This image is the cover for the book Crime Science

Crime Science

This comprehensive guide to forensic investigation “delivers the goods for the educated layperson . . . readers will be hard-pressed to put it down” (USA Today).

Forensic experts Joe Nickell and John Fischer introduce readers to the work of firearms experts, document examiners, fingerprint technicians, medical examiners, and forensic anthropologists. These topics are explained in clear terms without technical jargon.

Nickell and Fisher describe fingerprint classification and autopsies, explain how fibers link victims to their killers, and examine the science underlying DNA profiling and toxicological analysis. From weapons analysis to handwriting samples to shoe and tire impressions, Crime Science outlines the indispensable tools and techniques that investigators use to make sense of a crime scene.

Each chapter closes with a study of an infamous case to demonstrate how the principles of forensic science work in practice. Case studies including the O.J. Simpson trial, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the death of Marilyn Monroe, the World Trade Center bombing, the assassination of the Romanovs, and the Atlanta child murders.

Joe Nickell, John F. Fischer

Joe Nickell, author of Pen, Ink, and Evidence, Detecting Forgery, and Camera Clues, is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. John F. Fischer, president of Forensic Research and Supply Corporation, has written for such publications as Law Enforcement Technology, worked for many years as a forensic analyst in a Florida crime laboratory, and has lectured at the FBI Academy.

The University Press of Kentucky