100 Best Forensics Books of All Time

We've ranked the best forensics books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales book cover1

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

William Bass and Jon Jefferson

5.0
Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases-and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York book cover2

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

Deborah Blum

4.8
Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end
Michelle Francl portrait Recommended by Michelle Francl.
Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime book cover3

Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime

Val McDermid

4.8
Val McDermid is one of the finest crime writers we have, whose novels have captivated millions of readers worldwide with their riveting narratives of characters who solve complex crimes and confront unimaginable evil. In the course of researching her bestselling novels McDermid has become familiar with every branch of forensics, and now she uncovers the history of this science, real-world murders
Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist book cover4

Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist

William R. Maples and Michael Browning

4.7
From a skeleton, a skull, a mere fragment of burnt thighbone, Dr. William Maples can deduce the age, gender, and ethnicity of a murder victim, the manner in which the person was dispatched, and, ultimately, the identity of the killer. In Dead Men Do Tell Tales, Dr. Maples revisits his strangest, most interesting, and most horrific investigations, from the baffling cases of conquistador Francisco P
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers book cover5

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Mary Roach

4.7
Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no l
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner book cover6

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Judy Melinek MD, T.J. Mitchell

4.6
The fearless memoir of a young forensic pathologist's rookie season as a NYC medical examiner, and the cases, hair-raising and heartbreaking and impossibly complex, that shaped her as both a physician and a mother.

Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel hol
Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science book cover7

Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science

Dr. Bill Bass, Jon Jefferson

4.6
There is no scientist in the world like Dr. Bill Bass. A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres of land on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research at "the Body Farm" has revolutionized forensic science, helping police crack cold cases and pinpoint time of death.
8

Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes

Emily Craig

4.5
Teasing Secrets from the Dead is a front-lines story of crime scene investigation at some of the most infamous sites in recent history. In this absorbing, surprising, and undeniably compelling book, forensics expert Emily Craig tells her own story of a life spent teasing secrets from the dead.

Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both f
9

Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta, #1)

Patricia Cornwell

4.5
Four women with nothing in common, united only in death. Four brutalized victims of a brilliant monster - a "Mr. Nobody", moving undetected through a paralyzed city, leaving behind a gruesome trail of carnage . . . but few clues. With skilled hands, an unerring eye, and the latest advances in forensic research, an unrelenting female medical examiner - Kay Scarpetta - is determined to unmask a mani
10

Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1)

Kathy Reichs

4.5
Her life is devoted to justice; for those she never even knew. In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Temperance detects an alarming pattern and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her in
The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation book cover11

The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation

Ngaire E. Genge

4.4
THE ULTIMATE READERS’ GUIDE TO THE ART OF FORENSICS!

An intrepid investigator crawls through miles of air conditioning ducts to capture the implicating fibers of a suspect’s wool jacket . . . A forensic entomologist discovers insects in the grill of a car and nails down a drug dealer’s precise geographical path . . . A gluttonous criminal’s fingerprints are lifted from a chocolate truffle. . . .

Fi
12

Fatal Voyage (Temperance Brennan, #4)

Kathy Reichs

4.4
Investigating a plane crash in the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan discovers in a most disturbing way that the evidence doesn't add up. Tripping over a coyote-chewed leg at the crash scene, she performs a little mental arithmetic and realizes that this victim wasn't on the plane. Once again, Brennan's high-tech DMORT snaps into action faster than you c
13

Death du Jour (Temperance Brennan, #2)

Kathy Reichs

4.4
Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Breman, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should lie in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate. The p
14

Carved in Bone (Body Farm, #1)

Jefferson Bass

4.4
There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the "Body Farm" has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death
15

Grave Secrets (Temperance Brennan, #5)

Kathy Reichs

4.4
In the searing heat of Guatemala, Dr Temperance Brennan must harden herself against the horrors she excavates.

And then four young girls go missing from Guatemala City.

When a skeleton is found at the back of a rundown hotel, only someone with Tempe's expertise can deduce the identity and cause of death.

