Как нашли убийцу? Каждое тело оставляет след

by Patricia Wiltshire, Патриция Уилтшир, Иван Чорный (Translator)

Мир окружающей природы всегда хранит следы нашего присутствия, являясь безмолвным свидетелем событий и происшествий, в том числе и самых страшных. Книга Патриции Уилтшир, первоклассного судебного эколога, проведет вас по сумрачной заболоченной пустоши в поисках спрятанного тела и даже заведет в жуткую квартирку, где пропитанные кровью ковры помогут определить время смерти жертвы. Это удивительная история университетского профессора и одного из самых востребованных в мире консультантов. Вы удивитесь, как много растения, пыль или следы на проселочной дороге могут сказать об обстоятельствах преступления человеку, чья работа — разгадывать головоломки, скрывающиеся в недрах леса и земли, в складках одежды и на ветвях деревьев.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, True Crime, Memoir, Crime, Audiobook, Death

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[Petra X]

UpdateIt is a fascinating idea that by studying the pollen on a person or item, the location of a crime can be identified. Unfortunately pollen in itself is not interesting. Not even, when excited as the author might be, it's got fungi spores on too!
__________

Last year I really enjoyed Traces: The Memoir of a Forensic Scientist and Criminal Investigator (still awaiting a proper review since all I did was a kind of anecdote thing), so when I saw this, and being on a forensic kick, pathologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, I thought this will help me forget the waste of time that Vital Signs: Heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious stories of a junior doctor's first year was.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

The Nature of Life and Death is a mish mash of autobiography, science, and true crime following the life and career of Patricia Wiltshire from college professor to forensic ecologist.  Wiltshire has helped police solve numerous crimes with the help of nature.  Plants, animals, and pollen have all been key in locating corpses and exonerating innocent people. Her accuracy has been so astonishing its made her one of the most in-demand police consultants in the world.

Sounds compelling, right?  Unfortunately this book could not hold my attention.  It jumped around in time and exciting stories would grin to a halt for massive info dumps.  Pollen suddenly became super exciting for me until five pages later I was bored to tears.  Needless to say I ended up doing a lot of skimming.

The information is fascinating but its delivery is lacking.  I enjoyed learning the author's personal history which is randomly sprinkled throughout.  The cases she discussed are all interesting --- until entire pages were spent describing the act of stooping over a microscope for hours at a time to analyze a pollen spore.  I understand her curiosity and need for accuracy but I would've appreciated a breakdown of the process for the average person in a conversational way rather than a student lecture.

I'd probably attend a lecture by the author because her story is genuinely fascinating, but this book was all over the place for me.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and Edelweiss for providing a DRC in exchange for my honest review. The Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace is scheduled for release on September 3, 2019.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I think of myself first and foremost as a forensic ecologist, one who utilizes and interprets aspects of the natural world to aid detectives in their business of solving crime."

Absolutely, fascinating!! Loved learning about forensic ecology and the processes used to unconventionally solve crimes. I also throughly enjoyed listening to the author read her own story, highly recommended!

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is its cover.

I’m not joking or trying to seem clever: it’s the truth.

This book is written in a dry, factually correct, and sadly not-very-well edited way. The writer must be expert at what she does; I’m even convinced that she possesses skills that have affected her profession.

Sadly, being able to ride a horse does not mean one should be a horse-race commentator.

This is one of the first pieces in the book:

I am not frightened of dead bodies. To me, corpses have ceased to be people; they are repositories of information where nature has left clues that we might follow. Very few times in my career have I let my guard down and been affected by the cadavers in the mortuary.

The first was a 22-year-old prostitute found dead in a wood, leaving three children behind. I was deeply sad for that girl, not because she was dead, but because of all she had suffered. She had been rejected by her parents at 16 and forced to make her own way. She became insidiously controlled by a pimp who purposefully made her addicted to cocaine and then put her to work to support him and her drug habit. She bore three children, not knowing the identity of any of the fathers, but she would not give them up and her scrawny, scruffy little body bore testament to its neglect as she serviced men so that she could keep her children and cope with the rest of her existence. I cried over that girl as she lay exposed and cold on the stainless steel surface of the mortuary table, not because she was dead, but for all the struggle and misery she had suffered in her pathetic existence, while keeping steadfast in her loyalty to her children. I so admired her for that.

There’s a lot of morality thrown into Wiltshire’s musings. Taut sentences give very little leeway to expanse in thought or literary structure, which sadly puts a tight lid on what this book could be. A good editor might have turned that around, I believe.

