Before the 1980s, when Luminol found its footing in policing, a murderer merely had to clean well to transform a bloody scene of homicide into the very picture of domestic calm. Luminol changed that. Bleach blurs Luminol’s traces, and you can never really be certain that you’ve gotten every splat of blood, and even the miasmic haze of bleach can alert law enforcement to the fact that you’ve cleaned too aggressively and make them wonder about your motives. A little Lysol, a jug of Clorox, and getting away with murder was easy before the days of DNA and Luminol; these days, even Mr. Clean will
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