April 2023 - True Crime Book Club - Past Titles - LibGuides at Westwood Public Library

"Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime" by Val McDermid

Forensics by Val McDermid
Call Number: 363.25 McDermid
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.

Did you find this book interesting? Why or why not?
Do you feel you can better understand the science behind the other books we’ve read now?
Was there anything in this book that disturbed you? It wasn’t as gory as our normal books, so was it easier to read?
Do you think all crime labs should have similar testing? What happens if labs differ in their tests?
The use of familial DNA testing is discussed (like in our previous book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark). What do you think of using familial DNA matches to solve crimes? What if there were stipulations on its usage (like only for rapes and murders in the UK)?
How would you feel if you didn't have answers to a loved one’s death? Is it better to have answers from a forensics standpoint? Or justice from a criminal standpoint?
Of all the different types of forensics in the book, was there one you found yourself wanting to know more about? Why or why not?
There is one quote in the book that says, “What we know today is sometimes very different from what we knew yesterday” (pg. 271). What effects do you think this might have on a jury? If forensic science is so fluid that it can change from one moment to the next, is it a worthwhile use of time, money, and scientific research?
Another quote says, “Jurors do not need psychiatrists to tell them how ordinary folk who are not suffering from any mental illness are likely to react to the stresses and strains of life” (pg. 272). Do you believe that psychiatrists and psychologists are unnecessary in court proceedings? What do they give jurors that could be considered “expertise”?
McDermid wrote, “In fact, people have been questioning the truth-seeking value of the trial system for a very long time” (pg. 277); do you agree with this statement? Why do you think people question the trial system so much? What could be done from a forensics view to make it better?
Do you think you could be a forensic scientist? Why or why not?
If you were falsely accused of a crime based on forensic evidence, how would you prove your innocence? Do you think forensic evidence is enough basis for a conviction? Why not; human error rates, too low rates of matches, etc…?
A few well-known criminal cases are discussed (Amanda Knox, O.J. Simpson, etc.). What cases do you know about because of forensic evidence? Do they have some draw to the public? If so, what?
If you got the chance to ask the author of this book one question, what would it be?
Would you want to read more scientific crime cases or stick to the original true crime genre?

sold over 17 million books to date across the globe and been translated into more than 40 languages
perhaps best-known for her Wire in the Blood series, featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan
written three other series: private detective Kate Brannigan, journalist Lindsay Gordon and, most recently, cold-case detective Karen Pirie
also published in several award-winning standalone novels, books of nonfiction, short story collections, and a children’s picture book
a remarkably versatile writer for stage, microphone, and screen as well as books
- In early 2017 Val’s latest BBC Radio 4 drama series, Resistance, aired to great acclaim.
- BBC Radio 4 has also broadcast five series of her comedy crime ‘Dead’ serial, starring Julie Hesmondhalgh.
- And in the last couple of years, she has returned to writing for the theater with Margaret Saves Scotland as well as creating the TV series Traces based on her original idea and starring Molly Windsor and Martin Compston which was well received in late 2019.
- 2021 the ITV adaptation of the new drama Karen Pirie based on Val’s eponymous series character
She is also an experienced broadcaster with regular and hugely popular appearances on TV and radio.
- Val has guest-edited BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, fronted features for BBC Two’s The Culture Show, written and presented many radio documentaries, and appeared on a remarkable range of TV shows from Question Time to Have I Got News For You.
- She added to her broadcasting credentials in late 2016 by captaining the winning University Challenge alumnae team, having previously become Celebrity Mastermind champion!
- She has also been a member of winning teams in Eggheads and Only Connect Sport Relief.
She is the lead singer of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, possibly the only band made up of crime writers ever to play at Glastonbury.
Her entertaining lockdown video series, Cooking The Books: Recipes from the Fiction Kitchen garnered tens of thousands of fans on YouTube and Facebook.
Val has won many awards internationally
- the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year
- the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Grand Prix des Romans D’Aventure
- the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award
- the Stonewall Writer of the Year
- the LA Times Book of the Year Award
- Uniquely, she has been shortlisted in four different categories in the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards.
