Novelist Patricia Cornwell says firm misspent her $89 million

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NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell testified in federal court in Boston that her former financial advisers improperly invested and spent $89 million of her money.

The New York Daily News reported the firm Anchin, Block and Anchin has countered the author of the wildly popular Kay Scarpetta murder mysteries spent the money herself on a lavish lifestyle she shares with her wife, Harvard University neuroscientist Staci Gruber.

Cornwell said the mismanagement of her finances forced her to move and miss a deadline for a book for the first time in her career. She also said the upheaval upset her dog, Choo Choo.

"This was very destabilizing," the Daily News quoted Cornwell as saying. "I lost my ability to focus and concentrate. I did not know what the book was about anymore. I was just lost. I was adrift. I was extremely stressed."

"Where did the money go? Ms. Cornwell and Dr. Gruber spent the money," said James Campbell, the attorney representing the financial company.