The good bits, then, are actually quite a few. Wiltshire points to the fact that she is an expert palynologist—somebody who analyses pollen grains and other spores—and has been one for decades; there’s plenty of evidence of this, and she is not afraid to tell of how she was once a novice in the criminal-cum-palynological field:

So much has been on a steep learning curve. The chassis elements of vehicles vary greatly, but I now know the most likely nooks and crannies that might collect relevant evidence. Back then I knew nothing—I had never even seen the underneath of any motorized vehicle, certainly not at first hand with my face about five centimeters from the oily, grimy metal of the various pipes and struts. I soon came to realize that I would just have to do my best and, by trial and error, find the best way to sample these things. I was used to scrubbing the dirt from various artifacts to find out what they had contained. Could this be so dissimilar?

So, I just used my common sense; I started with the most easily removed items and asked that they be brought to me—footwell mats, pedals, bumper, air filters and radiator. Initially, I ignored the wheels because they could have picked up material from a multitude of places. On the other hand, the inside of the car would contain mostly material that was transferred to it from people’s feet, and the objects they carried in it. Simple logic guided me and, in any case, if I were wrong, the rest of the car would still be in the garage and could be resampled.

There’s a lot of old-person’s ponderings littering the book:

When I look back on our sheer freedom, I can only feel sad for today’s children who are packaged and sealed up, their flights of fancy being satisfied by electronic wizardry. I marvel at how young we were, how far we wandered unsupervised, how nobody felt the need to walk us to and from school—and how entirely normal that kind of free, wild life was compared to today.

Other times, her terse sentences work well:

The girl had been missing for almost a year when, in the dying days of summer 2001, she was discovered in an excavated depression on the borders of a Yorkshire forestry plantation. She was still wrapped in the duvet which her killer had hastily put around her body. Not yet 15 years old when she had vanished, her disappearance on the way home after a shopping trip with friends had sparked one of the largest missing person’s operations in the history of Yorkshire policing. Two hundred officers and hundreds of volunteers had fanned out through the streets and along the bus route she took home, knocking on thousands of doors, searching 800 houses, sheds, garages and outbuildings. Search warrants were issued, 140 men with past convictions investigated, collections of household waste curtailed while refuse sites were searched—and a local benefactor even offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to her return. But none of it mattered: she would never return home.

She can be funny and disgusting at the same time, bless:

While I was preparing my samples, a voice called out across the mortuary. “I’m sure you’d like some lunch, wouldn’t you, Pat?” I looked around and there was the friendly face of the Senior Investigating Officer who had called me into the case. “Oh, yes please,” I answered. When we got to the staff refectory, there was little choice because I had taken so long in sampling the body. “What would you like, Pat?” I was too tired to bother and, to be honest, I really did not feel all that hungry anyway. But, I had a long drive back south and needed to have something to keep me going. “Why don’t you choose for me?” I said. “Anything that doesn’t have meat, please . . .”

Moments later, he returned with a laden tray and started placing the plates on the table. I looked, smelled and immediately felt nauseous. It was cauliflower cheese, a dish I usually relish, but it smelled of butyric acid, with a whiff of hydrogen sulfide; in short, it smelled of the corpse. The color was of flesh in livor mortis, with slightly gray tinges at the edges of what looked like bits of brain. Well, of course it did—butyric acid came from the cheese and the sulfur compound from the cauliflower.

The cabbage family, which includes the cauliflower, produces many sulfur compounds and I suppose this is why some people hate cabbage, cauliflower and sprouts. Butyric acid is formed by bacterial fermentation, and the bacteria involved in cheese?making are the same ones involved in both corpse decomposition and the smell of sweaty feet. I tried to be objective but, as I tried to eat my meal, it was coming up as it was going down. I mentally slapped my own face and could imagine my grandmother saying, “Stop whingeing and get on with it!”

So that’s what I did. Clutching my precious bag of samples and equipment, I set off on the long drive south. It took over seven hours because of all sorts of hold-ups on the motorways. I eventually got home, flopped down in front of the TV at about 1:00am with my darling Mickey, my one?eyed, silky, Burmese cat, on my lap. I was next conscious at 4:30am with a crick in my neck, and Mickey’s whiskers tickling my cheek. The discordant music of some ridiculous horror film was screeching away on the TV. I switched it off, Mickey still in my arms, and we both went up to bed, not waking until about 10:00am the next morning.