- In 2016 she received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award at Theakston’s Old Peculiar Harrogate Crime Festival
- In 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
- Val has previously served as a judge for both the Man Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction and was the Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017.
- She is the recipient of six Honorary Doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.
- She is Visiting Professor at the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
- She is a Patron of the Scottish Book Trust and a Trustee of the Homeless World Cup Foundation.
- Her story Resurrection: Message from the Skies was a landmark conceptual installation in Edinburgh in January 2018.
Val was born in Kirkcaldy, a coastal town in the heart of the Scottish mining community.
She graduated in English from St Hilda’s College, Oxford – the first from a Scottish state school to do so – before going on to be an award-winning journalist for sixteen years.
She is a lifelong Raith Rovers Football Club supporter, has served as a board director, and is the home strip shirt sponsor.
Val’s other loves in life include walking, music, gaming, and cooking.

“One of the reasons for the popularity of crime fiction is its faithfulness to the idea of narrative and story structure. Crime novels provide their readers with stories that engage with their hearts and minds, but most of all, stories that make sense.” (NPR)
“It’s a companion piece to an exhibition they’re doing at the Wellcome collection next year called ‘From the crime scene to the courtroom’. They wanted a book to sit alongside that – not a catalog of the exhibition but a book about the current state of forensics and the historical road that’s brought us here.” (Science Focus)
“I have done non-fiction before but that was 20 years ago. In the intervening 20 years I forgot how much hard work it was to write non-fiction – you can’t just make it up when you get stuck. You have to back it up with solid information.” (Science Focus)
“Well, the first obvious one is curiosity – not taking things as you find them, and having a degree of healthy skepticism. But what marks out the people I met was not just a passion for science, but also for humanity. Every one of the scientists I met impressed me because they understood that science is at the service of the living. It’s not just about speaking for the dead – it’s about trying to find justice for the living and giving closure or explanations to people.” (Science Focus)

Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Connie Fletcher
Call Number: 363.25 FLETCHER
Real crime scene investigation is vastly more complicated, arduous, bizarre, and fascinating than TV's streamlined versions. Most people who work actual investigations will tell you that the science never lies -- but people can. They may also contaminate evidence, or not know what to look for in crime scenes that typically are far more chaotic and confusing, whether inside or outside, than on TV. Forensic experts will tell you that the most important person entering a scene is the very first responding officer - the chain of evidence starts with this officer and holds or breaks according to what gets stepped on, or over, collected or contaminated, looked past, or looked over, from every person who enters or interprets the scene, all the way through the crime lab and trial. And forensic experts will tell you the success of a case can depend on any one expert's knowledge of quirky things, such as: "The Rule of the First Victim": (the first victim of a criminal usually lives near the criminal's home) Criminals' snacking habits at the scene"Nature's Evidence Technicians," the birds and rodents that hide bits of bone, jewelry, and fabric in their nestsThe botanical evidence found in criminals' pants cuffs Baseball caps as prime DNA repositoriesThe tales told by the application of physics to falling blood drops. Forensic experts talk about their expertise and their cases here. They also talk about themselves, their reactions to the horrors they witness, and their love of the work. For example, a DNA analyst talks about how she drives her family crazy by buccal-swabbing them all at Thanksgiving dinner. A latent print examiner talks about how he examines cubes of Jell-O at any buffet he goes to for tell-tale prints. A crime scene investigator gives his tips on clearing a scene of cops: he slaps "Bio-hazard" and "Cancer Causing Agent" stickers on his equipment. And an evidence technician talks about how hard it is to go to sleep after processing a scene, re-living what you've just witnessed, your mind going a hundred miles an hour. This is a world that TV crime shows can't touch. Here are eighty experts - including beat cops, evidence technicians, detectives, forensic anthropologists, blood spatter experts, DNA analysts, latent print examiners, firearms experts, trace analysts, crime lab directors, and prosecution and defense attorneys - speaking in their own words about what they've seen and what they've learned to journalist Connie Fletcher, who has gotten cops to talk freely in her bestsellers What Cops Know, Pure Cop, and Breaking and Entering. Every Contact Leaves A Trace presents the science, the human drama, and even the black comedy of crime scene investigation. Let the experts take you into their world. This is their book - their words, their knowledge, their stories. Through it all, one Sherlock Holmesian premise unites what they do and what it does to them: Every contact leaves a trace.
