Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection (Paperback)

by Jon J. Nordby Ph.D. (Author) "Dead body found" means a long night for everyone including my wife..." (more)
Key Phrases: black jumper cable, day parole, critical logic, Gary Homberg, Sherlock Holmes, Sharon Jacobson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection is an innovative educational tool for forensic scientists. Dr. Jon Nordby's case presentations are as fascinating as they are informative. The author's extensive background in forensic scientific investigation provides an excellent vehicle for the presentation of a captivating admixture of practical experience and technical knowledge.
-Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D., Coroner of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, and Past President, American Academy of Forensic Sciences

Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection is an innovative educational tool for forensic scientists. Dr. Jon Nordbys case presentations are as fascinating as they are informative. The authors extensive background in forensic scientific investigation provides an excellent vehicle for the presentation of a captivating admixture of practical experience and technical knowledge.
-Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D., Coroner of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, and Past President, American Academy of Forensic Sciences

…it is the analytical critical thinking set forth in this volume that is missing from the regimen to which most investigators are exposed … This book is highly recommended … The author of this book knows his stuff and he knows how to present it …
-Frank Horvath, Ph.D. in Journal of Forensic Sciences

…it is the analytical critical thinking set forth in this volume that is missing from the regimen to which most investigators are exposed … This book is highly recommended … The author of this book knows his stuff and he knows how to present it …
-Frank Horvath, Ph.D. in Journal of Forensic Sciences

Product Description
Her Brentwood home became a hotbed for homicide. But in the wake of intense public and media attention, one saliant and hard truth was often overlooked: the murder of Nicole Brown-Simpson, while brutal and heinous in its form, was just one of thousands of homicides committed during that same year. Most escaped the scrutiny of public interest. Many never made it to trial, and still others were dismissed as natural deaths-perfect crimes that remain forever unsolved. How, then, do investigators solve a murder when the trail goes cold?Like mariners navigating without landmarks under a starless night sky-lacking a reliable witness or smoking gun-they plot their course through the clues by applying their own style of Dead Reckoning, reconstructing the crime by disciplined observation, careful reasoning, and experience.Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection examines the applications of logic and science to decipher chaotic death scenes and difficult cases, and to derive orderly explanations from their jumbled clues. The 10 case studies in this book illustrate the powers of observation exercised in reading the signs, identifying them as clues, and reasoning from them to the best explanation.For investigators, as well as forensic pathologists, coroners, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection stresses the importance of trusting your own observations even in the wake of contradictory evidence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: CRC; 1 edition (December 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849381223
• ISBN-13: 978-0849381225
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #711,631 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection, April 21, 2000

By	James A. Bailey (Wilmington, NC) - See all my reviews

Dead Reckoning is a collection of modern-day true crime cases that are equivalent to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes crime stories of the Victorian era. Nordby effectively employs the science of deductive reasoning and critical thinking to descriptively capture and recreate the details surrounding a diverse collection of crimes. Crime scene techniques are so well described, the scenes come alive in the mind's eye in each chapter. Cleverly woven into each case are vivid intricacies of specialized disciplines such as medicine, pathology, anthropology, histology, or entomology. This book is versatile enough to appeal to scholars of logic, crime scene investigation, creative writers, and even the novice reader of nonfiction as well as fictional crime stories. It could easily be used as a supplemental text in many academic disciplines. As a skilled forensic investigator, the author creatively shares an inside view in his book into a macabre world many people cannot even begin to imagine.