I purchased this book for my own personal collection.
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: May 31, 2022
Summary:
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 20th-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.
My thoughts:
I am on a big Agatha Christie kick and when I saw this book, I couldn’t resist picking it up. To be able to get an understanding of the forensics behind the murders in Agatha Christie’s books just sounded so fascinating.
I have loved the books I’ve read by Agatha Christie, but after reading this book, I definitely want to go back and reread those and then continue to read all her others. Ideally I would love to read her books in the order she wrote them in so I can see how she progressed in terms of the knowledge she had when it came to crimes. There are so many teasers, though not spoilers, in this book about how Agatha Christie used her knowledge of all things forensics to write her books. And not only that, but also how she used famous crimes of the time to inform her writing.
This was such an engaging yet informative read. It has that true-crime feel which I loved. The writing was witty and funny, and I found myself flying through it which is not typically how I read nonfiction. I definitely see myself referring back to this one time and again, especially as I make my way through more Agatha Christie books. If you are an Agatha Christie fan, or a fan of true crime or murder mysteries, I definitely recommend this one!
