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

Publisher Marketing: Val McDermid is on 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 ever 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 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 human traces. Forensics draws on interviews with some of these top-level professionals, groundbreaking research, and Val McDermid's own original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientist. 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 for its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day. A former journalist and Northern Bureau Chief of a national UK tabloid, Val McDermid is the bestselling author of The Skeleton Road and twenty-eight previous novels, three story collections, and the nonfiction book A Suitable Job for a Woman, an inside look at female private investigators. She lives in Scotland." Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 05/11/2015 (EAN 9780802123916, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2015 (EAN 9780802123916, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2015 pg. 30 (EAN 9780802123916, Hardcover) Library Journal 06/15/2015 pg. 102 (EAN 9780802123916, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  McDermid, Val Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three years as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. Now a full-time writer, she divides her time between Cheshire and Northumberland. McDermid has achieved major success with her series of books featuring criminal profiler, Tony Hill. The first book in the series, The Mermaids Singing, won the 1995 Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year, while the second, The Wire in the Blood, lends its name to the highly acclaimed television series featuring Robson Green as Tony Hill. The third, The Last Temptation, was released this year in paperback and was a Top Ten bestseller. The Torment of Others was out in paperback in 2005, and The Grave Tattoo was released in February 2006. A Place of Execution was awarded the LA Times Book of the Year Award, while Killing the Shadows received critical acclaim on its release in 2000. May 2003 saw the release of The Distant Echo in hardback. McDermid has also written six crime novels featuring Manchester PI Kate Brannigan, and the last of these, Star Struck, won the Grand Prix des Romans d Adventure in France. A further series of novels feature journalist-sleuth Lindsay Gordon, with Hostage to Murder published in November 2003.