Crime Lab: A Guide for Nonscientists (2nd Ed.)

Follow the evidence!

Author and forensic scientist, John Houde, takes you on the cook's tour of a modern crime laboratory, explaining each test and procedure along the way. DNA, blood spatter, firearms, drug analysis, microscopy and more are explained in easy to understand terms and illustrated with real-life examples.

This edition replaces the popular first edition, published in 1999, and includes 70 new illustrations and photographs.

The second edition boosts the level of scientific discussion to that of a high school or first-year college student with a year of biology or chemistry. In addition, it has been re-edited for clarity and updated to reflect current methods of analysis.

The 2nd edition also includes three appendices containing materials suitable for an introductory course in forensic science. Discussion questions, practical examples and even a short laboratory exercise are included.

In 2000, the first edition of CRIME LAB won both the Benjamin Franklin Award (Publisher's Marketing Association) and the Independent Publisher Award. It was also a New York Public Library "Books for the Teen Age" selection.

"This freshly illustrated edition is a bit less elementary in its approach and should be of great interest to agencies who use the crime lab as well as students who are exploring forensic science as a career," says author John Houde.

John Houde, BS., DABC, is a board certified, twenty-five year veteran criminalist and the author of over twenty articles on the subject of forensic science. His articles have appeared in such publications as The California Narcotic Officer and the Journal of Forensic Sciences. For more than two decades he has acted as art director/publisher of the CACNews, the official journal of the California Association of Criminalists, representing over 650 criminalists worldwide. John has spent much of his career educating juries, investigators and attorneys in various topics of forensic science. His specialty areas include the analysis of narcotics, trace and fire debris evidence. John lives in Washington state with his wife, Donna.