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Summary: Forensics solves the most deplorable macabre acts of man
Review: "What the Corpse Revealed: Murder and the Science of Forensic Detection," by Hugh Miller, ISBN 0-312-97573-2 (pbk). St. Martin's 2000 is a 301 page account (including 18 photographs and an adequate index) of 16 unique and baffling mysteries admirably presented by veteran author Miller who warns the reader that most forensic excursions are not spectacular and he succumbed to collecting those "exceptional enough to hold a reader's attention," something he readily accomplished. All cases were based on true events, albeit, the names, places and some incidents were altered, but forensics remained genuine. Miller's ploy was presenting these cases, oft macabre, in a titillating fashion which presents to the reader's mind both the intuititive reasoning and troubling frustrations tediously overcome by dedicated diligence of forensic detectives. The grisly and deplorable acts are methodically traceable to the underlying motives in virtually each instance, and this works to advantage to find closure on especial cases which might otherwise seem inexplicable. The book's style makes for easy but informative reading, and its one of those books that once started is hard to put down; and having read one or more cases (15 to 20 pages each) the reader feels compelled to recite the details to whomever will hear him out.
Rating: 
Summary: what the corpse revealed
Review: best case book around. sixteen stories that are short enough to keep you interested without weighing you down in medical jargon. Great stories that scan the world, proving that murder and stupid criminals are everywhere.
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Summary: A DEFINITE COMPLIMENT TO YOUR COLLECTION
Review: First I want to say, I feel a bit guilty (not much though) being sooo critical on DR. BADEN's latest, when I read this one long before. It does not have a lot of the nitty gritty (bugs and bones)BUT you still need to read this book. It is easy reading and the 'Missing' chapter was a....well, I can't think of the words...YOU HAVE GOT TO READ IT. I'd love to give it away...but when your all tucked in under your "bankies" and the cat is keeping your spine misaligned-you'll be glad I didn't.
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Summary: Crime fiction - not fact
Review: I started getting suspicious when all the deserving bad guys seemed to get killed or commit suicide in the first several stories. Then I got to the one about the hollywood actor who starred in a TV family comedy that ran 10 years from 1974. Cute, except no such TV show exists, nor does the named actor. When this many facts have been changed there no longer is any basis in reality. As another reader mentioned, the case involving the hungarian ex-policeman who claims he's being threatened with death when a pig's head is found with a message in his mouth is VERY loosely based on a case in England. In the real case there was no crippled child to add pathos to the "story", nor was there a similarly crippled forensic scientist who miraculously solved the case. Fictional cases, fictional experts, fictional criminals - Why is this book listed in True Crime? I've been completely cheated by buying this book and if I could I'd demand my money back from the publisher! When I want to buy non-fiction I want non-fiction, not this tripe. Buyer beware and skip this book, there are better works on forensics that give more accurate details on procedure and demonstrate real cases.
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Summary: Begins with Murder and ends with Suicide
Review: I'm not certain what 'acknowledged' means, as in the phrase, "He has written extensively for television and is an acknowledged expert on forensic medicine." However, that is how the book jacket on "What the Corpse Revealed" describes its author, Hugh Miller. Whether he's a physician or not, Miller tells a heck of a good story. Each one of his sixteen stories was solved through forensic detection, and the author has chosen incidents that are well off the radar of most true crime writers. Many of the murderers are women, and the final murderess in "What the Corpse Revealed" chooses a very unique method of killing herself while in prison. In fact, it's a very unique book through and through -- those British really know how to tell a 'good' murder story. Try this book, and then read "Forty Years of Murder" by Keith Simpson, if you won't take my word for it. If you like true-crime stories with a scientific framework, or if you are a fan of well-told, suspenseful detective tales, "What the Corpse Revealed" will keep you reading well into night. My only advice: keep lots of lights on!
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Summary: Check This Book Out!!
Review: The book was very interesting (especailly since I am currently studying criminal justice and forensic science). I found the short stories to be very convenient in allowing me to pick up the book and put it down again with my busy schedule. However, I must admit the numerous spelling errors did get on my nerves. Overall the content was good and I would say the book was worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: pulp fiction?
Review: The jacket of What the Corpse Revealed proclaims Henry Miller as "the author of many nonfiction books and several successful novels." This book had me wondering which category he was aiming for: nonfiction book or True Detective Stories magazine.
The cover, complete with glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly, lead me to believe this was a serious book on the ever-increasing role of forensic science in modern criminology. The preface, however, tells another story. Here Miller reveals that "the names of the characters, places, and certain incidents and photographs... have been changed and/or fictionalized." This information is repeated in a note to the reader immediately following the preface, making his claim of the forensic details being genuine hard to take seriously. The alphabetical index in the back lends an air of legitimacy to the book, though referencing material that may or may not be "changed and/or fictionalized" seems pointless.
