Is there a perfect murder? For every murder that is committed there is an untold story behind it. Very often, this story is revealed with the aid of forensic science. In his book What the Corpse Revealed: Murder and the Science of Forensic Detection, author Hugh Miller provides readers in vivid detail with 16 real-life criminal cases that were solved through the application of forensic techniques and the effort of forensic experts.

    A British writer on forensic medicine, Miller is able to recount the real-life cases in a highly informative and entrancing manner. Among the cases studied is the baffling disappearance of a little boy from a playground, the mysterious murder of a business tycoon and his wife, an attempt at taking the life of a retired TV star, the carbon- monoxide poisoning of an American engineer, and the spine-chilling revenge murders committed on a millionaire manufacturer and his wife through the use of bullets made of pork that fragment and dissolve in the body.

    Forensic techniques described in the book include the toxicological analysis of liver samples from unrelated accidental deaths to confirm multiple poisonings; crime reconstruction based on small details such as coup or contre-coup wounds to the head; and the reading and interpretation of blood spatter patterns. Accompanying the book is a section of detailed diagrams and photos that provide readers with a deeper understanding of forensic techniques such as the fingerprinting of victims; how bullet wounds are examined; how DNA on a hair root can solve a crime and the procedures in conducting a diatom test.

    Told in an episodic format, Miller's collection of real-life cases taken from the files of forensic scientists of the United States and Europe allows for casual reading by all, while at the same time providing for the forensic student a comprehensive guide to how forensic techniques studied in the classroom can be applied to murder cases. In the light of recent development of the forensic science field, What the Corpse Revealed is a documentation of the importance of forensic science in crime solving and the virtual impossibility of a perfect murder.