Physical Evidence

Dr. Eric Parker #2

by Thomas T. Noguchi, Arthur Lyons

Forensic investigator Dr. Eric Parker probes the death of elderly June Wechsler, whose remains are stored in a strange cryogenic lab, while searching for an overlooked piece of forensic evidence needed to convict a serial killer

271 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 1990

About the author

Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi is a Board Certified Forensic Pathologist and was the Chief
Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles for many years.

Reviews

[Aiden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture yourself in Dr. Parker’s shoes, a forensic investigator staring down at the corpse trying to figure out just what did happen? In Physical Evidence, the plot captures moments of a forensic investigators job, from the lab to the classroom, and even to the courtroom. This book was written by Thomas Noguchi and Arthur Lyons in 1990.
Thomas Noguchi has real life experience in the field which this book is written, though the book is fictional. He was a former chief medical examiner in Los Angeles County. He worked on cases including death of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F Kennedy, and Janis Joplin. He is also currently the professor of forensic pathology at LA-USC Medical center.
The main case in this story involves the suspicious death of Mrs. Wechsler. Her body was sent to Freeze Time, for cryonics by her son. Her daughter Leah was not notified of this and wants answers, and thus calls upon Dr. Parker. The doctor that pronounced Mrs. Wechsler dead was Dr. Katsilometes, who has had multiple malpractice cases filed against him. So was the woman’s death really as natural as it seems?
In my opinion this book does a fair job of getting the story across but you have to be patient to read this book, as at points it gets dry and boring to read. I feel the book is dragged out and takes a while to get to the plot. It also jumps around a lot, going from different cases to Dr. Parker’s personal life, making it very hard to keep the story in line. Overall this book is definitely an interesting read if you are a person that’s into more of a CSI/Mystery type of genre.

[Cavak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry at times, but it does capture the actual trials faced by all forensic investigators with magnificent pacing and drama. Both in the lab, in the classrooms, and in the courtroom. With accuracy too, I imagine. Except for when fiction took over for some punch line. The law being unable to act without just cause was a wonderful addition too, since it did reign back the cowboy antics a tad. A part of me wants to shine parts of this book onto every TV crime drama and say, "This is how it's done!"

On the other hand, the detective part of "forensic detective" sorta lost me. Parker is like a cowboy version of Noguchi. Or a fantasy version of him, maybe. He gets away with so many things that no medical examiner could in real life. Parker's hastiness and anger were grating at times to me. And the gloating by the perpetrator had whiffs of that Scooby Doo line, "And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" We get the Hollywood stunts too often, it creates a disconnect with the somewhat realistic medical examinations. I think the balance was a little off.

Physical Evidence left me with an interest in more medical and courtroom fiction (or nonfiction). The crime parts could have been strengthened here and there, and a few of the action scenes could have been cut to add more to the fascinating deductions. Would be nice if there were more of Parker in the future.

[Cathy Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting plot a real page turner but the central character is one diminsunal

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story, with good characters and good dialogue. I'm not a big fan of CSI-type details, but they were well done in this book, with not too much "tech talk", and they were central to the plot. The pace of the story was very brisk, making this a good summer/beach/page-turner kind of novel.

[Charlene Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok but not as good as it could have been. Read in2011

[Lawanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook narrated by George Guidall. Maybe a 3.5 in APRIL 2025.