American Sherlock
Books | Biography & Autobiography / General
3.8
(1.1K)
Kate Winkler Dawson
From the acclaimed author of Death in the Air (Not since Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale--Douglas Preston) comes the riveting story of the birth of criminal investigation in the twentieth century. Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities--beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners, and hundreds upon hundreds of books--sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least two thousand cases in his forty-year career. Known as the American Sherlock Holmes, Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest--and first--forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural. Heinrich was one of the nation's first expert witnesses, working in a time when the turmoil of Prohibition led to sensationalized crime reporting and only a small, systematic study of evidence. However with his brilliance, and commanding presence in both the courtroom and at crime scenes, Heinrich spearheaded the invention of a myriad of new forensic tools that police still use today, including blood spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests, and the use of fingerprints as courtroom evidence. His work, though not without its serious--some would say fatal--flaws, changed the course of American criminal investigation. Based on years of research and thousands of never-before-published primary source materials, American Sherlock captures the life of the man who pioneered the science our legal system now relies upon--as well as the limits of those techniques and the very human experts who wield them.
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More Details:
Author
Kate Winkler Dawson
Pages
325
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2020
ISBN
0525539557 9780525539551
Community ReviewsSee all
"Heinrich’s life story and career made for a fascinating read. I enjoyed learning about the different cases he worked on, and the different forensic methods he used while solving them."
Olivia Huie
"Edward Oscar Heinrich, nicknamed American Sherlock, was a pioneer of many crime scene investigation techniques, some are still used today in modernized forms. Heinrich was involved in investigating around 2,000 total cases around the country, but primarily on the west coast.<br/><br/>The book covers selected cases that Heinrich was hired (at this point in time forensic investigators were private contractors) to investigate, often for the prosecution, but at times for the defense. Some of these cases are fairly well known, such as the "Fatty" Arbuckle case and the methods he used to solve them. Often times these are methods he created or was the first in the States to use them. <br/><br/>Heinrich developed many revolutionary methods for solving crimes including fingerprints, blood spatter, and comparative microscope (invented by someone else, but he was among the first to use it). He was also credited with techniques that are now considered junk science, like handwriting analysis. <br/><br/>The book is written in a very engaging manner and it doesnt get too dry. I'm not necessarily a true crime junkie, but I found it to be fascinating to see how these techniques came to be when you compare them with how they're done now. Mixed in with these cases are stories of how Heinrich grew up, the stresses of his childhood and adult life, his family life, and the toll that forensic science investigation took on his personal life, physical and mental health. If you're interested in true crime and history, this is a good choice to read! <br/><br/>My appreciation to G.P. Putnam's Sons, author Kate Winkler Dawson, and Edelweiss for gifting me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review."
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Chris Hicks
"The story was fascinating but the storyteller was an unreliable narrator - not something I look for in nonfiction. She parses out details in order to mislead the reader throughout the book. It’s a snipe hunt without any definitive conclusions."
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Debi Barton
"No problem! I hope you like it. "
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