Forensic Sciences

 

The November meeting for Books & Beyond to chat about forensics was a novel one for the group…we had a special guest, Dr. Greg Davis, Chief Coroner/Medical Examiner for Jefferson County! 

He shared aspects of his education, career path, and job with us and it was fascinating!  I asked him if there were any movies, tv shows, books, etc. that got the job right, and he shared a few things.

Coroner to the Stars (2025) (I saw this film at this year's Sidewalk Film Festival in downtown Birmingham and loved it!)

Coroner to the Stars chronicles the extraordinary journey of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner whose groundbreaking autopsies forever shaped American culture. From Marilyn Monroe and Robert Kennedy to Sharon Tate and Natalie Wood, Noguchi's outspoken expertise pushed forensic science into the spotlight-even as Hollywood elites and political adversaries sought to silence him. A Japanese immigrant who unwittingly rose to fame in a city driven by stardom, Noguchi's fearless pursuit of truth often placed him in the cross hairs of controversy.

Dial M for Murder (1954) 

Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) wants to have his wealthy wife, Margot (Grace Kelly), murdered so he can get his hands on her inheritance. When he discovers her affair with Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he comes up with the perfect plan to kill her. He blackmails an old acquaintance into carrying out the murder, but the carefully orchestrated set-up goes awry, and Margot stays alive. Now Wendice must frantically scheme to outwit the police and avoid having his plot detected.

M.A.S.H. (1970) (Dr. Davis specifically mentioned the surgery scenes in this film as accurately reflecting a full and busy medical examiners office.)

Based on the novel by Richard Hooker, M*A*S*H follows a group of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital officers at they perform surgery and pass the time just miles from the front lines of the Korean Conflict. Led by Captains Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould), they add to the chaos and hilarity of the situation.

A few of our group members shared some titles, either in the meeting during the discussion, or via email afterward.

Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

A killer is stalking the streets of Richmond, Virginia. When the bodies begin to mount, Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is pulled into a chilling investigation that blends high-stakes forensics with psychological warfare. Armed with cutting-edge science and unflinching resolve, Scarpetta must navigate hostile forces both inside and outside the investigation—because someone isn’t just trying to hide the truth. They’re trying to kill her.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Adelia Aguilar is a rare thing in medieval Europe - a woman who has trained as a doctor. Her specialty is the study of corpses, a skill that must be concealed if she is to avoid accusations of witchcraft. But in Cambridge a child has been murdered, others are disappearing, and King Henry has called upon a renowned Italian investigator to find the killer - fast. What the king gets is Adelia, his very own Mistress of the Art of Death. 

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers (some willingly, some unwittingly) have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

New York City, 1956: the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling.

The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine

Christie wouldn't have talked of "forensics" as it is understood today—most of her work predates the modern developments of forensics science—but in each tale she harnesses the power of human observation, ingenuity, and scientific developments of the era. A fascinating, science-based deep dive, The Science of Murder examines the use of fingerprints, firearms, handwriting, blood spatter analysis, toxicology, and more in Christie's beloved works.

Royal Autopsy, BBC documentary series, 2 seasons

• Autopsy and dramatized reconstructions explore the deaths of King Charles II and Queen Elizabeth I, examining the final days of these British monarchs through a fusion of investigation and historical reenactment.
• The lives and deaths of King Charles II and Queen Elizabeth I are investigated in this fusion of cold case investigation and lavish historical drama. A modern day autopsy is conducted to help determine the cause of death of these two key British monarchs while the final dying days are brought to life in emotional dramatic reconstructions.

18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics by Bruce Goldfarb

Frances Glessner Lee, born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family in the 1870s, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she developed a fascination with the investigation of violent crimes and made it her life's work. 18 Tiny Deaths, by official biographer Bruce Goldfarb, delves into Lee's journey from grandmother without a college degree to leading the scientific investigation of unexpected death out of the dark confines of centuries-old techniques and into the light of the modern day.

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death by Corinne May Botz (Not held in the Jefferson County Library Cooperative)

Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy grandmother, founded the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard in 1936 and was later appointed captain in the New Hampshire police. In the 1940s and 1950s she built dollhouse crime scenes based on real cases in order to train detectives to assess visual evidence. Still used in forensic training today, the eighteen Nutshell dioramas, on a scale of 1:12, display an astounding level of detail: pencils write, window shades move, whistles blow, and clues to the crimes are revealed to those who study the scenes carefully.

Corinne May Botz's lush color photographs lure viewers into every crevice of Frances Lee's models and breathe life into these deadly miniatures, which present the dark side of domestic life, unveiling tales of prostitution, alcoholism, and adultery. The accompanying line drawings, specially prepared for this volume, highlight the noteworthy forensic evidence in each case. Botz's introductory essay, which draws on archival research and interviews with Lee's family and police colleagues, presents a captivating portrait of Lee.

Of Dolls & Murder (2010, available on Youtube) 

John Waters narrates Susan Marks’ documentary film exploring the field of murder-scene dioramas, and their originator, who intended them as training tools for detectives in the 1930s and '40s.

Maggots, Murder, and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist by Zakaria Erzinclioglu (Not held in the Jefferson County Library Cooperative)

The science of forensic entomology-the application of insect biology to the investigation of crime-is extremely specialized, combining as it does an expert knowledge of entomology with keen powers of observation and deduction. Before his untimely death in 2002, Dr. Erzinclioglu had been a practitioner for over twenty-five years and was involved in a great number of investigations, including high-profile cases, where his evidence was critical to the outcome.

A great admirer of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Erzinclioglu compares his own techniques with those of his fictional hero, and takes the reader behind the often gruesome but deeply fascinating scenes of a murder investigation. This absorbing book ranges over cases from history, prehistory and mythology to the present day and is as gripping and readable as a good thriller.

The Skin Collector by Jeffrey Deaver

In his classic thriller The Bone Collector, Jeffery Deaver introduced readers to Lincoln Rhyme-the nation's most renowned investigator and forensic detective. Now, a new killer inspired by the Bone Collector is on the loose and Rhyme must untangle the twisted web of clues before the killer targets more victims-or Rhyme himself. The killer's methods are terrifying. He stalks the basements and underground passageways of New York City. He tattoos his victims' flesh with cryptic messages, using a tattoo gun loaded with poison, resulting in an agonizing, painful death. When a connection is made to the Bone Collector-the serial killer who terrorized New York more than a decade ago-Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are immediately drawn into the case. 

Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living from aForensic Pathologist by Janis Amatuzio

Forensic pathologist Janis Amatuzio first began recording the stories told to her by patients, police officers, and other doctors because she felt that no one spoke for the dead. She believed the real experience of death, namely the spiritual and otherworldly experiences of those near death and their loved ones, was ignored by the medical professionals, who thought of death as simply the cessation of breath. She knew there was more. From the first experience of a patient in her care dying to the miraculous "appearances" of loved ones after death, she began recording these experiences. Dr. Amatuzio found that by telling the story of their death to a loved one, she could help bring some sense of completion to the grieving family and friends. Written by a scientist in approachable, nonjudgmental language for anyone who has lost someone they love, this book offers stories that can't be explained in purely physical terms.

Title descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes.