Connie Fletcher

There is no "story" here, no unifying theme or grand scheme. It's just bits and pieces about the underlying premise that every contact at a crime scene leaves a trace of itself. Broken into nine chapters, the book covers crime scene processing, crime scene interpretation, trace evidence, evidence from bodies, DNA, what goes on in the crime lab, the reality of cold cases and the rigors of tesifying at trials.

In a way, the treatment is almost too light, not really providing detailed information about the various forensic disciplines examined. However, that may be a blessing since many of the disciplines are very, very complex.

Instead, Fletcher allows the real-life players to talk about their work, how it fits into the criminal justice process and their own feelings about being confronted with death and mayhem. Some of the interviewees were apparently not very articulate and the excerpts could have benefited from some editing.

On the whole, Fletcher provides a solid overview of forensics in the real world and demolishes without trying the myths perpetuated by CSI and other television concoctions.… (meer)