How to Solve a Murder;

Science. Informants, intuition, and detection all have their place, but the most difficult of crimes are solved in the crime lab. From centuries-old tracking methods to the latest in DNA fingerprinting, law enforcement officials across the country rely on forensic science to lead them to the perpetrator or provide them with a "smoking gun." In "How to Solve a Murder," crime specialist Michael Kurland takes readers on an expert's expedition of forensic techniques used today, including: Ballistics Fingerprinting Crime scene investigation DNA matching Blood typing Post-mortem examination With a fictional murder set up at the start, Kurland shows how criminalists apply each of these techniques to solve the crime. Along the way, he offers fascinating anecdotes of infamous crimes: how a few fibers, the shape of year-old blood splatters, or the small dent from a grazing bullet have been all that was needed to set an innocent man free or put a murderer behind bars. For fans of true crime and mysteries, for anyone who has ever wanted to write a detective story, or for those of us who just want to help solve those grisly murders on the nightly news, "How to Solve a Murder" is a must read.