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“The crime novelist burrows into the wild history of forensics…to explain practices like using maggots to calculate time of death.”
— Entertainment Weekly
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“In charting the ‘astonishing leaps’ that forensic science has made over the past two centuries, McDermid provides a grimly absorbing account of crime and its detection.”
— Observer (London)
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“A gripping history of the anatomy of crime…contains a wealth of surprising information…If McDermid is ever stuck for inspiration for her novels she could do worse than turn to her own book of the dead for inspiration.”
— Independent (London)
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“Examines the creativity of forensic experts through the analytic techniques they apply to real-life crime…McDermid has not lost her early journalistic genius for telling a good story plainly and with passion.”
— Times Saturday Review (London)
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“A highly readable, eye-opening account of the way in which criminals have slowly had their wings clipped and their getaways thwarted over the past hundred and more years.”
— Herald (Scotland)
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“A guide to criminal forensics that is every bit as compelling as the best of the fiction…She combines science with the macabre, from the Great Fire of London to some of the most sensational trials of recent times.”
— Irish Times
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“This gruesomely fascinating book [is]…a mix of science and true-crime accounts…Fans of McDermid’s fiction will gain a greater understanding of where her ideas come from.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“From a bestselling mystery author, a curiosity-fueled look at the realities behind crime science…A satisfying insider’s excursion into the scientific realities behind CSI-style pop culture.”
— Kirkus Reviews