Maggots, Murder and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist

Dr Zakaria Erzinclioglu

ISBN 10: 0946589658 / ISBN 13: 9780946589654

Published by Harley Books, Colchester, 2003

About this Item

256 pages. Takes the reader behind the often gruesome but deeply fascinating scenes of a murder investigation; examines the links between the insect world and the human race from a great range of perspectives - scientific, criminal, medical and philosophical.

Seller Inventory # 009179

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Maggots, Murder and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist
• Publisher: Harley Books, Colchester
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0946589658
• ISBN 13: 9780946589654
• Binding: Soft Covers
• Edition: Second Impression
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: None

About this title

Synopsis

The science of forensic entomology-the application of insect biology to the investigation of crime-is extremely specialized, combining as it does an expert knowledge of entomology with keen powers of observation and deduction. Dr. Erzinclioglu has been a practitioner for over twenty-five years and has been involved in a great number of investigations, including some recent high-profile cases, where his evidence has been critical to the outcome.

A great admirerer of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Erzinclioglu compares his own techniques with those of his fictional hero, and takes the reader behind the often gruesome but deeply fascinating scenes of a murder investigation. This absorbing book ranges over cases from history, prehistory and mythology to the present day and is as gripping and readable as a good thriller.

Review

Death is rarely pretty. It is decidedly unappealing when a body, made available to nature, is colonized and consumed by insects, worms, and other animals--unless, like Zakaria Erzinçlioglu, you have an appreciation for this "magnificent and highly nutritious resource."

Erzinçlioglu, a forensic scientist with three decades' experience in solving all manner of grisly crimes, gives a lighthanded if sometimes creepy account of what happens to the human body in death, and of how scientists can deduce from the succession of insect life, among other signs, just what happened to bring about that demise. As he ranges across the annals of wrongdoing, crime buffs will learn much from his observations on, among other matters, the outright stupidity of many murderers, who "seem to think that the last place a criminal investigator is likely to look is under the floorboards," and the many odd twists and turns that a scientific investigation can take while ferreting out the truth.

Erzinçlioglu's book makes a sharp-witted companion to such recent works as Jessica Snyder Sachs's Corpse and Richard Conniff's Spineless Wonders, adding to a growing--and oddly fascinating--library devoted to the coroner's art. --Gregory McNamee