But as she searches for answers, her path is blocked at every turn. It is clear that some people
16

Bare Bones (Temperance Brennan, #6)

Kathy Reichs

4.4
It's a summer of sizzling heat in Charlotte where Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina medical examiner, looks forward to her first vacation in years. A romantic vacation. She's almost out the door when the bones start appearing.
A newborn's charred remains turn up in a woodstove. A small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield on a sunny afternoon. Both pilo
17

Break No Bones (Temperance Brennan, #9)

Kathy Reichs

4.4
Following the tremendous success of "Cross Bones, "Kathy Reichs explores another high-profile topic in Break No Bones -- a case that lands forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan in the middle of a gruesome international scheme. Summoned to South Carolina to fill in for a negligent colleague, Tempe is stuck teaching a lackluster archaeology field school in the ruins of a Native American burial
Unnatural Causes book cover18

Unnatural Causes

Richard Shepherd

4.4
As the UK's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead. When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right - and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressi
Sue Black portrait Recommended by Sue Black.
19

The Bone Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #1)

Jeffery Deaver

4.3
Lincoln Rhyme was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics -- until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City's past -- and
20

All That Remains (Kay Scarpetta, #3)

Patricia Cornwell

4.3
In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short. Following a macabre trail of evidence that ties the present homicides to a grisly crime in the past, Kay must draw upon he
21

Cruel & Unusual (Kay Scarpetta, #4)

Patricia D. Cornwell

4.3
Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is called in to autopsy the body of convicted murderer Ronnie Waddell after his execution. Several days after the execution, a young boy is discovered murdered in the fashion of Waddell's earlier killings, with Waddell's prints near the body. Scarpetta, along with FBI Agent Benton Wesley and Detective Pete Marino, try to discover how a dead inmate coul
22

Body of Evidence (Kay Scarpetta, #2)

Patricia Cornwell

4.3
After months of menacing phone calls and feeling that her every move is being watched, successful writer Beryl Madison flees Key West when a terrifying message is scratched on her car. But the very night she returns to Richmond, she deactivates her burglar alarm and opens her door to someone who nearly decapitates her. Why did she let him in, wonders Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta? And,
23

Deadly Decisions (Temperance Brennan, #3)

Kathy Reichs

4.3
Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is fatally shot on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home, and parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. The shocking deaths propel Tempe Brennan from north to south, and deep into a shattering investigation inside the bizarre culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs -- where one misstep could bring disaster for herself or s
24

Bodies We've Buried: Inside the National Forensic Academy, the World's Top CSI Training School

Jarrett Hallcox

4.3
Two National Forensic Science Institute administrators invite readers into what the Washington Post calls "the Harvard of hellish violence"-the only hands-on CSI school of its kind where students are trained in burial recovery with actual human remains. With exclusive access to a world normally off-limits to the public, this is the first book to go behind the scenes of the ten-week course that dis
25

Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death

Jessica Snyder Sachs

4.3
In this book, Sachs accompanies an eccentric group of entomologists, anthropologists, biochemists, and botanists - a new kind of biological "Mod Squad" - on some of their grisliest, most intractable cases. She takes us to the ultra-bizarre Body Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, where scientists watch bodies decay in order to learn the secrets of decomposition and death. She also takes us into the cour
26

From Potter's Field (Kay Scarpetta, #6)

Patricia Cornwell

4.3
Christmas has never been a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. Although a holiday for most, the festivities always seem to heighten the alienation felt by society's violent fringe; and that usually means more work for Scarpetta, Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI.

