Murder and the Making of English CSI

This informative study will no doubt attract a varied readership, including many of my undergraduates who are addicted to CSI television programs. They will be impressed by the book's thorough chronicling of modern forensics.

It is the noteworthy achievement of Murder and the Making of English CSI that readers will realize there was nothing linear in the professionalization of crime scene detection. It is instead the story of strong personalities, opportunistic career moves, and the challenging effort undertaken to integrate the celebrity pathologist into a police team in the effort to uncover the most recondite traces of crime.

Burney and Pemberton have produced an effectively illustrated (there are nearly 40 images), engaging and persuasive analysis which should become required reading for anyone interested in the history of twentieth-century forensic practice.

Out of some pretty gruesome parts, Burney and Pemberton have assembled a remarkably elegant account of the making of modern murder investigation. Their analysis combines scholarly sophistication with a clarity of prose that entertains, informs, and surprises. Murder and the Making of English CSI brims with insight about the historical path that led to our forensic present.

Burney and Pemberton trace the transition of the forensic pathologist from the sole embodiment of truth to the team approach of modern crime scene investigation. Spellbinding cases illustrate the development of modern techniques of English forensic science and the waning authority of the English forensic pathologist. In a post-DNA world, the autopsy and crime scene are not forgotten and are neglected only at the risk of justice itself.

For all the talk about ‘CSI’ these days, there is very little history of it. This nuanced and fascinating history of English crime scene reconstruction has an uncanny prescience for today's debates about how to manage crime scene evidence.

An accessible and thought-provoking history of English crime scene investigation. A must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the past, present, and future of reading a crime scene.

This disturbing, powerful, and beautifully crafted book shows us how CSI has gained its iconic place in modern murders. Taking us deep into the grisly world of the crime scene, the mortuary, the laboratory, and the courtroom, the authors explain that forensic science, far from simply discovering truth, produces knowledge grounded in contingent and changing concepts, techniques, and institutions.

In a world where the science of DNA appears to be squeezing out the other specialities, here is the unsqueezed history of extraordinary scientific discovery. A dazzling account of the evolution of crime scene and its management, Murder and the Making of English CSI is a full-on drama of scientific ingenuity and invention where CSI meets historical thriller.