Forensic Science: a Very Short Introduction by Jim Fraser
Call Number: 363.25 FRASER
Forensic science is a subject of wide fascination. What happens at a crime scene? How does DNA profiling work? How can it help solve crimes that happened 20 years ago?In forensic science, a criminal case can often hinge on a piece of evidence such as a hair, a blood trace, half a footprint, or a tyre mark. High profile cases such as the Stephen Lawrence enquiry and the Madeleine McCann case have attracted enormous media attention and enhanced this interest inrecent years. However, the public understanding of forensic science is poor, and largely based on TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which exploit high-tech imagery for dramatic effect.Forensic science is a complex activity at the interface of science and law. However, it also deals with real life issues and its results are interpreted within unique situations. Complex scientific findings must be considered carefully, dispassionately, and communicated with clarity, simplicity, andprecision.In this Very Short Introduction, Jim Fraser introduces the concept of forensic science and explains how it is used in the investigation of crime. He begins at the crime scene itself, explaining the principles and processes of crime scene management. He explores how forensic scientists work; from thereconstruction of events to laboratory examinations. He considers the techniques they use, such as fingerprinting, and goes on to highlight the immense impact DNA profiling has had. Providing examples from forensic science cases in the UK, US, and other countries, he considers the techniques andchallenges faced around the world.
18 Tiny Deaths by Bruce Goldfarb; Judy Melinek (Introduction by)
Call Number: 363.25 Goldfarb
Frances Glessner Lee, born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family in the 1870s, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she developed a fascination with the investigation of violent crimes, and made it her life's work. Best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of dollhouses that appear charming--until you notice the macabre little details: an overturned chair, or a blood-spattered comforter. And then, of course, there are the bodies--splayed out on the floor, draped over chairs--clothed in garments that Lee lovingly knit with sewing pins. 18 Tiny Deaths, by official biographer Bruce Goldfarb, delves into Lee's journey from grandmother without a college degree to leading the scientific investigation of unexpected death out of the dark confines of centuries-old techniques and into the light of the modern day. Lee developed a system that used the Nutshells dioramas to train law enforcement officers to investigate violent crimes, and her methods are still used today.
Bodies We've Buried by Jarrett Hallcox; Amy Welch; Bill Bass (Foreword by)
Call Number: 363.25 HALLCOX
In Bodies We've Buried, the very first book to reveal the inside workings of the National Forensic Academy, two NFA administrators offer readers and CSI fans exclusive access to a world normally off-limits to all but law enforcement officials, doctors, and scientists: inside the only hands-on crime-scene investigation school of its kind, where students are trained in burial recovery with actual human remains. This is the shocking, uncensored, and sometimes darkly humorous reality of forensic investigation. It features firsthand stories of the students themselves and shows how the remarkable science of CSI has solved some of the most famous cases in recent history.
Silent Witnesses by Nigel McCrery
Call Number: 363.2509 McCrery
Crime novelist and former police officer Nigel McCrery provides an account of all the major areas of forensic science from around the world over the past two centuries. The book weaves dramatic narrative and scientific principles together in a way that allows readers to figure out crimes along with the experts. Readers are introduced to such fascinating figures as Dr. Edmond Locard, the "French Sherlock Holmes"; Edward Heinrich, "Wizard of Berkeley," who is credited with having solved more than 2,000 crimes; and Alphonse Bertillon, the French scientist whose guiding principle, "no two individuals share the same characteristics," became the core of criminal identification. Landmark crime investigations examined in depth include a notorious murder involving blood evidence and defended by F. Lee Bailey, the seminal 1936 murder that demonstrated the usefulness of the microscope in examining trace evidence, the 1849 murder of a wealthy Boston businessman that demonstrated how difficult it is to successfully dispose of a corpse, and many others.