The body was naked, female, and found propped against a fountain in a bleak area
27

Bones to Ashes (Temperance Brennan, #10)

Kathy Reichs

4.3
For Temperance Brennan the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another assignment. Évangéline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Évangéline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Évangéline disappeared, Tempe was warned not to search for her, that the girl was "dangero
28

No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators

Steve Jackson

4.3
A body stuffed in a car trunk swallowed by the swirling, muddy waters of the Missouri River. A hiker brutally murdered, then thrown off a cliff in a remote mountain range. A devious killer who hid his wife's body under a thick cement patio. For investigators, the story is often the same: they know a murder took place, they may even know who did it. But without key evidence, pursuing a conviction i
29

Flesh and Bone (Body Farm #2)

Jefferson Bass

4.3
Anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton founded Tennessee's world-famous Body Farm—a small piece of land where corpses are left to decay in order to gain important forensic information. Now, in the wake of a shocking crime in nearby Chattanooga, he's called upon by Jess Carter — the rising star of the state's medical examiners — to help her unravel a murderous puzzle. But after re-creating the death scen
30

The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)

Patricia Cornwell

4.3
The Body Farm - a research institute that tests the decomposition of corpses. Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year, if they're unlucky, and where people are still getting used to the idea of locking their doors at night. But violent death is no respecter of venue, and the discovery of the corpse of an 11-year-old girl sends shock
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit book cover31

Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit

John E. Douglas

4.3
Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals—the basis for the upcoming Netflix original series.

In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most g
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst book cover32

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky

4.3
Preview Summary
The New York Times bestseller

"It's no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read." --David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal

"It has my vote for science book of the year." --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

"Hands-down one of the best books I've read in years. I loved it." --Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washin
Sam Harris portraitVinod Khosla portraitBryan Johnson portrait Recommended by Sam Harris, Vinod Khosla, and Bryan Johnson.
Sam Harris portrait
Sam Harris

I highly recommend. It really is the most accessible discussion of brain science you will find. [source]

Vinod Khosla portrait
Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder/Sun Microsystem

Among the best insights into our brain and behavior. A top of the charts for me for this year, along with Scale. [source]

33

Monday Mourning (Temperance Brennan, #7)

Kathy Reichs

4.3

The secrets of the dead are in her hands.

The bones of three young women are unearthed in the basement of a Montreal pizza parlor, and forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan has unsolved murder on her mind as she examines the shallowly buried remains. Coming up against a homicide cop who is convinced the dead have been entombed on the site for centuries, Tempe perseveres, even with her own relat
34

Cause of Death (Kay Scarpetta, #7)

Patricia Cornwell

4.3
It is New Year's Eve, the last day of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War. Dr. Kay Scarpetta plunges into the murky depths of a ship graveyard to recover the very human remains of Ted Eddings, an investigative reporter. What kind of story was Eddings chasing below the icy surface of the Elizabeth River? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before th
35

Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner

Michael M. Baden

4.3
• JFK's autopsy failed to disclose crucial evidence.
* The deaths of John Belushi and Elvis Presley were far more complex than anyone has let on.
* Decisive medical findings in the von Bulow affair were consistently overlooked.
These are but three of the shocking revelations in Dr. Michael Baden's first-person, no-holds-barred account of his distinguished career in forensic pathology. In determining
36

The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo

Clea Koff

4.3
In 1994, Rwanda was the scene of the first acts since World War II to be legally defined as genocide. Two years later, Clea Koff, a twenty-three-year-old forensic anthropologist, left the safe confines of a lab in Berkeley, California, to serve as one of sixteen scientists chosen by the United Nations to unearth the physical evidence of the Rwandan genocide. Over the next four years, Koff’s grueli
37

206 Bones (Temperance Brennan, #12)

Kathy Reichs

4.3
The #1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the Fox television hit, Bones, returns with a spectacular new Tempe Brennan novel.

There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that
38

Bones Never Lie (Temperance Brennan, #17)

Kathy Reichs

4.3
In the acclaimed author’s thrilling new novel, Brennan is at the top of her game in a battle of wits against the most monstrous adversary she has ever encountered.

