Val McDermid is one of the finest crime writers we have,
whose novels have captivated millions of readers worldwide
with their riveting narratives of characters who solve
complex crimes and confront unimaginable evil. In the course
of researching her bestselling novels McDermid has become
familiar with every branch of forensics, and now she
uncovers the history of this science, real-world murders and
the people who must solve them.
The dead talk—to the
right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where
they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of
course, who killed them. 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. Forensics draws on interviews with some
of these top-level professionals, ground-breaking research,
and McDermid’s own original interviews and firsthand
experience on scene with top forensic
scientists.
Along the way, McDermid discovers how
maggots collected from a corpse can help determine one’s
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. It’s a journey that will take McDermid to war
zones, fire scenes, and autopsy suites, and bring her into
contact with both extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as
she traces the history of forensics from its earliest
beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.
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