Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers

Michael Baden and Marion Roach take readers to the autopsy table in the morgue to show how advances in forensic science are solving crimes as never before. They visit cases both famous and ordinary to explain why the first hour at a crime scene is crucial. They reveal how a key clue to the killer of Nicole Brown Simpson was lost during the transportation of her body to the morgue. In another case, they show how something as obscure as the imprint of a button on a dead man's skin was overlooked until months later when, while reviewing the crime-scene photos, Dr Baden saw it, causing the case to take an astonishing turn. Baden and Roach invite readers to be present at the analysis of soil, plant matter, insects, blood spatters, bone, teeth, hair, weather and other crime-scene evidence to witness how the startling accuracy of science can improve the chances of a just verdict.

Dr Michael Baden is one of the world's leading forensic pathologists. He has worked as a consulting forensic pathologist to the US state department, the FBI and the Russian government, and has been involved in many cases of international interest. These include the death of John Belushi, the JoBenet Ramsay case and the autopsies of the TWA Flight 800 victims. He lives in New York. Marion Roach is the award-winning author of Another Name for Madness and a contributor to three other books. She lives with her family in upstate New York.