Unexpectedly called in to the Charlotte PD’s Cold Case Unit, Dr. Temperance Brennan wonders why she’s been asked to meet with a homicide cop who’s a long way from his own jurisdiction. The shocking answer: Two child murders, separated by
39

Devil Bones (Temperance Brennan, #11)

Kathy Reichs

4.3
In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about, and makes a rather grisly discovery — a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine is the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog.

Le
The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist book cover40

The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist

Mary H. Manhein

4.3
When a skeleton is all that's left to tell the story of a crime, Mary H. Manhein, otherwise known as "the bone lady," is called in. For almost two decades, Manhein has used her expertise in forensic pathology to help law enforcement agents--locally, nationally, and internationally--solve their most perplexing mysteries. She shares the extraordinary details of the often high-profile cases on which
41

The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)

Caleb Carr

4.3
When The Alienist was first published in 1994, it was a major phenomenon, spending six months on the New York Times bestseller list, receiving critical acclaim, and selling millions of copies. This modern classic continues to be a touchstone of historical suspense fiction for readers everywhere.

The year is 1896. The city is New York. Newspaper reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned by his friend
Douglas Starr portrait Recommended by Douglas Starr.
The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes book cover42

The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes

Colin Evans

4.3
Discover the surprising answers in The Casebook of Forensic Detection, a true-crime treasury of 100 of the most fascinating cases of all time. More than two centuries in the development of modern forensic procedures come to vivid life as everything from handwriting analyses and voiceprints to ballistics, DNA testing, and psychological profiles reveal whodunit (and, in some startling cases, who did
43

The Devil's Bones (Body Farm, #3)

Jefferson Bass

4.2
A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.

In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious

44

House Rules

Jodi Picoult

4.2
When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?

Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops
All That Remains: A Life in Death book cover45

All That Remains: A Life in Death

Sue Black

4.2
Sue Black confronts death every day. As Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, she focuses on mortal remains in her lab, at burial sites, at scenes of violence, murder and criminal dismemberment, and when investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident or natural disaster. In All that Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how foren
46

Point of Origin (Kay Scarpetta, #9)

Patricia Cornwell

4.2
A farmhouse destroyed by fire
A body amongst the ruins

Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner and consulting pathologist for the federal law enforcement agency ATF, is called out to a farmhouse in Virginia which has been destroyed by fire. In the ruins of the house she finds a body which tells a story of a violent and grisly murder.

The fire has come at the same time as another even more incendiary
47

Spider Bones (Temperance Brennan, #13)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan.

John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemm
What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People book cover48

What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People

Joe Navarro and Marvin Karlins

4.2
Preview Summary
He says that's his best offer. Is it?

She says she agrees. Does she?

The interview went great—or did it?

He said he'd never do it again. But he did.

Read this book and send your nonverbal intelligence soaring. Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer and a recognized expert on nonverbal behavior, explains how to "speed-read" people: decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls,
Naval Ravikant portrait Recommended by Naval Ravikant.
49

The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science

Douglas Starr

4.2
A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.

At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds,” terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years—until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men
50

Unnatural Exposure (Kay Scarpetta, #8)

Patricia Cornwell

4.2
See alternate cover edition here

Virginia Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has a bloody puzzle on her hands: five headless, limbless cadavers in Ireland, plus four similar victims in a landfill back home. Is a serial butcher loose in Virginia? That's what the panicked public thinks, thanks to a local TV reporter who got the leaked news from her boyfriend, Scarpetta's vile rival, Investigator Percy Ri
51

Mistress of the Art of Death (Mistress of the Art of Death, #1)

Ariana Franklin

4.2
A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town's Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews sacrifice Christian children in blasphemous ceremonies. To save them from the rioting mob, the king places th
52

Bones of the Lost (Temperance Brennan, #16)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
When Charlotte police discover the body of a teenage girl along a desolate stretch of two-lane highway, Temperance Brennan fears the worst. The girl’s body shows signs of foul play. Inside her purse, police find an airline club card bearing the name of prominent local businessman John-Henry Story, who died in a horrific fire months earlier. How did Story and the girl know each other? Was she an il
53

Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI

Dana Kollmann

4.2
This is a unique personal perspective on forensic science, written in a darkly humorous voice by an expert who worked as a crime scene investigator for over 10 years.
54

Cross Bones (Temperance Brennan, #8)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
The key to a modern murder lies in the sands of history.

Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a stranger slips Tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an archaeological site, Tempe uncovers chilling ties
Flash and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #14) book cover55

Flash and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #14)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
FLASH! Illuminated by lightning, a lifeless human hand seems to reach from a barrel of asphalt beside the Charlotte racetrack.

Even for forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan it is a disturbing sight. And now she must find answers before thousands arrive for the year's big race. But before she can carry out a proper examination, the FBI mysteriously confiscate and destroy the body.

It's a dead end
56

Speaking in Bones (Temperance Brennan, #18)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
The latest blockbuster suspense novel in the pulse-pounding Temperance Brennan series, from #1 New York Times bestselling author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs.

For every case Temperance Brennan has solved, there remain innumerable unidentified bodies in her lab. Information on some of these is available online, where amateur sleuths sometimes take a stab at solving cases.

One day, Tempe g
57

Black Notice (Kay Scarpetta, #10)

Patricia Cornwell

4.2
An intriguing Dr Kay Scarpetta novel which will take Kay an ocean's breadth away from home. The case begins when a cargo ship arriving at Richmond, Virginia's Deep Water Terminal from Belgium is discovered to be transporting a locked, sealed container holding the decomposed remains of a stowaway. The post mortem performed by the Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, initially reveals neither a ca
58

The Coffin Dancer (Lincoln Rhyme, #2)

Jeffery Deaver

4.2
Detective Lincoln Rhyme, the foremost criminalist in the NYPD, is put on the trail of the Coffin Dancer, a cunning professional killer who has continually eluded the police. Rhymes —-a quadriplegic since a line-of-duty accident — must use his wits to track this brilliant killer who’s been hired to eliminate three witnesses in the last hours before their grand jury testimony. Rhyme works with his e
59

The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme, #8)

Jeffery Deaver

4.2
Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information...

When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect - too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is
60

Forensic Detective: How I Cracked the World's Toughest Cases

Robert Mann, Miryam Williamson

4.2
Death. It’s not only inevitable and frightening, it’s intriguing and fascinating–especially today, when science continues to make ever more stunning advances in the investigation of the oldest and darkest of mysteries. To discover the how and why of death, unearth its roots, and expose the mechanics of its grim handiwork is, at least in some sense, to master it. And in the process, if a criminal c
61

Coroner's Journal: Stalking Death in Louisiana

Louis Cataldie

4.2
The frank and unvarnished memoir of a life spent stalking death in the Deep South.

Baton Rouge is a little town with big-city problems. Rich with Creole history, colorful locals, and a strong sense of community, it's also the home of Napoleonic codes, stubborn cops, and a sometimes-troubled leadership. Baton Rouge-which literally means "Red Stick"-lives up to its bloody namesake.

And after more
62

The Bone Thief (Body Farm, #5)

Jefferson Bass

4.2
“The Body Farm novels have become bestsellers because of their attention to the fine details of forensics combined with great plot lines.”

—Deseret News (Salt Lake City)



The latest Body Farm novel from New York Times bestseller Jefferson Bass, The Bone Thief is a must for fans of Patricia Cornwell and TV’s C.S.I. The hero of four previous thrillers—Carved in Bone, The Devil’s Bones, Flesh and Bone,
63

The Stone Monkey (Lincoln Rhyme, #4)

Jeffery Deaver

4.2
A New York Times BestsellerFamed criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his beautiful protege e Amelia Sachs have been recruited by the FBI and the INS to help perform the nearly impossible: track down a cargo ship carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants and the notorious human smuggler and killer known as the Ghost.
64

Bones of Betrayal (Body Farm #4)

Jefferson Bass

4.2
Forged in the crucible of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a top-secret military installation—the linchpin of the Manhattan Project. Brilliant careers were born and dark secrets buried in the desperate race to build the Bomb. Those secrets begin to emerge when the body of a renowned physicist is discovered facedown in a frozen swimming pool.

Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton, founder of
65

Bones Are Forever (Temperance Brennan, #15)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
A riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan—a story of infanticide, murder, and corruption, set in the high-stakes, high-danger world of diamond mining.

A woman calling herself Amy Roberts checks into a Montreal hospital complaining of uncontrolled bleeding. Doctors see evidence of a recent birth, but before they can act, Roberts disappears. Dispatched to the address she gave a
66

The Cold Moon (Lincoln Rhyme, #7)

Jeffery Deaver

4.1
On a freezing December night, with a full moon hovering in the black sky over New York City, two people are brutally murdered -- the death scenes marked by eerie, matching calling cards: moon-faced clocks investigators fear ticked away the victims' last moments on earth. Renowned criminologist Lincoln Rhyme immediately identifies the clock distributor and has the chilling realization that the kill
67

The Empty Chair (Lincoln Rhyme, #3)

Jeffery Deaver

4.1
From the bestselling author of The Bone Collector and The Devil's Teardrop comes this spine-chilling new thriller that pits renowned criminalist Lincoln Rhyme against the ultimate opponent -- Amelia Sachs, his own brilliant protégée.

A quadriplegic since a beam crushed his spinal cord years ago, Rhyme is desperate to improve his condition and goes to the University of North Carolina Medical Center
68

Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, #16)

Patricia Cornwell

4.1
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the
69

The Bone Yard (Body Farm, #6)

Jefferson Bass

4.1
At a friend's request, Dr. Bill Brockton is called away from the Body Farm—his human-decomposition research facility at the University of Tennessee—to help prove that a woman's suicide was, in fact, murder. But Brockton's quick consulting trip takes a harrowing detour through the Florida Panhandle when two adolescent skulls are discovered near the ruins of a once-notorious juvenile detention facil
70

Blow Fly (Kay Scarpetta, #12)

Patricia Cornwell

4.1
In Blow Fly, Kay Scarpetta stands at the threshold of a new life after her work as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner has come to a jarring end. At the close of The Last Precinct, she knew she would have to leave Richmond if she were to find any peace. She feared that she was about to be fired by the governor. More alarming, she was hounded in the media and in the courtroom, for what some claimed w
71

Bones: A Forensic Detective's Casebook

Dr. Douglas Ubelaker

4.1
Fascinating, educational, and highly readable, Bones takes readers into the dark world of forensic science.
72

The Last Precinct (Kay Scarpetta, #11)

Patricia Cornwell

4.1
Librarian's Note: This is an alternate-cover edition for ISBN 0751525359

Physically and psychologically bruised by her encounter with the killer Chandonne, Dr Kay Scarpetta has to leave her home in the hands of the police team investigating the attack. She finds shelter with an old friend, Anna Zenner, but it is not the haven of security she needs when she discovers that Anna has been subpoenaed to
The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time book cover73

The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

Maria Konnikova

4.1
Preview Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind, a compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists—and the people who fall for their cons over and over again

While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen—the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs—are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust.
Gordon Tredgold portrait Recommended by Gordon Tredgold.
Inside the Criminal Mind: Revised and Updated Edition book cover74

Inside the Criminal Mind: Revised and Updated Edition

Stanton Samenow

4.1
Long-held myths defining the sources of and cures for crime are shattered in this ground-breaking book--and a chilling profile of today's criminal emerges.
David Canter portrait Recommended by David Canter.
75

The Vanished Man (Lincoln Rhyme, #5)

Jeffery Deaver

4.1
It begins at a prestigious music school in New York City. A killer flees the scene of a homicide and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. When a scream rings out, followed by a gunshot, they break down the door. The room is empty.

