Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Science and the Detective

Dr. Brian H. Kaye (d. 2003) was a professor at Laurentian University who specialized in fine particle science, but as one university tribute mentioned, he also "had a gift for communicating science to those of many different backgrounds," and was known among students and peers for his knowledge, wit, and friendly outgoing manner. It was that ability to popularize science—along with his undergrad courses in forensic anthropology—that led him to write the textbook Science and the Detective: Selected Reading in Forensic Science.

The book takes a look at events in history and analyzes them through the lens of modern forensics: Who really killed Napoleon? Were the witches of Salem high on LSD? Who were the real parents of alleged Russian royal Anastasia? Was WWII Jewish-French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus really guilty of treason?

The author also has sections on how scientific evidence can be used to establish guilt or innocence in the courtroom via the use of voice analysis, methods for developing fingerprints and uncovering art forgeries, and the examination of bullet wounds. He also describes how maggots on a body tell us about the time of death, and extends his reach via topics on fraud, counterfeit money, gunshot residue, doping in sports, and much more.

The book was published in 1995, which means that some of the material in the book is outdated, but it nonetheless remains as an entertaining read. That's not too surprising, given the fact that, as the author explains in the introduction, he was a "detective story addict," that Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were among his first loves (although he felt Christie cheated in laying false trails), and he watched every Perry Mason episode. But he also wrote this from some first-hand experience in forensic consulting and working with some of the pioneers in fingerprint processing.