Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime

In the course of researching her best-selling books, McDermid has become familiar with many branches of forensics, and now she uncovers the history of this science and the people who make sure that for murderers, there is no hiding place. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces. Now available in paperback, Forensics goes behind the scenes with some of these top-level professionals and their groundbreaking research, drawing on original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientists. Along the way, we discover how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death; how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer; and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist were able to uncover the victims of a genocide. The journey takes us to war zones, fire scenes, and autopsy suites, reveals both extraordinary bravery and true wickedness, as we trace the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

• Silent Witnesses: The Often Gruesome but Always Fascinating History of Forensic Science
• The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation
• Forensics For Dummies
• Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
• Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
• Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist
• Forensic Analysis and DNA in Criminal Investigations: Including Cold Cases Solved
• Forensic Science: From the Crime Scene to the Crime Lab (2nd Edition)
• Forensic Science: Crime Scene Analysis
• Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science