Solving Crimes with Trace Evidence

David West Children's Books - Graphic Forensic Science

by Peter Richardson (Illustrator), Gary Jeffrey

Describes how pieces of trace evidence, including fingerprints, fibers, and blood, are used to help solve criminal investigations, and includes three case studies in graphic novel format that used the processing of trace evidence.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Ben Comeau]

Solving Crimes with Trace Evidence is a graphic novel that is divided into information on types of forensic evidence used today, and then a short story that exemplifies how it is used in the real world. The types of evidence mentioned includes fingerprints, blood, hair, and basically anything else that can be secreted from the human body. The stories that follow include tales from the Scotland Yard along with NYPD detective stories. There are two art styles, the first is actual photographs when the comic is describing the type of evidence used. Then there is cartoon art that goes along with the stories that use that type of evidence. I found this graphic novel very informative and fun to read. I also thought the way that it was organized was very clever. If there is any overall theme to this comic, it would be that crime is a lot harder to complete nowadays then it used to be because of this new forensic technology. This isn’t clearly expressed in the novel since it is mostly informative but that’s what I would take away from it.

[katyjanereads]

1. I didn't know the study of blood evidence is called serology. And I didn't know the study of fingerprints was dactyloscopy.
2. Interesting tidbit about Fransisca Rojas being the first person found guilty by fingerprint evidence in 1892.
3. Animal DNA. So interesting.