It’s always obvious to me that the person who’s written this book teaches in some capacity:

Soon after your blood ceases to flow, your body will cool until it reaches the ambient temperature of the place where you died. These environmental conditions will have a significant bearing on what is to come. The blood in your capillaries and veins, no longer being pumped around by the beating of your heart, will settle and pool, leading to the first discolouration of your skin, a phase called livor mortis, and, after that, your muscles will inevitably stiffen, first in the face and then in the entire body, as your muscle filaments begin to bind together. This is the phase referred to as rigor mortis.

Wiltshire writes a bit about her seemingly acrimonious divorce from her husband, about visiting the world-famous Body Farm, different exciting/weird deaths that she’s investigated for police… It’s a few different twists and turns, and I wish that I could say it differently, but this book really does need to be edited.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have been WAY better if someone else had written it for her. I forgave her for the overly in depth descriptions of pollens but she had a weird thing about “kids these days” and the part where she went to Albania gave me a really bad, xenophobic vibe. Overall, it was fine but I wouldn’t want to hang out with Pat.

[Bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy in exchange for a review. The thoughts in this review are one hundred percent genuine and my own.

“We all leave our marks on the environment, but the environment leaves its marks on us too...”

This isn’t a book about Patricia’s life nor is it a textbook, but rather a journey into the world in which she works in daily.

My first thoughts weren’t bad. As an artist, the contrasting colors on the cover and the minimalism is what attracted me to want to read it and enter the Goodreads giveaway for it. I think it’s a great option for the cover. Patricia does a really good job of describing the crime scenes in the opening chapter. It made me feel like I was actually there.

I really loved learning all about forensic ecology in depth. I’ve always been interested in forensics and I love all things crime related. It was also really refreshing to learn what actually goes into forensic ecology - the long hours and eye strains that go into it. After reading, I don’t think I’d personally be able to have a job in forensics.

By measuring the molds that are on a cadavers skin and clothes, and by the pollen and spores in their hair, clothing and shoes, a forensic ecologist can tell their loved ones how, where and when that person died. A persons freedom can rest upon the difference between one pollen grain and the next. Forensic ecologists don’t just work murders, they also work rape cases.


The book flowed really well.

As for my dislikes of the book, there’s a few. I did not like the overuse of the word “hedgerow.” I feel like there’s several other words that could be interchangeable with it to make it better as it annoyed me for awhile. I also was turned off by the spelling mistakes. I do understand it is an Uncorrected copy of the book, but some were just god awful to the point where I didn’t understand the sentence. Some of them were for a whole sentence long. For example, on page 154, there’s two whole lines of mumbo jumbo - “orcing ly and es such as ody and in doing so, doing so, produceh...”

I admit at this point I didn’t completely finish the book because of the sentences that were so messed up and I couldn’t decipher what was being said.

However, as for what was read, I enjoyed it.

I’d give it two stars over all!

[Debbie Wentworth Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book in the library. The title and cover copy caught my attention, and I'm so glad.

Patricia Wiltshire, a British forensic ecologist and forensic archaeologist, established the field of forensic palynology in criminal science. Palynology is the study of pollen, spores, and plant remains. Wiltshire studied the plant remains around archaeological finds to determine what the plant life was like when the artifact was being used. One day the police approached her to ask for help finding a body from the plant remains on the murderer's shoes, car mats, and clothes. With meticulous investigation, she figured out how to remove the plant parts. After studying the pollen, spores, and other plant parts under a microscope, she described the place where the body was buried. With the help of a college professor familiar with places in the area that had most of the plant life she described, the police found the woodlot looking exactly as she described. They found the body and brought closure to the woman's family.

Wiltshire tells of her childhood and youth that led her into the obscure field and describes some of her cases and techniques. The cases described the techniques she had to develop, such as how to get the pollen and spores trapped in the nasal passages of a murder victim. She also tells of visiting the Body Farm, operated by the FBI, to study how bodies decompose.

The book reminds me of some of John Douglas's books on profiling. It's fascinating to observe a science being created.

I gave the book 4 stars for its repetitions on the importance of meticulous detail which crops up in several chapters. The language is clean, but Wiltshire's atheism brings an element of hopelessness to the account in the end.

Most people interested in the techniques of solving crimes would find this interesting, I think. I certainly did.

