Guest Review: Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime By Val McDermid

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died - and who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help justice to be done using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene or the faintest of human traces.

Forensics draws on interviews with top-level professionals, ground-breaking research and Val McDermid's own experience to lay bare the secrets of this fascinating science. And, along the way, she wonders at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death, how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist uncovered the victims of a genocide.

In her novels, McDermid has been solving complex crimes and confronting unimaginable evil for years. Now, she's looking at the people who do it for real. It's a journey that will take her to war zones, fire scenes and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

Review: Val McDermid is an award-winning crime fiction writer, but this book is a factual account of the range of forensic science disciplines that are employed to assist law enforcement agencies in the investigation of crime, and courts of law in the administration of justice. As a former forensic scientist myself, I was very interested to read this book, which was first published in 2014.

Each of the chapters covers a different discipline, such as: fire examination; forensic entomology; toxicology; forensic psychology; DNA; fingerprinting; and forensic anthropology. There is an introduction to the history of each discipline followed by a discussion of the developments leading to the present. This is accompanied by interviews with leading practitioners in the various fields, along with descriptions of case histories that illustrate their discipline. I found these aspects the most interesting, knowing of, and having worked with, some of the individuals concerned. The book’s final chapter covers court procedure and the presentation of scientific testimony. There is a discussion regarding whether the adversarial system, as practised in courts in the United Kingdom and the United States, as opposed to the inquisitorial system, as practised in continental Europe, is better for seeking out the truth.

I found this a really interesting and well-researched book, and it shows the level of research to which the author must go in her fictional work. I should add a care warning. I listened to the audiobook version, which is narrated by a lady from Scotland. For the bulk of the book, this is entirely appropriate since the author Val McDermid is also from Scotland. However, when voicing the various practitioners interviewed for the book, the narrator puts on various bemusing accents (her attempt at a cockney accent must be second only to Dick Van Dyke’s in the film “Mary Poppins”). As already stated, I  know some of those individuals, and was very surprised to hear the words of one of my former work colleagues, who if my memory is correct hails from Nottingham, spoken with a posh southern English accent. If you would find this distracting, then I would recommend reading the book rather than listening to the audio version. I was more amused by the inappropriate accents, so it didn’t detract too much from a very detailed account of forensic procedures.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: When the Dogs Don’t Bark A Forensic Scientist’s Search for the Truth By Angela Gallop

__________

By the time I arrived at the wood yard in Huddersfield on a bitterly cold night in February 1978, the body of the 18-year-old victim had already been taken to the mortuary.

__________

Never before has criminal justice rested so heavily on scientific evidence. With ever-more sophisticated and powerful techniques at their disposal, forensic scientists have an unprecedented ability to help solve even the most complex cases.

Angela Gallop has been a forensic scientist for over 40 years. After joining the Forensic Science Service, the first crime scene she attended was for a case involving the Yorkshire Ripper. As well as working on a wide range of cases in many countries around the world, she is now the most sought-after forensic scientist in the UK, where she has helped solve numerous high-profile cases, including the investigation that finally absolved the Cardiff Three the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path murders, and the killings of Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Taylor, Rachel Nickell and Roberto Calvi.

From the crime scene to the courtroom, When the Dogs Don't Bark is the remarkable story of a life spent searching for the truth.

Review: This book is Professor Angela Gallop’s account of her career as a forensic scientist and some of the interesting and high profile cases on which she has worked. As a former forensic scientist myself, and having worked with her, I was very keen to read this book and I was not disappointed. What I didn’t realise was she joined the Forensic Science Service (FSS) just a few years prior to me and that we had similar backgrounds in that we both joined after carrying out academic research for a doctoral degree. In fact, we even both had our first experience of giving expert evidence in a Crown Court at York Crown Court.

Angela Gallop joined the FSS in 1974, working initially at the laboratory in Harrogate and then moving to the newly-built Wetherby laboratory in 1977. In 1981, she transferred to the Aldermaston laboratory which is where I first met her. She left the FSS in 1986 to set up a company called Forensic Access which provided forensic science services to a variety of clients, mainly defence solicitors. Subsequently, she set up a number of other companies providing similar services. Her journey within the world of forensic science is described in the book and is illustrated with numerous fascinating and high profile cases, both in this country and overseas. Amongst the cases described are those involving the killings of Damilola Taylor, Rachel Nickell and Roberto Calvi. I was interested to see that a number of my former colleagues in the FSS get a mention. I must admit that I smiled wryly when one of my former assistants was described as urbane and laid back (admittedly, I only knew him when he was young and prior to his going to university).

Angela Gallop makes a number of points in the book, with which some, but not all, I would concur. One thing I was surprised to find, given the nature of forensic science and what I know of the author’s professionalism, was a few factual errors in the book. In her chapter on Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper”, she describes the geographical profiling as predicting that he lived in the Bradford area. This turned out to be correct, but he was not arrested in Bradford, as stated, but in Sheffield. She describes the blood grouping system phosphoglucomutase (PGM), one of the grouping systems used prior to the introduction of DNA profiling, as having ten different groups, but goes on to list only eight of the groups. In the chapter on the murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992, she describes the work undertaken at the time by staff of the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory (MPFSL) but later describes them as FSS scientists. In 1992, the MPFSL was a separate entity and did not merge with the FSS until 1996.

Overall, however, I found the book to be a fascinating read about the state of forensic science in the UK, with many interesting cases highlighting various aspects. I thought that the scientific techniques were explained in terms that would be understood easily by a lay person. Hence, this book will appeal to scientists and non-scientists alike. As for the cryptic title? This is explained in the book, so you will have to read it to find out what it means.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: Cause of Death by Frank Smyth

A slight change from my regular guest reviews of books dealing with the subject of sport or history; we have spilled over into a bit of forensic science now-enjoy!

Review: I first read this book when I started working as a forensic scientist, and now having retired some thirty years later, I decided to re-read it.

Although somewhat outdated, the book gives a broad historical account of forensic science. Each chapter deals with a different cause of death or a different scientific evidence type, and gives the historical perspective before discussing the techniques current at the time of writing. These are illustrated with various case studies. The book details the development of forensic science, not just in the UK but also in Europe and the USA.

The historical aspect of the book is very interesting and informative. However, one criticism I would have is that, although there are illustrations in the book, they are not cross-referenced in the text, making them difficult to follow. In addition, there is some confusion over Britain and England. The author talks about the British Home Office having a system of seven regional forensic science laboratories. However, this was the case for England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own arrangement for forensic science provision. This is one of the areas where the book is now outdated. It was published in 1980, so was probably written at the end of the 1970s, when there were seven regional laboratories in England and Wales. However, in 1979, the Cardiff and Bristol laboratories merged and moved into a new facility in Chepstow, meaning there were six regional laboratories. Furthermore, the Home Office closed the Forensic Science Service, the organisation that ran the laboratories, in 2012 and no longer provides a public service for forensic science in England and Wales. Another drawback of the book is that it was written prior to the introduction of the revolutionary technique of DNA profiling, invented by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys and developed for criminal work by the Forensic Science Service in the late 1980s.

Obviously, some of these comments would not have been valid at the time the book was published, and it still makes for a very interesting read.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US