From TV’s CSI to bestsellers by Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, interest in forensics is at an all-time high. Now one of our most respected forensic pathologists gives a behind-the-scenes look at eleven of his most notorious cases, cracked by scientific analysis and Sherlock Holmesian deduction.

As chief medical examiner of Rockland County, New York, for almost thirty-five years, Dr. Frederick Zugibe literally wrote the book on the subject—his widely used textbook is considered the definitive text. Over the years he has pioneered countless innovations, including the invention of a formula to soften mummified fingers—enabling fingerprinting, and thus identification, of a long-deceased victim. He has appeared as an expert hundreds of times in the media and in the courtroom—and not once has a jury failed to accept his testimony over opposing expert witnesses. And now, in Dissecting Death , he has opened the door to the world of forensic pathology in all its gruesome and fascinating mystery.

Dr. Zugibe takes us through the process all good pathologists follow, using eleven of his most challenging cases. With him, we visit the often grisly—though sometimes shockingly banal—crime scene. We inspect the body, palpate the wounds, search for clues in the hair and skin. We employ ultraviolet light, strange measuring devices, optical instruments. We see how a forensic pathologist determines the hour of death, the type of weapon used, the killer’s escape route. And then we enter the lab, the world of high-tech criminal detection: DNA testing, fingerprinting, gunshot patterns, dental patterns, X-rays.

But not every case ends in a conviction, and in a closing chapter Dr. Zugibe examines some recent high-profile cases in which blunders led to killers going free, either because the wrong party was brought to trial or because the evidence presented didn’t do the trick—including Jon-Benet Ramsey’s murder and, of course, the O.J. Simpson trial.

斐德列剋·薩吉伯博士（Frederick Zugibe, M.D., Ph.D.），薩吉伯博士曾任紐約州洛剋蘭郡主任法醫近三十五年，是全美最受尊崇的法醫學專傢之一；他曾就此主題著有專書，所寫的參考書籍不僅被多方運用，其內容的可靠性也是眾所公認。

多年來，他發明瞭無數的創新技術，其中包括瞭軟化木乃伊化屍體手指的藥劑，使其得以采下指紋，確認一名死亡多時的被害者身分。也曾以專傢身分多次在媒體上現身說法或齣庭作證，且從未有陪審團捨棄他的證詞，而去采信為另一方齣庭作證的專傢。