As one inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories when a teenager, I am always ready to dip into any one of the many books about my hero to see whether it offers insight into how today's forensic reality matches Conan Doyle's fiction.
"The Science of Sherlock Holmes" is essentially a history of forensic science written in an absorbing way. It has lots of real case examples and covers many forensic disciplines, including pathology, entomology, toxicology, crime scenes, anthropometry, fingerprints, ballistics, footwear marks, bare footprints, particulate traces, blood, handwriting and typewriting. Also discussed, among other odd things, are witchcraft, animals and disguise. Each chapter concludes with a Sherlockian postscript called "Whatever remains", where more little-known facts are on offer.
The chapter entitled "A Picture of Guilt", about personal identification, is typical. As well as dealing in an informative way with the likes of Bertillon, Faulds and Locard, it has stories about them including one about Edmond Locard and an organ grinder. In "Whatever remains" there is a fascinating explanation for identical twins having different fingerprints, namely that within the womb the still-malleable ridges of the foetuses' fingers acquire different shapes according to what they touch.
The book is well-researched in respect of historical sources and is a mine of information on old cases. The author, through her fluent style, is able to conjure up images of bygone days. I particularly liked the account of the bare footprint evidence in the Jessie M'Pherson case.
There is a short glossary, a substantial bibliography and an index that includes all the references to individual Holmes stories: very useful. In fact, several times while going through this book, I did go back to my trusty John Murray "Sherlock Holmes: the Complete Short Stories" and re-read a story for the umpteenth time.
There have been lots of books about the great fictional detective and arguably even more about how we forensic scientists came to be doing things the way we do now. If, like me, you enjoy books on both the history of forensic science and on Sherlock Holmes, then this is the one to read.
