Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers

Presents a number of cases that demonstrate the processes and technology used to investigate crimes and prove guilt, including analyzing soil, plant matter, blood, teeth, and other evidence.

Adult/High School-Forensic science is a fascinating and complex subject. Baden and Roach simplify the details but retain the interesting aspects and serve up exciting and illuminating cases culled from Baden's extensive background as former Chief Medical Examiner for New York City. His curriculum vitae includes a stint as the chief forensic pathologist for the Congressional Select Committee on Assassinations investigations into the deaths of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. Readers follow along during an autopsy, learn about bloodstain pattern analysis, discover the importance of insect analysis performed on corpses, and are introduced to the methods used to reconstruct faces from skeletons. All the information is presented in an easy-to-understand format, with plenty of grizzly detail. The crime-scene gaffs that derailed the O. J. Simpson trial, how DNA evidence has established the innocence of some wrongfully imprisoned prisoners, and the tests that determined the cause of Princess Diana's fatal accident are also addressed. Black-and-white photos add interest. Those who are interested in crime, criminal sciences, or just intrigued by science in general will find it difficult to put down this well-written and authoritative book.

Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Baden, a leading forensic pathologist and host of HBO's Autopsy, and Roach (Another Name for Madness) are a dynamic pair, delving into delightfully creepy material that can potentially bring murderers to justice or free an innocent on death row. Baden is a methodical and ethical medical examiner and consummate scientist. Every page reveals another aspect of the forensic sciences, leading the reader into the Cimmerian world of autopsies, murder scenes, blood-splatter analysis, the life cycles of blowflies in carrion, DNA fingerprinting and the methods for identifying unknown victims by their skulls, teeth and bones. The authors also touch upon the obscure yet fruitful fields of forensic botany and climatology. The material is exhaustive, yet the journey is never less than fascinating. For the reader (with a strong stomach) interested in the juncture of crime, law and science, this book is chock-full of practical information about death by unnatural means. The account is replete with a cast of weird, amiable characters, historical insights (where else this year will readers learn that Paul Revere took the first step in forensic odontology?), and reverence for the scientific study of the dead. Baden and Roach invite the outsider into the laboratory with a gripping sense of immediacy, and conversely, they bring the usually hidden forensic sciences into the light of day.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Blood spatter, witnesses, exhumations, and incompetent forensic pathologists this book takes us deep into the world of forensic science, where an accurate reading of blood spatter can mean the difference between guilt and innocence. Baden (Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner), former New York City medical examiner and current codirector of the New York State Police Medicolegal Investigation Unit, takes on these topics plus some not commonly discussed: blow flies, autoeroticism, and the one aspect of his work that is "scary and unsettling even terrifying." One feels part of the autopsy team as Baden who has performed more than 20,000 such procedures describes how the body arrives (bagged and tagged) at the morgue, how the autopsy is performed, how to know the difference between cause and manner of death, and how a body is read by police and medical examiners for evidence. This book is more than the cases Baden handled; it is an in-depth, engrossing look, even for the squeamish, at how medical examiners work and why you want a competent one on your side. Recommended for all libraries. Karen Evans, Indiana State Univ., Terre Haute
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The host of the popular HBO program Autopsy parts the curtains on the macabre world of the morgue. The dead speak but need an interpreter, and Baden has played that part for decades as a forensic pathologist. Drawing on cases that are famous or merely instructive, Baden imparts both the mechanics of what happens when the scalpel comes out and the paramount importance of upholding scientific objectivity during the examination. These parallel themes interact productively as Baden, along with cowriter Roach, recounts how unwarranted assumptions or carelessness will mute what the body may tell about the cause and manner of its demise. Too often, Baden laments, forensic pathologists regard themselves as part of the prosecution team--he cites one whose errors and falsifications put many innocent people in West Virginia jails--when they must be independent discoverers of the truth hidden in the corpus delicti. True-crime buffs will be riveted by Baden's offbeat tour. Gilbert Taylor
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