[Alicea · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I thought this would be a book that would be a 4 or 5 star read for me but there were some things that really detracted from the reading experience. The first was the author's digression into stories from her childhood that seemed shoehorned into the nonfiction excerpts of her career as a forensic ecologist. It really altered the flow of the book and added very little to the overall whole. But the thing that bothered me the most was the author's tone or 'voice' if you will which was patronizing if not downright condescending. She constantly reminded the reader of her various degrees, careers, and accomplishments while at the same time also denigrating other people who were not at her 'level'. It got to be so irksome that I contemplated giving the book up entirely. I now wish that I had done so because I could have spent my time with another book and author instead. :-/

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to be better than it was. The subject matter is fascinating but her writing would start in on an interesting case and then devolve into pages of rather esoteric descriptions of pollen and spores and then take a side track to discuss a semi related story before finally coming back to resolve the original mystery. Snappier writing would have gone a long way toward making this book more enjoyable but I also didn't love that it was clearly written by a Boomer who couldn't help but throw in lots of "ugh kids these days" types of commentary. She's a bit judgy about strange things that others like or are interested in but seems to have a rather high opinion of her own vocation. Overall kind of a weird book.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about the traces of pollen and fungi left at crime scenes that are then used to solve crimes. The author also uses the book as an autobiography since she described how she got into the field through a variety of jobs in academia. Pretty graphic explanations of crime scenes and techniques to gather samples. Few work in the field and the author seems to think that her varied life experience is the only way to be trained for this type of analysis.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Wiltshire is a true original. She's a Welsh septuagenarian and an archaeological palynologist turned forensic ecologist, a field she pioneered. Her specialty is the painstaking examination of soil or other samples to identify pollens and fungi. Sometimes that's to figure out what's in a bottle in an ancient burial site, but frequently it's to discover the origin of fresher graves. In this book, she walks us through multiple cases she has consulted on for the police which led to confessions and convictions once her evidence pointed the way. She also tells a bit of her own personal life that informed who she became.

The writing is simplistic and unlovely, but fortunately that meant even a science dummy like me could follow the gist of the ideas she was imparting. The breadth of knowledge she has mastered is staggering. I can't imagine how her skills could possibly be taught to others who don't have her intellectual intensity and stamina. She casually mentions that while training to be a botanist (a second or third career for her), she "grasped every opportunity to learn ecology, geology, microbiology, zoology, parisitology, biogeography" - just reading that list makes me exhausted by my own ignorance.

And as she described how she could construct a mental image of a gravesite by peering through pollen samples on microscope slides, a version of Clarke's law came to mind: any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from witchcraft. She says it was an early revelation to her that the heterogeneity of the world meant that "There was only one place the body might have lain along the edge of this field, only one place where the assemblage I had found in my laboratory, the picture I held in my mind, fitted closely with what I was seeing here at the crime scene." Eat your heart out, CSI.

Dr. Wiltshire takes pains multiple times to emphasize what a fundamentalist atheist she is (her words), which informs her concept of the meaning of a human corpse, and the meaning of human life. Her disdain for people's religious beliefs can be off-putting.

That said, her attitudes seem to result from her absolute certainty and her unusual way of seeing the world than from any antipathy for non-PhDs. She doesn't care if you like her or not. So if you are easily offended by a woman with bold and unorthodox opinions, you will not enjoy this book.

It seems strange to say that the parts about her personal life are less interesting than anything in her professional life, but she admits that she has always been about the work. (The exception is her description of her feelings at the death of her young daughter, which I found to be deeply moving from this Spock-like scientist.)

Overall, I'm glad I read this book and got a glimpse into the workings of an extraordinary mind.

Received a copy via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a bit of a rough start w/ this audiobook because the author's voice isn't especially dynamic at the beginning, but the story is exceedingly interesting and pulled me in relatively quickly.

Patricia Wiltshire is a forensic palynologist and a pioneer in her field, and The Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace is part science, part memoir, and part true crime. Wiltshire discusses her childhood and the factors that led her to become a palynologist. There are two chapters that are essentially entirely autobiographical, and the final chapter is filled w/ acknowledgements, but the majority of the book discusses what palynology is and how Wiltshire was able to assist with many crime investigations using her knowledge and skills.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook very much and feel like I learned a lot about something I never would have thought about had I not read this book. The author is incredibly intelligent and highly accomplished. If I'm ever murdered, I want this lady on the case. Every body truly does leave a trace, and nature leaves its trace on all of us every day as we go about our lives. It's amazing how Wiltshire is able to find an exact place at the edge of a field or in a wood by the pollen and spores captured in samples from the soil.