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to help with the high-profile investigation and to ferret out a master illusionist
76

No Bone Unturned: The Adventures of a Top Smithsonian Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons

Jeff Benedict

4.1
When he's not at a notorious disaster, Doug Owsley is entering tombs and crypts, unwrapping mummies, or climbing into caves to unlock the secrets of bones.

In No Bone Unturned, investigative journalist Jeff Benedict not only unveils a compelling portrait of the man behind America's most notorious cases but also gives us a fascinating look inside the world of forensic science as seen through the eye
77

The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, and the Beginnings of Modern CSI

Colin Evans

4.1
78

The Twelfth Card: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel

Jeffery Deaver

4.1
A high-school girl in Harlem, Geneva Settle, is the target of a ruthless professional killer—Thompson Boyd—who has been hired to murder her for reasons unknown. His first attempt, in a deserted museum early one morning, is a failure but it’s clear to Lincoln Rhyme that he’s going to strike again, from clues the killer leaves behind, one of which is the twelfth card in the tarot deck, The Hanged Ma
79

Maggots, Murder, and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist

Zakaria Erzinclioglu

4.1
The science of forensic entomology-the application of insect biology to the investigation of crime-is extremely specialized, combining as it does an expert knowledge of entomology with keen powers of observation and deduction. Dr. Erzinclioglu has been a practitioner for over twenty-five years and has been involved in a great number of investigations, including some recent high-profile cases, wher
80

Forensic Psychology for Dummies

David V. Canter, Ian Rankin

4.1
A fascinating guide on the psychology of crime. Thinking of a career that indulges your CSI fantasies? Want to understand the psychology of crime? Whether studying it for the first time or an interested spectator, "Forensic Psychology For Dummies" gives you all the essentials for understanding this exciting field, complemented with fascinating case examples from around the world.

Inside you'll find
David Canter portrait Recommended by David Canter.
81

Predator (Kay Scarpetta, #14)

Patricia Cornwell

4.1
Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, digs into a case more bizarre than any she has ever faced, one that has produced not only unusual physical evidence, but also tantalizing clues about the inner workings of an extremely cunning and criminal mind.

She and her team --- Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy --- track the odd connections between several
82

Trace (Kay Scarpetta, #13)

Patricia Cornwell

4.1
Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing from South Florida, returns to the city that turned its back on her five years ago. Richmond, Virginia's recently appointed chief medical examiner claims that he needs Scarpetta's help to solve a perplexing crime. When she arrives, however, Scarpetta finds that nothing is as she expected: Her former lab is in the final stages of demolition; the inept chief isn't
83

Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers

Michael M.D. Baden, Marion Roach

4.1
For most people, the forensic sciences are something reported on the news when a crime is solved through DNA evidence, or used as a plot twist for television shows. But behind the crime-scene tape and the doors of the morgue is a world never seen by the public. Now famed pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden and award-winning writer Marion Roach take readers into the laboratory, above
The Cases That Haunt Us book cover84

The Cases That Haunt Us

John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker, John Douglas

4.1
Violent. Provocative. Shocking. Call them what you will...but don't call them open and shut. Did Lizzie Borden murder her own father and stepmother? Was Jack the Ripper actually the Duke of Clarence? Who killed JonBenet Ramsey?

America's foremost expert on criminal profiling and twenty-five-year FBI veteran John Douglas, along with author and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, explores those tantalizing ques
85

The Burning Wire (Lincoln Rhyme, #9)

Jeffery Deaver

4.1
Lincoln Rhyme is back, on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear.

The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and his victims are set afire.

When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, red
Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science book cover86

Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science

Richard Saferstein

4.1
For introductory courses in Forensic Science and Crime Scene Investigation
A clear introduction to the technology of the modern crime laboratory for non-scientists
Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, Twelfth Edition, uses clear writing, case stories, and modern technology to capture the pulse and fervor of forensic science investigations. Written for readers with no scientific b
The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy book cover87

The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy

Ann Rule

4.1
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Rule, “America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews), her unforgettable classic account of the horrifying murders in the Pacific Northwest and her shock when she discovered her friend—Ted Bundy—was not only a suspect but also one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.

