Forensics information

[funtimewincies]

I've started to write a book which contains a murder. It's not a crime book but I'll need to find accurate information on modern forensic techniques and pathology to gauge how plausible some of my plot is.

Where do other writers go for such info? I don't want to rely on the internet and I don't know anyone working in forensics or pathology.

Can anyone recommend any good textbooks which might give a useful grounding?

[belledechocchipcookie]

I know someone, he's the head of forensic science at x University. Would you like his details?

[funtimewincies]

Wow, yes please ! Does he not mind being contacted by odd women asking gruesome questions?

[belledechocchipcookie]

He'd probably love it! I'll DM his name & email address to you when I've found his card.

[funtimewincies]

Thanks, that would be fab. A friend has also offered to approach a police inspector friend about talking me through the investigation/arrest side of things.

I'm so excited about this story !

[eviscerateyourmemory]

If you look on amazon there are a selection of forensic pathology textbooks.

Often novels are completely wrong about that sort of detail though, even otherwise well-writen ones, so I think that a lot of the time authors must just make things up.

[DandyDan]

there's a very good community on LiveJournal for exactly this kind of thing - called Little Details - community.livejournal.com/little_details/

I've seen several questions there about forensics and forensic pathology, which have received knowledgable answers. (Though you can ask about anything you need expertise on there too!)

[atswimtwolengths]

I had a meeting with someone from my local university about a very specific case (body left in boot of car for X amount of time) - I wanted to know what state it would be in. He was brilliant, told me all about it. For the novel, I had to add certain features about the garage and its location.

I also wanted to know about someone dying suddenly from a brain tumour and what the symptoms would be. I had email contact with a professor at Glasgow university about that - again, very helpful and helped change what I wrote.