I would recommend The Nature of Life and Death if you aren't squeamish because there are vivid descriptions of police investigations, crime scenes, murdered corpses, and the natural sequence of decay. Wiltshire talks about how victims died and in what condition their bodies were found. It's funny to think of someone w/ a Welsh granny voice - soft and soothing - investigating grisly crime scenes and testifying in court.

The author does repeatedly show her age by using outdated language and phrases like "news on the wireless." She also tends to go off on tangents that meander eventually back to the original case she was discussing. It was something I definitely noticed but not something that was overly bothersome to me. I didn't mind a stroll through additional detail here and there. Many of the crime scene descriptions are repetitive as much of her work described in the book takes place in the UK, which means that many of the gravesites are much the same, but it was fascinating that the smallest different pollen grain or fungal spore could differentiate one crime scene from any other.

Overall, however, her world view is pretty modern, and she is firmly an atheist. The topic is especially well-researched, and Wiltshire quite literally was instrumental in creating the standard operating procedures and best practices that make up the field of forensic palynology.

[Peter A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This partially autobiographical book describes through personal stories of the author how knowing about plants, pollens, spores, among other botanical entities can help the police place people at the scene of the crime, because of the unique signature of nature of the place. It can also help determine how long a body might have been dead.

The author is one of the few people who have helped pioneer a subdiscipline of forensics ecology. She narrates many cases, of how she got called into murder or rape cases and was able to sort out whose story fit the biological facts. As she tells these stories, she provides the reader with many fascinating facts, so the reader can appreciate the story. Also, she weaves in much of her own biography around the stories to help explain her love of the outdoors, the challenges she had as a child that persist, …

This is an interesting read, although I can imagine people interested in just the crime will think the author goes off on a tangent a bit too much. But it is clear that the author has had to do a lot of educating of the police (to let her in very early to the crime site – before the local biological evidence (e.g., pollens) is compromised.

I learned a great deal of biology and of the crimes where biology can be useful. When reading her stories, which often start with a call from the policy, something like “Hi Patti, could you come round tomorrow morning at 6 am …” It reminded me of the Avengers (British show with John Steed and Emma Peel) which often had an early line “Mrs, Peel, we’re needed.”

[Norman Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for me an introduction to palynology, a word that managed to elude me through the many decades of my life, but now never to be forgotten owing to this fascinating book. Simply, it is the study of the fine traces of nature that -- here, spores, pollen, fungi, etc. -- that in a sense envelop us as we move through the natural world. This is also in some sense Ms Wiltshire's world, one that for a good part was an intense and very satisfying academic career. Then the police called. They needed help proving that a murder suspect, at least his car, was at the scene of a crime. Ms Wiltshire tells fascinating stories of her work that are, generously, variants of this theme, or as the book subtitle puts it, "Tales of a Forensic Ecologist", including one episode where in an investigation that took her and police colleagues to Albania, a Muslim country, required so she could ask questions of the men that she be given "Honorary Manhood". But the story is also of Ms Wiltshire' extraordinary and at times emotionally wrenching life, and how she managed to somehow triumph through will, very hard work, and unique talents.

[Smpcheng · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoy reading true crime, and was quite interested in this book. I found it nearly unreadable. From the author’s writing style, to her opinions, to the disjointed way the writing flowed - this book needed a better editor. Finally wound up skimming it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't even know forensic palynology was a thing. Incredibly fascinating.

[Shawney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really needed an editor.

[kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as science-heavy as i was expecting; i would have loved a lot more detail on the processes involved in her field. oh, well

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it and found most of it to be interesting.

The book is a bit of an odd mix of detailed and quite dry info on palynology (the study of pollen and spores) with other chapters about the author’s childhood and her path from secretary to professor and forensic expert. I didn’t mind the mixture, and most enjoyed the memoir chapters, but for someone seeking a pure forensic book on crime scene investigation, they might get impatient.

The incongruity of her sweet, Welsh-granny voice describing gruesome crime scenes and postmortems was enough to carry me through the dry bits. I think she could have a future in voicing cozy Cotswold murder mysteries or Downton Abbey stories. I felt as if I should be making tea every time I started another chapter, but then I’d lose my appetite when the next crime scene came up.

