Reviews for The casebook of forensic detection

The average rating for The casebook of forensic detection based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-08-11 00:00:00 Bobby Williams The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling CrimesColin Evans Any student of detection and forensics, casual or serious is sure to love this book. I always expected a book of true crime to be a little too factual and boring, but Colin Evans makes this a very pleasurable read (once you ignore human depravity and gore). A book like this needs to be presented well, and in this also The Casebook doesn't disappoint. It has sections for the major disciplines like Fingerprinting, DNA Typing, Ballistics, Cause of Death, Psychological Profiling etc. The cases are then presented chronologically so that you can follow the progress of each branch of science. 100 very well known cases (mostly homicides) are presented with the facts of the case the way it was handled by those in charge. The science in many instances was not only essential to solve the crime, but was also instrumental in proving the case in court and getting a conviction. Each case is presented in 2-3 pages, not going into too much detail, but jut presenting the pertinent facts. Summing up each case is a comment on how the expert made an impression, or science was brilliantly put to use or what progress was made in forensics through this case. Fascinating read, and quite unexpectedly, I managed to get through it all at once. Will definitely be re-reading this in a few months. Even if the book had been less than satisfactory, I would be inclined to look at it with fondness if only for the many favorable mentions of Sherlock Holmes!

Review # 2 was written on 2013-02-16 00:00:00 Jonathan Nobre This nonfiction book is a must for fans of CSI/Law & Order/Bones and any police drama that features forensics. The book is divided into sections, each discussing crimes and how a particular type of forensic science helped solve them. Under ballistics, you'll read of Sacco and Vanzetti; disputed documents uncovers the forged Hitler diaries; DNA typing, the Romanovs; fingerprinting, the notorious Kelly gang; forensic anthropology ("Bones"), the infamous John Wayne Gacy and Josef Mengele; odontology, the serial killer Ted Bundy. The cases are all very detailed and most of them were groundbreaking for their time. You'll learn of the forensic scientists like Edward Heinrich (who solved nearly 2000 crimes), Sir Edward Henry (the father of fingerprinting) and detectives whose names deserve to be as well remembered as the criminals.