The Nature of Life and Death
Every Body Leaves a Trace
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2.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative that explores the valuable but often shocking interface between crime and nature--and the secrets each can reveal about the other--from a pioneer in forensic ecology and a trailblazing female scientist.
From mud tracks on a quiet country road to dirt specks on the soles of walking boots, forensic ecologist Patricia Wiltshire uses her decades of scientific expertise to find often-overlooked clues left behind by criminal activity. She detects evidence and eliminates hypotheses armed with little more than a microscope, eventually developing a compelling thesis of the who, what, how, and when of a crime. Wiltshire's remarkable accuracy has made her one of the most in-demand police consultants in the world, and her curiosity, humility, and passion for the truth have guided her every step of the way.
A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative, The Nature of Life and Death details Wiltshire's unique journey from college professor to crime fighter: solving murders, locating corpses, and exonerating the falsely accused. Along the way, she introduces us to the unseen world all around us and underneath our feet: plants, animals, pollen, spores, fungi, and microbes that we move through every day. Her story is a testament to the power of persistence and reveals how our relationship with the vast natural world reaches far deeper than we might think.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What is forensic ecology? Wiltshire, one of the founders of this science and the coauthor of two textbooks, answers that question in her gracefully written first book for a general audience. Wiltshire was a botany researcher at University College London when she got a call from Bill Bryden, an officer in Hertfordshire Constabulary. Bryden needed her help in the case of a Chinese Triad murder. The police had the body and the culprits, but they needed to prove the suspects were in the field where the body was dumped. Wiltshire was able to show that maize pollen in the car that transported the body matched the pollen in the field. And so a new career was born, one that involved investigating murders and rapes. "The privet, poplar, elder, damson, goosefoot, nettle, spores of Sphagnum moss, and alien garden plants I did not even have to identify, whispered to us of where she had spent her last lonely hours, and helped in the conviction of the man who killed her," she says of a later case. Such details as the author's growing up in Wales, the death of her baby daughter, and the ending of her 42-year marriage provide moving counterpoint to the crime solving. CSI fans will be enthralled.