I think Wiltshire is a good writer when she’s describing scenes, from landscapes to laboratories, and she was especially poignant when reminiscing about her childhood.
It is pretty refreshing to read about someone who loves their job as much as she does. “Every sample brings some surprise or other, and the rush of adrenaline that accompanies the trip from the slide tray to the microscope stage never fails to excite.” To use the author’s own repeated phrase, “Oh, dear!”

Not sure why I’ve been drawn to so many books on somewhat gruesome topics (Radium Girls, Stiff). Maybe I need to cut back on my police procedurals and crime shows?

[deborah]

Uh, ok boomer.
It's honestly very rare I start a book, decide to not finish it, and then say something about it, but I feel compelled to here. I picked this up because the topic sounded interesting and I'm trying to read new things, and I think I could have made it through if someone else had written it. Wiltshire's writing isn't bad, but it is so incredibly preachy that it detracts from the theme/topics of the book. Wiltshire harps on about kids and their electronics, different lifestyles, and just really has a kind of attitude that puts certain readers down. There were also early signs that turned me away, such as Wiltshire writing that, to her, "corpses have ceased to be people", as well as her bemoaning the "physical perfection" of a 15-year-old rape victim who, according to Wiltshire, would have had a good life because she was so pretty. The topic of bodies and forensic science doesn't disturb me, but the attitude and viewpoints with which Wiltshire writes made me feel deeply uncomfortable and I've decided to not finish this book.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace by Patricia Wiltshire is a highly recommended account of a pioneer in forensic ecology.

Patricia Wiltshire share stories from several of the cases she's been an investigator on as well as personal stories from her life. Wiltshire is an expert palynologist—somebody who analyses pollen grains and other spores. "When a crime has been committed, my role is to read and present the possibilities told by the grains of pollen, the fungi, lichens, and micro‑ organisms that have been retrieved, to try and piece together facts from the natural world." It is a fascinating area of study and she adroitly explains how she uses her knowledge to help solve real cases in the UK. This is real scientist working on an investigation, not an excerpt of a CSI episode. The unseen world all around us and underneath our feet does touch and actually cling to us every day. This includes plants, animals, pollen, spores, fungi, and microbes. They can mark where we have been as surely as a map.

In between walking us through some of her cases, she also shares some of her biographical background. Although this is not strictly a biography, it does intermingle stories from her professional scientific work with her upbringing and background - and, you know, sometimes when and where you were raised and some of the particulars of your childhood do influence your life as an adult. Those who believe in an afterlife will want to take note that Wiltshire does not and succinctly shares her belief that once dead, a person will simple be reduced to the elements which the body contains.

The case studies are fascinating and that alone is deserving of a higher rating, even though sometime the personal opinions shared are a bit too sharp. It might have served Wiltshire better if she decided on either a biography or a series of interesting case studies. I would be up for reading either, but the mix between the two was sometimes incongruous. When presenting the cases, Wiltshire is at her best, explain how she determined vital clues bases on the microscopic evidence she found. I found the cases and her investigations to be captivating and could esily breeze through the biographical or opinion parts of the book.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/0...

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read by an interesting lady palynonologist (one who studies pollen) who applied that expertise to the solving of crimes. Who knew pollen was specific and yet is everywhere. Not just plant pollen but fungal spores, hyphae etc. I knew that such people helped out archaeologists recreate and re-imagine ancient landscapes. That same knowledge can be used to recreate crime scenes. There are few grim descriptions in the book so maybe not for the faint of heart.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book disorganized and boring.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this would be about forensics, but it was all about pollen and other stuff that gets transferred to clothes. I could only read half of it.

[Margie Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of a palynologist until I read this book. Patricia Wiltshire describes this incredible field and how she developed the field of forensic ecology. Having an eye for detail, patience, as well as curiosity are all required. A fantastic read. I recommend it for anyone has a passion for botany and the natural sciences.

[Louise Hodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of book. Patricia Wiltshire has been involved with many criminal cases during her career. She explains how soil, pollen, all manner of forna & flora leave a trace meaning she can help the police to solve what could be unsolvable cases unless you know where to look.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

With two teachers full time teaching our intro to forensics elective, any books that I can get about crime, murder mystery, science and forensics are always worthwhile. This one is a nice addition though not powerfully written. For the subject matter intermixed with some biography, it worked since you can't really separate the seriousness of the work from your everyday life, so I can get behind the mix.

And she's a beast at what she does for sure. It was a little of the panache of telling the story that was lacking.

