Product Description

The science of forensic entomology-the application of insect biology to the investigation of crime-is extremely specialized, combining as it does an expert knowledge of entomology with keen powers of observation and deduction.Dr. Erzinclioglu has been a practitioner for over twenty-five years and has been involved in a great number of investigations, including some recent high-profile cases, where his evidence has been critical to the outcome. A great admirerer of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Erzinclioglu compares his own techniques with those of his fictional hero, and takes the reader behind the often gruesome but deeply fascinating scenes of a murder investigation.This absorbing book ranges over cases from history, prehistory and mythology to the present day and is as gripping and readable as a good thriller. AUTHORBIO: Dr. Zakaria Erzinclioglu was formerly Senior Research Associate at Cambridge University and also Director of the Forensic Science Research Center at Durham University.In his capacity as a forensic entomologist he is one of the most experienced scientists in the business.He is well known in England and has appeared in a number of television programs including The Witness Was a Fly for the BBC.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #708999 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Amazon.com
Death is rarely pretty. It is decidedly unappealing when a body, made available to nature, is colonized and consumed by insects, worms, and other animals--unless, like Zakaria Erzinçlioglu, you have an appreciation for this "magnificent and highly nutritious resource."

Erzinçlioglu, a forensic scientist with three decades' experience in solving all manner of grisly crimes, gives a lighthanded if sometimes creepy account of what happens to the human body in death, and of how scientists can deduce from the succession of insect life, among other signs, just what happened to bring about that demise. As he ranges across the annals of wrongdoing, crime buffs will learn much from his observations on, among other matters, the outright stupidity of many murderers, who "seem to think that the last place a criminal investigator is likely to look is under the floorboards," and the many odd twists and turns that a scientific investigation can take while ferreting out the truth.

Erzinçlioglu's book makes a sharp-witted companion to such recent works as Jessica Snyder Sachs's Corpse and Richard Conniff's Spineless Wonders, adding to a growing--and oddly fascinating--library devoted to the coroner's art. --Gregory McNamee

Review

From the Inside Flap

Customer Reviews

Some Specialists SHOULDN'T Write thier memoirs
Some years ago I read a very interesting book by the former doorkeeper to the senate of the United States of America.Now keeping the door at the senate chamber may not sound like a very interesting job,nor might it sound like it would yeild up a whole lot of fascinating tales,but the book was great.Being a specialist,in most fields,should provide at least some very interesting material and,if written with style & flair,the collected material should make up an interesting book.
Alas,although Dr.Erzinclioglu does indeed have a lot of interesting material,he is consistently unable to make any of it interesting.In the murder cases he writes about,the good doctor fails to provide much in the way of details except for his own particular field and contribution...this is much like looking a one piece of a jigsaw puzzle,in that one might have a clue as to the overall picture but,without all of the other pieces one cannot fully appreciate it.The Doctor's writing style might best be described as dry...Boring also comes to mind,but,seemingly,the majority of scientists writing memoirs seem not to understand that the mass market audience likes factual accounts to read like fiction.In the case of"Maggots,Murder & Men"the writing is so choppy,so tepid,so infested with personal asides and thinly disguised political opinions,it would seem to me that the writing style,whatever it might be,would not help the book one bit.

Don't judge a book by it's cover...
The title seemed promising enough. And sure, the beginning was a bit slow...forensic books can be that way sometimes, since there's a lot of technical information to convey. But, Dr. Zak's pompous biography never became even mildly interesting. The language was impossibly thick and the Sherlock Holmes references grew tiresome very quickly. Furthermore, Dr. Zak outlined cases in brief and cryptic passages, faling to inform (I believe I only learned the names of ten or so insects, unlike M. Lee Goff's book, where I found myself bombarded with fascinating information). Dr. Zak is highly subjective, melodramatic and conceited - even outlining cases in which he had absolutely no involvement - and seems like a petty novel compared to M. Lee Goff's "A Fly For the Prosecution".
My advice? If you're truly interested in the field, read "A Fly..." and leave "Maggots" to those who seek boredom, not information.

A Fine Collection of Anecdotes and Opinions
The secondary title of Maggots, Murder, and Men by Zakaria Erzinçlioglu is accurate-- Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist. Dr. Zak, as he is known to those unwilling to pronounce his name, has compiled an anthology of anecdotes and opinions accumulated over his long career of examining bugs for the British criminal justice system. I chose to read this book because I wanted to learn more than I already knew about forensic entomology, but I did not want to shell out the bucks to purchase an appropriate textbook. Maggots, Murder, and Men is a fine introduction to the basics; Dr. Erzinçlioglu explains quite nicely the logic of using flies, fly larvae and other creepy-crawlies to determine the time of death of a body. He provides a bit of the fly life cycle and discusses the ecology of various species, but the entomology ends there. There are no identification keys or the like.

The book is well written and entertaining. Besides bug stories, there is also a fair bit of exposition on such subjects as the criminal justice system, hypothesis testing, shady people (from both sides of the law), and Sherlock Holmes. I am quite sure that while one is picking through many tedious piles of insect samples a jillion odd thoughts pop to mind. I am thankful that Zakaria Erzinçlioglu chose to commit some of his to posterity.