genre: non-fiction/science/criminology
Our author, Carla Valentine, has spent her career tending to the dead in one way or another and at the beginning of the book she explains where her passion for pathology came from: an early infatuation with the murder mystery novels of Agatha Christie. Using Christie's books and writing as a scaffold, we learn all about the history of forensics in the common age. We explore fingerprints and weapons, toxicology and blood spatter - all the different ways that detectives (both real and imaginary in the present and the past) will use the information they can find to determine whodunit.
This is a random choice for me, I know, but it was out on a table at Barnes and Noble as a monthly pick and the idea of it intrigued me. I've only read two of her novels but I found both of them really intriguing and it is clear that Christie was truly an expert at her craft. Not only do we learn a lot about Christie's novels and how she uses various techniques and processes in her narratives, but the author also ties in many real life cases that Christie was clearly familiar with and that, in one way or another, influenced her writing. I can see how these tangents might be frustrating to some but for me it really enhanced the book. I learned so much - but it's incredibly readable with a tone that's absolutely conversational and for the layperson. It's not perfect - I definitely did a little skimming occasionally as it got a tiny bit rambling but for the most part, this was a great introduction to the topic for someone whose only information is from old episodes of CSI.
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