Otherwise, yes, nature can tell us a whole heck of a lot about crime scenes and dead bodies. (I'm currently listening to a book based on murders that were at the dawn of the FBI). The fact that there are men and women who can, with pinpoint accuracy explain where a crime or body was is astounding based on things like pollen, dander, and plant life which is why she's in hot demand for the police. The details that she spends her life needing, anticipating, and researching is dedication and drive and that's one of the things I pulled from the book as a reader.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, since forensic pathology/laboratory techniques and plants are two of my major interests.

Unfortunately, "The Nature of Life and Death" is a dry and dull read.

It would've been ideal had the basics of fieldwork and lab testing been summarized in no more than a chapter, with the remainder of the book showing how these techniques have been used to solve real-world crimes. Instead, repetitive and snoozeworthy detail overwhelms the stories, which themselves lack specifics and color (this is a fault of many British true crime books, in which names, dates and other details are left out, either by convention or due to legal constraints). Reducing cases to bland pablum makes the forensics less interesting as well.

The author has a bad habit of going off on tangents while telling a story, and regales us with abundant but uninteresting autobiographical details including childhood experiences. "Looking back on it, the people with whom I lived in Surrey were sweet and kind, but, oh goodness, they were so foreign. I was fed wholesome casseroles and had a nice, warm room but I was homesick."

The book badly needed a competent and firm editor to crack down on superfluous personal anecdotes and tendency to wander off the subject. And why are there no photos, illustrations or diagrams? They might have helped some of these stories come alive.

There's a less than savory element of grudge-settling in Wiltshire's book, including her disdain for forensic pathologists, allegedly sloppy police officers, colleagues not up to her standards and male university students.

A typical episode of "Forensic Files" proceeds like a good detective story in spite of the complex technical details involved. Wiltshire undoubtedly is a competent scientist with good stories to tell, but her book fails to generate much interest.

[Kayt O'Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blend of true crime, science, and autobiographical recollections, this is a fascinating topic that makes mostly for interesting reading, but is also often delivered in a straightforward, often dry narrative.

That narrative voice is probably the thing that will make or break one's enjoyment. Wiltshire sounds, to me (an American), extremely British:* understated, straightforward, a "well these things happen, let's just get one with it" attitude. At times, I found this detrimental as it results in a slow/steadfast pace, but on the other hand, it was nice that discussions about taking a cadaver's entire face off could be related in a way that I could read this immediately before bed and not have nightmares.

The book's highlights are when it focuses on cases and Wiltshire's work: a murder, an alleged rape, another murder. She takes the reader along from her introduction, to the crime scene(s), to the lab, explaining what she looks for, how she retrieves samples, and the biology and science behind it.

Her own life story is spread throughout the book, a chapter here and there sandwiched between ones with crime scene investigations, or explanations of how types of pollen spread (or don't).

Because the narrative can be so...I hesitate to say slow (lackluster?), but, let's just say it's not exactly hard to put this book down--anyway, because it's so straightforward, it took me a while to get into. As I mentioned above, I often read this before bed, and it was a good choice: usually interesting enough to hold attention, but something that won't cause you to stay up too late. A gentle book, which might not be expected with the subject matter.

3.5 stars
An uncorrected advance proof was received free through a Goodreads giveaway.

*I believe Wiltshire is Welsh, and my quick googling is unclear on whether Welsh people in general are called British. Sometimes they are, it seems. In this case, I am referring to what I perceive as something (tone/communication/language) related to/seen in the general culture of the UK.

[Ashley K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed over some other people's reviews of this book, and have to say I wholeheartedly disagree with everyone who found this book too dry/dull/ "sciencey". Forensic ecology is about as "pop science"-y as it gets and this book did not disappoint-- it was fascinating! It was a quick read, and as far as I'm concerned it could benefit from even *more* science (but in fairness, I am a scientist). I was amazed to learn how pollen and fungal spores are used in crime-solving, and I liked how the author struck a balance between describing case histories, explaining her techniques, and blending in some of her personal experiences that shaped her career path. Can't help but feel some awe in considering that she essentially invented and developed the subdiscipline she works in.

I agree, however, with the critics who noticed a distinct twang of grumpy boomerism in the author's tone when describing "kids these days" (e.g., complaining that they spend too much time in front of a screen & not enough time outdoors, they're not willing to put in hard work, etc.-- it was a bit much). Strangely, there were far more typos than I can remember ever seeing in a published book. Who edited this?