The Science of Murder, Carla Valentine
The Science of Murder, Carla Valentine
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Science of Murder
The Forensics of Agatha Christie

Author: Carla Valentine

Narrator: Helen Langford

Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/31/2022


Synopsis

Discover the science of forensics through Agatha Christie's novels

Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one—or, more commonly, several—dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put the pieces together to solve the mystery invite the reader to analyze the evidence and race to find the answer before the detective does. Nearly every step of the way, Christie outlines the nuts and bolts of early twentieth-century crime detection, relying on physical evidence to tell the real story behind the facades humans erect to escape detection.

Christie wouldn't have talked of "forensics" as it is understood today—most of her work predates the modern developments of forensics science—but in each tale she harnesses the power of human observation, ingenuity, and scientific developments of the era. A fascinating, science-based deep dive, The Science of Murder examines the use of fingerprints, firearms, handwriting, blood spatter analysis, toxicology, and more in Christie's beloved works.

About Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine has a certificate and diploma in Anatomical Pathology Technology and, during her eight-year mortuary career, continued her professional development by studying forensic anthropology at military college and taking part in skeletal excavations in Belgium and Venice. She writes and researches themes around sex and death on her blog entitled The Chick and the Dead. She also runs a dating and networking site for death professionals called Dead Meet. She lives in the U.K.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Megan on March 18, 2024

reading vlog: [URL not allowed] 3.5 stars. super interesting especially for my niche interests - just felt like the writing itself was lacking a bit!......more

Goodreads review by Bandit on March 17, 2022

It’s been much too long since my forensic science class. I’m a huge Agatha Christie fan. I love mysteries. There were so many reasons to select this book from Netgalley, and I’m glad to have read it AND I liked it as much as I figured I would. Some people have jobs, and some people have vocations. C......more

Goodreads review by Taylor on June 09, 2022

Can’t lie, I skimmed the fuck out of this. I really wanted it to be more interesting than it was, but oh boy, she read like an academic dissertation! Brought back fond memories of the frantic overnight I pulled trying to finish my own thesis on Virginia Woolf, feminism, and phenomenology. In short:......more

Goodreads review by Eva on January 29, 2022

Good things first: it's obvious the author is very passionate about both Agatha Christie's work and her own job as a mortician, and that excitement comes through in the book. Unfortunately, I really didn't like the writing. Having previously read both Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and Mor......more