For the CSI buffs among us

This book is the second by Tobin T. Buhk and Stephen D. Cohle, MD. The title is Skeletons in the closet : stories from the county morgue, and it is published by Prometheus Books. If you ever wanted to know whether the CSI television shows are realistic or not, read this book and the first one too, by the authors above.

Well written, fascinating, and a good explanation of the science of figuring out what happened to the bodies, why sometimes you can't tell whether the method of death was natural or foul. It also explains how they figure things out; such as with the Rainbow Farm shootings, in which two men died. Did they threaten the police officers or not, and was the killing justifiable due to the threat? It is all explained in the book, so read the book to find out! I was also particularly interested in the finding of a woman's body in Pigeon Lake. The science used there to find out where she came from & who she was is very interesting.

What's really neat about this particular book is that they show you the inside story on some of the more notorious crimes in Michigan, as well as talking about some of the more obscure ones. I will admit that if you're squeamish or don't like reading about autopsies, you probably will not like this book. I did have to turn over a few pages because I couldn't read them. The photographs in the middle of the book, while not of the actual victims in the book, are a bit disturbing. Some of the photos are of the landscape, rather than of the bodies themselves & those were interesting. Well worth seeking out & if you have a chance to hear the authors speak, do take advantage of it.