing’s going your way.

And writing my story — we can’t live without stories. Stories teach us who we are, who we might be, who we used to be, where we’re from. Sharing stories is really important. I want people to see how I got where I am in life and to take it as encouragement. Don’t give up.

What sparked you to want to finally sit down and write your memoir?

Well, that’s the funny thing. I absolutely did not want to. 

[laughs] OK.

[laughs] What happened is, there was an attempt to make a television series based on my life. I read the proposed pilot and realized the character was absolutely nothing like me. At all. I realized, “Well, nobody knows your story. I’ll write a treatment to help the writers room.” Well, I sat down and before the day was out, I was writing my memoir. 

Wow.

I couldn’t stop. It told me it was being done. I didn’t even know if anybody wanted it. I’m still flabbergasted because I really did not want to do it. It was painful. I felt sometimes there were ghosts in the room with me. But I’m glad I did it. I think it needed to be told. This is how we learn from each other.

What were the hardest parts to go back and look at?

Well, a lot of the childhood things. When you’re writing a memoir, those stories become alive again. I didn’t realize how much it would reopen old files in my head.

Meaning what specifically? 

For example, what happened to me when I was 5 and got molested by this patrolman in our neighborhood. I had to go to court when I was only 5 years old. Writing things like that, you think you’re pragmatic about it but on some level, there’s a chemical reaction. You feel things that you didn’t know you even remembered.

Was it cathartic? Is that why you couldn’t stop writing?

No. There was nothing therapeutic about it. People say, “It must have been good therapy.” I say, “Trust me, honey, I ain’t writing a 500-page book for therapy.”

[Laughs]

[laughs] No, it wanted to be told. When a story wants to be told, it channels through you. I don’t feel like I even decided this. I’ve never written anything as fast. It was like I had my finger in a wall socket. Boom. The story was there. It had always been there. 

Interview has been edited and condensed. Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.

Lauren Daley

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.

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