Patricia Cornwell is finally ready to tell her own story.

The New York Times bestselling author of the thriller series following medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta announced that she will be releasing her debut memoir with Grand Central Publishing in the U.S. and Little, Brown Book Group in the UK. True Crime, which will help readers understand her rise from a traumatic, neglectful childhood to become an award-winning police reporter and forensic expert and eventual author.

“I hope my readers will enjoy a peek behind the curtain of my public life,” Cornwell tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

The cover of Cornwell’s memoir features a photo taken by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, which depicts the author in a lab coat in front of a stretcher with a body covered with a white sheet as she stares into the camera — perfectly capturing her life as a forensic pathologist.

True Crime will take a deep dive into several aspects of her life, including her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family and “developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham’s wife Ruth,” per the book’s official synopsis.

It will also delve into “a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident” and how Cornwell overcame obstacles that gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter, forensic expert and “worldwide publishing phenomenon.”

“Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today,” a description for the book reads.

Cornwell is one of the world’s top-selling crime authors, with novels translated into 36 languages in more than 120 countries. Her Scarpetta series is also the basis of a new Amazon TV series premiering on March, 2026 starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis.

“In her extraordinary memoir, Patricia turns her forensic eye onto her own experience, writing about the trauma she has overcome and the resilience it inspired that ultimately led to her exceptional literary career.  Grand Central is honored to publish True Crime,” said Karen Kosztolnyik, VP and Executive Editorial Director of Little, Brown Book Group.

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True Crime will hit shelves on May 5, 2026 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.