Time Of Death: Nature, Forensics and the Search for Death's Stopwatch - Softcover

Sachs, Jessica Snyder

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099435438 ISBN 13: 9780099435433

Publisher: Arrow, 2003

Synopsis

Despite repeated claims and breakthroughs, forensic scientists are little better equipped to establish with any real degree of precision the exact time at which a victim of crime (or indeed anyone else, were there no witnesses) died. Over the last two centuries, scientists and detectives have attempted to rely on body temperature, evidence of rigor mortis and decomposition, the decay of the vitreous humor of the eye, the stages of digestion of the body's last meal, the progress of the insects that prey of dead bodies, all eventually without total conviction. Death is a gradual and highly variable business, dependent on a myriad of factors, and the expert witnesses at the trial of O J Simpson could be little more precise than the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Gloriously written and ghoulishly fascinating, studded with the details of crucial cases, this is true crime at its most fascinating.

About this title

Review:

"'Fans of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs take note... Ghoulishly fascinating. Literate true crime at its gripping best.'" (Bookseller)

"'Time of Death makes engaging and eye-opening reading, and should be of great interest particularly to students of forensics.'" (TLS)

"A lively read, which holds the attention... a compelling look are a slice of science that, thankfully, most of us rarely encounter.'" (Manchester Evening News)

From the Publisher:

The story of forensic science s attempts to discover a foolproof method of establishing the time of death, a wonderfully written tale of decay, crime and maggots…

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0099435438
• ISBN 13: 9780099435433
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288