Blum goes through a variety of poisons: strychnine, mercury, arsenic, and even “bootleg gin,” and explains in great detail how they poison the body.  Her technical knowledge and sense of humor keep this aspect moving as some of the chemistry information could bog down.

To avoid reading like a college textbook, the author traces the struggle between brilliant criminals and how they murder using poison and the development of modern medical examiners.  The criminals stay one step ahead of the authorities by using new poisons that can’t be detected.  The medical examiners fight back in their labs to develop tests that are accurate and will stand up in court.  The real forensic science is revealed in this struggle that has been going on for years.

Blum also makes it personal.  She recounts real poisoning cases and tells us the background stories of some of the criminals who were caught and put on trial.  Some were found guilty; others got away with murder mostly because the lab testing wasn’t good enough to convince juries beyond a reasonable doubt.  These human stories make the scientific aspects interesting and put a human touch on both sides of the struggle.

Check out the PBS video here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365142654/

I thought the chapter on alcohol dragged a little.  Blum goes back into the politics and consequences of prohibition and recounts how bootleg gin was actually made from dangerous types of alcohol—that easily poisoned the people who drank it in speakeasies.  For me, the history was informative and a warning about the present day criminalization of some drugs, but I was more interested in the exotic poisons.

Still, she will show you the real forensic science in a fascinating way.  Even today, brilliant criminals are constantly testing different ways to commit murder without being detected.  Maybe it could be you . . ??

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Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his stories about the legendary detective in the late 1800’s.  He based him on an eccentric scientist Doyle knew from Scotland who had many of the same analytical skills that Holmes would come to possess.  Today, we accept Holmes’ approach to crime scene investigation and crime detection as common.  He studied finger prints, tobacco ash, types of clothing, and footprints.

But was Holmes the first to pioneer these techniques?  His powers of observation, deduction, and especially his reliance on facts and scientific evidence, distinguished him from many other detectives of the time.

One of the most well known forensic scientists to use these techniques was born in 1877 in France.  His name was Edmund Locard and he became a police officer and professor.  But it wasn’t until the early 1900s that he developed what came to be known as Locard’s Exchange Principle.  Here it is in his own words:

“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him.  Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects.

“All of these and more, bear mute witness against him.  This is evidence that does not forget.  it is not confused by the excitement of the moment.  It is not absent because human witnesses are.  It is factual evidence.  Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent.  Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value.”

And consider this:  Doyle wrote A Study in Scarlet in 1887 in which Holmes develops a chemical that can tell if a stain is blood—which had never been done before.  Sherlock was certainly ahead of his time!!

Be sure to read some of the Sherlock Holmes’ stories.  My favorite novel is The Hound of the Baskervilles and the short story, The Speckled Band.   The fog, gas lights, carriages, and old London are so much more fascinating than CSI Miami!

Which stories are your favorites??

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