When Patricia Cornwell claimed she figured out who Jack the Ripper was, the reaction ranged from interest to head-shaking to outright disbelief (especially since the book, 2003's PORTRAIT OF A KILLER, hardly made a convincing case. Repeat after me: mitochondrial DNA is not conclusive and never will be.) Still, that isn't stopping her from extending her sleuthing acumen to a new case: the 1864 sinking of the Confederate submarine Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship:

"The major emphasis is conservation" of the Hunley, she said, adding she wanted to provide money (approximately $500,000 worth) to bring in equipment such as high-tech computers that might help solve the mystery of the sinking. That equipment includes an infrared device able to show structural weaknesses in metal.

"They may not find anything that answers the question," she said. "I'm simply saying this should not be put to rest without us doing everything we can to try to figure out what happened to the Hunley and what killed these eight people on board."

Further details will be given at a news conference on Thursday, though Cornwell says she won't be writing a book about this case. At least, not yet...