Forensics

McDermid has not lost her early journalistic genius for telling a good story plainly -- Ian Finlayson * Times * ... she dissects the history of forensics through gripping stories of real-life crime. * New Statesman * Every bit as compelling as the best of the fictional genre * Irish Times * Fascinating history of forensic science .... McDermid provides a grimly absorbing account of crime and it's detection -- Ian Thompson * Observer * ... the science of forensics has come a long way, as Val McDermid relates in this fascinating study. McDermid, best known for her gritty psychological thrillers, has interviewed a wide range (a morgue? a graveyard?) of forensic scientists and has revisited some of the most gruesome true life mysteries to piece together a gripping history of the anatomy of crime. Each of the chapters - which examine themes such as fire scene investigation, toxicology, fingerprinting, DNA and blood splatter and facial reconstruction - contains a wealth of surprising information -- Andrew Wilson * Independent * Praise for Val McDermid: 'McDermid has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it. * Guardian * The sheer brio of McDermid's writing produces that increasingly rare thing, a genuine page-turner that doesn't insult its readers' intelligence. * Independent * To write one brilliant book is hard. To write 25 is a miracle. That is what Val McDermid has achieved over the course of her career and it's why she is a much-loved legend in the literary world. * Sunday Express *