While entertaining, this collection of 16 stories read like a cheap detective novel. The stories themselves are indeed fascinating, but I found them impossible to read without wondering just how much truth, if any, they contained. The details of the forensic procedures used to solve these "cases" may be technically accurate, but they were lost in the film noire, dime-store style of storytelling. The stories are all fairly predictable, thanks to an abundance of stereotyped villains, persistent gumshoes and thick-headed cops.
What the Corpse Revealed was informative in one respect; I now know where the expression "you can't judge a book by its cover" came from. I'll be more careful next time I go book shopping.
Rating:
Summary: pulp fiction?
Review: The jacket of What the Corpse Revealed proclaims Henry Miller as "the author of many nonfiction books and several successful novels." This book had me wondering which category he was aiming for: nonfiction book or True Detective Stories magazine.
The cover, complete with glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly, lead me to believe this was a serious book on the ever-increasing role of forensic science in modern criminology. The preface, however, tells another story. Here Miller reveals that "the names of the characters, places, and certain incidents and photographs... have been changed and/or fictionalized." This information is repeated in a note to the reader immediately following the preface, making his claim of the forensic details being genuine hard to take seriously. The alphabetical index in the back lends an air of legitimacy to the book, though referencing material that may or may not be "changed and/or fictionalized" seems pointless.
While entertaining, this collection of 16 stories read like a cheap detective novel. The stories themselves are indeed fascinating, but I found them impossible to read without wondering just how much truth, if any, they contained. The details of the forensic procedures used to solve these "cases" may be technically accurate, but they were lost in the film noire, dime-store style of storytelling. The stories are all fairly predictable, thanks to an abundance of stereotyped villains, persistent gumshoes and thick-headed cops.
What the Corpse Revealed was informative in one respect; I now know where the expression "you can't judge a book by its cover" came from. I'll be more careful next time I go book shopping.
Rating:
Summary: Fiction spiced up with a little fact
Review: This book is a potboiler and largely a work of fiction. It is recommended only to someone who likes real life spiced up with extras to add "verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative". Separate cases which on their own are nothing remarkable are cobbled together to form a rather more interesting super-case. It doesn't work. Two examples. One story is how a maid murdered her employers by shooting them with bullets made from frozen pig flesh. She then locked them in the murder room by using a pair of surgical forceps to operate to key from the `wrong' side of the door, thereby baffling the plods assigned to the case. Not the super-sleuth, of course. The latter incident is so totally implausible that it is clear it is a fictional touch. There is a photo of the pair of forceps, but not of the lock. It would be impossible to get a pair of forces of this size into a keyhole, let alone grip the circular end key with sufficient force to overcome the friction of the bolt and turn it - and then keyhole would have to be at least 10mm in diameter for the forceps to have room to turn. Even seen on a keyhole that wide? Yes - but on a medieval castle, not a recent passage lock. Further, warded mortice locks have not been used in passage doors for over a hundred years. This part was clearly added into spice up the story, but the result is to make the whole story seem implausible. A second story concerns a Hungarian farmer who blew up his wife with a pipe bomb, then murdereds the lawyer with whose wife he is having an affair. The case is investigated by a brilliant but crippled forensic scientist. All very well, except this identical case has been featured on the Discovery Channel in the series The New Detectives. Only there it was set where it actually occurred - in rural England. Real names were used, the victim was a next door neighbour, and the forensic detectives were common-or-garden suits not a fictional cripple with a heroic personal history. By the time I had finished that chapter the whole book was looking rather doubtful and I just skimmed through the rest. By the way, the mysterious ingredient that the book doesn't name for fear of inflaming proto-arsonists (in the last chapter about the nurse-arsonist) is potassium permanganate. The coyness is unnecessary as this is the method used by forest wardens to start fuel load reduction burns from the air. This book does have a use. It is ideal for a long aircraft journey. You can toss it in the charity bin at your destination without a pang of regret that you are disposing of a book worth keeping and treasuring.
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Summary: THIS BOOK IS FICTION!
Review: This book was recommended to me as a book related forensic pathology/forensic anthropology, my favorite reading areas. When I settled down to read it, the "Note to the Reader" was the first clue I had that the book was ficitious: "This book not intended to portray, and should not be read as portraying, actual persons, living or dead. Yet, on its cover it says "True Crime", what I took to be a tacky way of saying "Non-Fiction".
Whatever. - bONNY
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