American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI

Product Description
A gripping historical true crime narrative that "reads like the best of Conan Doyle himself" (Karen Abbott, author of The Ghosts of Eden Park), American Sherlock recounts the riveting true story of the birth of modern criminal investigation.
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.
Review
One of The Washington Post's 10 Books to Read in February One of CrimeReads' Most Anticipated Books of 2020
“Heinrich changed criminal investigations forever, and anyone fascinated by the myriad detective series and television shows about forensics will want to read it.”—
The Washington Post
“Part institutional history, part true crime account, and part dramatic tale of brilliant minds and clashing personalities,
American Sherlock promises to be just as gripping as her first.”—
CrimeReads
“Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's earliest criminologists. He was also a meticulous record keeper, allowing Dawson to recreate his fascinating life story....Those interested in the development of modern forensics will be enthralled.”—
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“While many true-crime books suffer from stale prose, Dawson's writing is remarkable in that it never uses the crutch of false suspense but also doesn't skimp on valuable details....An entertaining, absorbing combination of biography and true crime.”—
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A fascinating book worthy of being associated with the title's literary sleuth. Readers will want a follow-up so they can discover more of Heinrich's cases as told through Dawson's great storytelling. For fans of Michelle McNamara's
I'll Be Gone in the Dark and other true crime works.”—
Library Journal
“Riveting.”—
BookPage
“Dawson combed Heinrich’s own, voluminous papers to produce this entertaining read.”—
Booklist
“Dawson balances the two sides of her book deftly, moving nimbly between dramatic renditions of the mysteries Heinrich helped solve, or sometimes didn’t, and reflections on his scientific analyses and personal struggles…As thought-provoking as it is thrilling.”
—Columbus Dispatch
“In
American Sherlock, Kate Winkler Dawson brilliantly tracks the pioneering Edward Oscar Heinrich as he revolutionizes forensic science—the gritty work of studying bloodstains, identifying liars, and gathering faint traces of fingerprints—in the sometimes murky pursuit of justice. Equally entertaining and erudite, this is a work so cleverly conceived and structured, it reads like the best of Conan Doyle himself.”—
Karen Abbott, author of The Ghosts of Eden Park
“At last a book about the pioneering scientist, Edward Oscar H