Literature, Forensic Science In

Literature, Forensic Science In

People have always been fascinated by detective fiction. Reading a well-written thriller or crime story can be a satisfying experience and, in many books, the details of forensic investigation can drive the narrative along and add drama to the plot. It can also be educational in explaining the role of science in solving a crime. Forensic laboratories and crime scenes can help create an atmosphere that will keep the reader involved. Some great investigator heroes and heroines have emerged from the detective genre, from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes to Kathy Reichs's Dr. Temperance Brennan. They have different styles and approaches but they always solve the crime.

Sherlock Holmes, the private investigator created by the Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), is probably the most famous hero in detective fiction. Holmes was inspired by one of Conan Doyle's teachers at medical school, Joseph Bell, who always emphasized the importance of observation in making a diagnosis, advice that is equally applicable to forensic investigation. Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and four short novels between 1887 and 1927. They are still in print today.

Holmes endures, while the exploits of some of the later fictional detective heroes have long been forgotten. Maybe Holmes continues to fascinate us because of his scientific approach to solving crime. Britain's Royal Society of Chemistry even made him their first fictional Fellow in 2002 to mark the way he used chemistry in his investigations and sparked people's interest in the subject. Holmes was always something of an academic; he explored the use of tobacco ash, the shapes of ears, the dating of documents, tattoos, and footprints as clues. These are all used today as evidence in modern forensic investigation.

The first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887. Here Holmes meets Dr. Watson, who is to become his assistant, for the first time. They talk of a test that can detect human blood with a sensitivity of one part blood to one million parts water. This was several years before the discovery of a test that could identify human blood and even longer before the routine use of luminol , a chemical that detects invisible blood by turning it bright green, at crime scenes. Another Holmes novel, The Sign of Four, published in 1890, refers to many forensic techniques including soil identification and the toxicology analysis of alkaloids on a poisoned dart. There is still much to learn from Holmes about forensic science , and many of the techniques he utilized came into use and are applicable today.

The figure of the gentleman private detective persisted with Lord Peter Wimsey, the creation of the English writer Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957). The classic novel The Documents in the Case features forensic botany and chemistry. It depicts a death wherein the victim was first thought to have died by eating a poisonous mushroom mistaken for a nonpoisonous species. However, analysis of the residue of a mushroom stew reveals that muscarine, the active ingredient of the poisonous mushroom Amanita muscaria, is in the synthetic rather than the natural form, meaning the poison had to have been added by the perpetrator.

Death by arsenic poisoning is very common in crime fiction, much less so in modern life. In Sayers's novel Strong Poison, the villain tries to build up his tolerance to the poison by taking small, increasing, doses. This enables him to share an arsenic-laced omelet with his victim, Philip Boyes. The poison has little effect on the perpetrator but Lord Peter is able to discover the presence of arsenic in his nails and hair.

A Sayers short story, In the Teeth of the Evidence, features forensic odontology , the study of the structure and development of teeth. Lord Peter works with a dentist friend in the investigation of a concealed murder by looking at the teeth of the dead man and comparing them to his supposed dental records. The chart shows a fused porcelain filling done in 1923, but examination of the corpse reveals a filling material first used in 1928. The establishment of true identity hinges on the dental evidence, the rest having been destroyed in a fire, and leads to the arrest of the perpetrator.

In more recent times, there has been a clear shift towards the more professional kind of forensic hero. One popular example is Adam Dalgliesh, the hero of English author P. D. James's detective mysteries. Dalgliesh writes poetry, which perhaps gives him a flavor of earlier gentleman heroes. Of the several novels featuring Dalgliesh, perhaps one of the most compelling is Death of an Expert Witness. It is actually set in a forensic laboratory where, as the title suggests, the victim is a scientist. The book contains many examples of how forensic science is used in investigations and draws on the author's own experience in the Department of Home Affairs, working in the criminal and police departments.

Other modern crime writers feature the forensic scientist as protagonist. Perhaps the best known is Kay Scarpetta, the heroine in many novels by the American author Patricia Cornwell . Scarpetta is a medical examiner in Richmond, Virginia, and the novels draw on Cornwell's own experience of working in a medical examiner's office. In Body of Evidence (1991), many forensic techniques are on display as integral parts of the plot. A major character called Benton Wesley shows how to use psychological profiling to catch a perpetrator. There is also a detailed discussion on fiber analysis including how evidence is collected and its examination on a stereomicroscope.

Another Cornwell novel, Post Mortem (1990), discusses the latest techniques for gathering evidence at the scene of a crime. An autopsy description involves the use of a laser to find fingerprints on skin that could identify a perpetrator. There are also laboratory scenes involving blood grouping, DNA analysis, protein analysis, and other biochemical techniques. Scarpetta is a sympathetic personality, so the exposition of forensic science from her viewpoint is sure to engage the reader.

Another modern detective character in literature is Kathy Reichs's Dr. Temperance Brennan, who is a forensic anthropologist. The author is herself a forensic anthropologist with an international reputation working in the locations she describes, so her work feels authentic and teaches much about how crime investigation is actually carried out. In recent books such as Bare Bones and Monday Mourning there is much detail about the work of an expert witness, the dating of bones, wildlife forensics , and the discovery of the cause of death . There's an irony in the name, for Tempe, as she is known, is a recovering alcoholic. Therefore, a heroine is shown who, although an expert, is somewhat vulnerable. Another newcomer on the forensic science fiction scene is Tess Gerritsen, a writer of medical thrillers, whose medical examiner character Dr. Maura Isles autopsies her twin sister in Body Double. The story hinges on serology , the study of serums, and DNA evidence. As in Reichs's books, the heroine is also put at risk, a development that is a long way from the Holmes books, where the protagonist stays aloof from the action.

Karin Slaughter is another contemporary author working in the forensic investigation field. She writes about Dr. Sara Linton, who is a pediatrician working as a medical examiner, and about Linton's relationship with a police officer and the investigations they carry out together. In Blindsight there is a detailed description of bullet track analysis in a killing and of an old rape case.

The English crime writer Ruth Rendell writes from the point of view of the criminal, except in the Inspector Wexford novels where she writes about the police and the investigators. The novel Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, written in 2001, makes an interesting point about both psychology and forensic investigation. The killer, a woman called Minty, suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. She washes frequently and cleans up everything around her all the time. When she goes to the movies with her victim, she leaves no trace evidence behind after she stabs him to death, much to the frustration of the forensic investigators.

A novel drawing on forensic science is, of course, far more satisfying if the detail is there, and if it is correct. Authors who have worked in the forensic field, like Kathy Reichs, are naturally authentic. Many other authors want to write about crime and need to include forensic detail. Often they will consult a Web site organized by a forensic professional wanting to help writers. One such site is run by Douglas Lyle, a physician experienced in forensic work and also a writer of fiction. He maintains a Web site where he answers writers' questions and helps their work seem more believable.

see also Film (forensic science in cinema).