Synopses & Reviews
The victim was shot through the heart--but no bullet was ever found.In a case full of baffling twists, a gunshot wound to the heart leads to a brilliant investigator to one conclusion: a bullet designed to disappear...
The skin was peeled from the victim's hands
A beautiful woman almost gets away with murder because her victim cannot be identified. Then a forensic scientist leads police to the peeled skin from two boiled hands--and the fingerprints that will crack the case.
The murder weapon was smashed to smithereens
A man was killed by a blow from a bottle. Now, determined investigator carefully puts the pieces of glass back together to catch a kiler--and to carry out a crime of his own...
What the corpse revealed
Once detectives solved crimes with shoe leather and a gun. Now they use DNA samples, blood splatters, microbes and psychological profilings. This extraordinary book, through details drawn from some of the most baffling cases of the last fifty years, shows how a new generation fo real-life crime busters is catching stalkers, poisoners, mass murderers, and assassins--through the astounding art of forensic science.
Review
"There is not a dull case among the 16, and some of them with their airtight alibis, red herrings and maddening paradoxes, are pure Agatha Christie." -
-Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
In vivid detail, What the Corpse Revealed examines the techniques used to solve 16 cases drawn from the files of international forensic scientists.
-- An American business tycoon and his wife were found shot dead at their home, in a room with no windows, which was locked from the inside. No trace of the bullets could be found. The murderer was playing games with the police, but could a smart young forensic scientist outwit the killer?
-- A little boy disappeared from a play area while his father read a newspaper nearby. Police were baffled by the disappearance, until the forensic team swept the boy's home and found evidence that uncovered a hideous and almost unbelievable crime.
-- A reclusive retired TV star received a series of poison pen letters in his luxury Bel Air mansion. Mysterious attempts on his life followed. Forensic scientists matched the fingerprints on the letters to those of his brother, yet the brother had died in a house fire more than a decade ago.
Table of Contents
Gambler -- The pain of loss -- A dream of power -- Vendetta -- Penfriend -- Ego tripper -- Retribution -- Travelling man -- Stalker -- Mother figure -- Prejudice -- Bad blood -- A loss of faith -- Jealous heart -- Missing -- Pyro.