18 TINY DEATHS

Sub-titled 'The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics', Lee once said 'The goal of forensic investigation is to convict the guilty, clear the innocent and find the truth in a nutshell.' This is a beguiling book about science and crime investigation and a grandmother with a college degree. Frances Glessner Lee addresses the young men attending her seminar at Harvard Medical School. She created 'The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death', a series of dollhouse-sized crime scene dioramas depicting the facts of actual cases in exquisitely minute detail. Celebrated the world over by scientists, artists and miniaturists, these macabre scenes were used to hone the homicide detective's gaze, teaching the investigator to question the scene they were presented with. Lee's decades-long obsession with advancing the discipline of forensic science was a hard-fought battle in a time when many prestigious medical schools were closed to female students and women discouraged from entering the scientific professions. Lee used her powerful social skills, family wealth and uncompromising dedication to revolutionise a field that was usually political, often corrupt and always deeply rooted in the primal human fear of death. We are transported back to an era and the life of one woman who changed crime scene investigation forever. Colour photos of the dioramas like the kitchen scene with fresh bread from the oven and potatoes peeled in the sink (see page 256 for murder details) plus archive mono photos. 303pp.