Cracking More Cases by Henry C. Lee; Thomas W. O'Neil
Call Number: 363.2595 Lee
Truly a legend in his own time, Dr. Henry C. Lee is considered by many to be the greatest forensic criminalist in the world. He has gained widespread public recognition through his involvement in many high-profile cases. Now, as a follow-up to his highly acclaimed Cracking Cases, Dr. Lee describes in intimate detail his work in personally investigating five notorious murder cases, while demonstrating the fascinating scientific techniques of forensic science. Taking the reader through the entire investigative process, Dr. Lee shares his thoughts on two high profile cases: The Skakel-Moxley Murder. This case, which had remained unsolved for three decades, seized the headlines since it involved the nephews of Ethyl Kennedy and the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. In the fall of 1975, the partially clad body of fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley was found by a neighbor near the home of Rushton Skakel, the older brother of Ethyl Kennedy. The night before, Martha had visited Skakel's teenage sons at their house while the father was away on a hunting trip. At 10 p.m., Martha reportedly left the Skakel residence to return to her own house, a few doors away. She never made it home. For twenty-four years no one was prosecuted. Finally, in 1999, Dr. Lee and two other professionals were appointed to a special task force charged with reviewing all of the evidence and reinvestigating the case. In May of 2002, the case finally came to trial and Dr. Lee testified before the jury. Dr. Lee's testimony focused on a reconstruction of the crime scene and "indirect forensic evidence." The ultimate verdict surprised many experienced courtroom observers. The JonBenet Ramsey Case. The murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey has created a frenzy of media speculation, partly because local Colorado authorities bungled the initial handling of the evidence. Two months after discovery of the little girl's body, Dr. Lee was asked to help with the inquiry. Dr. Lee knows as much about the forensic evidence in this case as anyone alive -- except for the murderer. He provides a particularly extensive discussion of the complexities of this provocative case. Dr. Lee also describes his investigations of the Serra, Barrett, and Deng murder cases, which took place in California, Florida, and Connecticut. Each of these cases have taken dramatic twists and turns. Dr. Lee presents in scientific detail how he investigated the murders, analyzed the evidence, and used techniques that have played a critical role in bringing many criminals to justice. He discusses how the criminalist examines blood spatter evidence and uses blood identification, DNA analysis, and other forensic technologies developed in the world's best laboratories. Dr. Lee also makes the point that forensics continues to advance. With every new scientific development, the prospect of solving seemingly baffling "cold cases" becomes greater. This page-turner by a world-renowned expert offers an intriguing insider's look into the pursuit of justice in some of the most notorious and troubling criminal cases of recent times.
The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum; Coleen Marlo (Narrated by)
Call Number: 614.1 Blum
Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook --chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler--investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work. From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide; potent compounds, such as morphine, can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten New York.
Morgue by Vincent Di Maio; Ron Franscell
Call Number: 614.1 DiMaio
In this clear-eyed, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Dr. Vincent DiMaio and veteran crime writer Ron Franscell guide us behind the morgue doors to tell a fascinating life story through the cases that have made Di Maio famous-from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to the complex issues in the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Beginning with his street-smart Italian origins in Brooklyn, the book spans 40 years of work and more than 9,000 autopsies, and Di Maio's eventual rise into the pantheon of forensic scientists. One of the country's most methodical and intuitive criminal pathologists will dissect himself, maintaining a nearly continuous flow of suspenseful stories, revealing anecdotes, and enough macabre insider details to rivet the most fervent crime fans.
A Is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup
Call Number: 615.9 Harkup
Fourteen poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's all made-up ... Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel. Her choice of deadly substances was far from random - the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but this is not the case with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, and in such tiny amounts?Christie's extensive chemical knowledge provides the backdrop for A is for Arsenic , in which Kathryn Harkup investigates the poisons used by the murderer in fourteen classic Agatha Christie mysteries. It looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, the cases that may have inspired Christie, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these poisons, both at the time the novel was written and today. A is for Arsenic is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime.