American Sherlock : murder, forensics, and the birth of American CSI / Kate Winkler Dawson.
Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities--beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners, and hundreds upon hundreds of books--sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least two thousand cases in his forty-year career. Known as the "American Sherlock Holmes," Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest--and first--forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural. Heinrich was one of the nation's first expert witnesses, working in a time when the turmoil of Prohibition led to sensationalized crime reporting and only a small, systematic study of evidence. However with his brilliance, and commanding presence in both the courtroom and at crime scenes, Heinrich spearheaded the invention of a myriad of new forensic tools that police still use today, including blood spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests, and the use of fingerprints as courtroom evidence. His work, though not without its serious--some would say fatal--flaws, changed the course of American criminal investigation. Based on years of research and thousands of never-before-published primary source materials, American Sherlock captures the life of the man who pioneered the science our legal system now relies upon--as well as the limits of those techniques and the very human experts who wield them.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780525539551
- ISBN: 0525539557
- Physical Description: 325 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Publisher: New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, [2020]
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Prologue: tales from the archive: pistols, jawbones, and love poetry -- A bloody mess: the case of Allene Lamson's bath, part I -- Genius: the case of Oscar Heinrich's demons -- Heathen: the case of the Baker's handwriting, part I -- Pioneer: the case of the Baker's handwriting, part II -- Damnation: the case of the star's fingerprints, part I -- Indignation: the case of the star's fingerprints, part II -- Double 13: the case of the great train heist -- Bad chemistry: the case of the calculating chemist -- Bits and pieces: the case of Bessie Ferguson's ear -- Triggered: the case of Marty Colwell's gun -- Damned: the case of Allene Lamson's Bath, part II. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Heinrich, Edward Oscar, 1881-1953. Criminologists > United States > Biography. Forensic sciences > United States > History. |
Genre: | History. Biographies. |
Available copies
- 25 of 26 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Henry County Library System.
Holds
- 8 current holds with 26 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Henry County - Main Library | 363 .25 092 DAWSON KATE (Text) | I0000000280914 | Non-Fiction | Available | - |