January 15, 2011

Imagine the investigators on CSI working without the modern tools of forensics: no DNA, no ballistics lab, not even a basic knowledge of putrefaction to establish time of death. Until just over a century ago, there was no organized study of forensic science and autopsies were likely to happen on a victim’s kitchen table, if they happened at all. In his latest book, Starr, a veteran journalist, traces the beginnings of criminal science, a fascinating history made all the more compelling by the interwoven story of 19th century French serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known as the Killer of Little Shepherds.