Meeting in 1971 at a Seattle crisis clinic, Ann Rule and Ted B
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer book cover88

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Michelle McNamara

4.0
A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case.

"You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark."

For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern C
89

Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, #15)

Patricia Cornwell

4.0
Soon after relocating to Charleston, S.C., to launch a private forensics lab, Scarpetta is asked to consult on the murder of U.S. tennis star Drew Martin, whose mutilated body was found in Rome. Contradictory evidence leaves Scarpetta, the Italian carabinieri and Scarpetta's lover, forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, stumped.

But when she discovers unsettling connections between Martin's murder,
90

The Christopher Killer (Forensic Mysteries, #1)

Alane Ferguson

4.0
Fascinated by forensics, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney persuades her father, the county coroner in sleepy Silverton, CO, to take her on as his assistant. But she never expects her first case to involve the death of a friend! Rachel Geller, a beautiful young waitress, is found strangled in a field with a Christopher medal around her neck—clearly marking her as the fourth victim of a serial kil
The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals book cover91

The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals

John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker

4.0
From legendary FBI profiler John Douglas and Mark Olshaker -- authors of the nonfiction international bestsellers Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession -- comes an unprecedented, insightful look at the root of all crime.

Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. With the brilliant insight he brought to his renowned work inside the FBI's elite serial-crime unit, John Doug
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory book cover92

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

Caitlin Doughty

4.0
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased.
Morgue: A Life in Death book cover93

Morgue: A Life in Death

Dr. Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscell

4.0
In this clear-eyed, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Dr. Vincent DiMaio and veteran crime writer Ron Franscell guide us behind the morgue doors to tell a fascinating life story through the cases that have made Di Maio famous-from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to the complex issues in the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Beginning with his street-smart Italian origins in
94

The Bone Garden

Tess Gerritsen

4.0
Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. But whoever this nameless woman was, and whatever befell her, is knowledge lost to another time. . . .

Boston, 1830: I
95

Flesh and Blood (Kay Scarpetta, #22)

Patricia Cornwell

4.0
It's a sunny morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also Dr. Kay Scarpetta's birthday. She's about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI-profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their home. Is this a kids' game? And if so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted?

Her cell phone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tell
96

Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dexter, #1)

Jeff Lindsay and Random House Audi

4.0
Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep's clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He's a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a seri
97

Blood Secrets: A Forensic Expert Reveals How Blood Spatter Tells the Crime Scene's Story

Rod Englert, Kathy Passero, Ann Rule

4.0

Blood Secrets reveals how forensic experts read the story of a murder told in the traces of blood left behind, providing crucial evidence that has helped convict criminals who might have otherwise walked free.

When Rod Englert began his career in law enforcement, virtually no police force in the world knew how to correctly examine blood spatter. He spent years studying and testing how blood behave

98

A Murderous Procession (Mistress of the Art of Death, #4)

Ariana Franklin

4.0
Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity . . . an
99

Hidden Evidence: 40 True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them

David Owen, Thomas Noguchi MD, Kathy Reichs

4.0

Hidden Evidence takes you to the scenes of 40 infamous crimes and into the heart of the forensic investigations. These are the true crime shockers that have grabbed headlines and aroused public passions. David Owen explains the scientific procedures that helped crack every one of these cases -- from the gathering of elusive physical clues to the examination of weapons and bodies, to the use of so

100

Grave Goods (Mistress of the Art of Death, #3)

Ariana Franklin

4.0
Combining the best of modern forensic thrillers with the drama of medieval fiction, New York Times' bestselling author Ariana Franklin returns with the third title in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.

England, 1176. Beautiful, tranquil Glastonbury Abbey—one of England's holiest sites, and believed by some to be King Arthur's sacred Isle of Avalon—has been burned almost to the ground. The ar