Description

‘Kate Winkler Dawson is an unbelievable crime historian and such a talented storyteller.’ Karen Kilgariff, cohost of the My Favorite Murder podcast

‘Heinrich changed criminal investigations forever, and anyone fascinated by the myriad detective series and TV shows about forensics will want to read [this].’ The Washington Post

‘An entertaining, absorbing combination of biography and true crime.’ Kirkus

‘Kate Winkler Dawson has researched both her subject and his cases so meticulously that her reconstructions and descriptions made me feel part of the action rather than just a reader and bystander. She has brought to life Edward Oscar Heinrich’s character, determination, and skill so vividly that one is left bemused that this man is so little known to most of us.’ Patricia Wiltshire, author of Traces and The Nature of Life and Death

Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities – beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners and hundreds of books – sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least 2,000 cases in his 40-year career.

Known as the ‘American Sherlock Holmes’, Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of the greatest – and first – forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural.

Based on years of research and thousands of never-before-published primary source materials, American Sherlock is a true-crime account capturing the life of the man who spearheaded the invention of a myriad of new forensic tools, including blood-spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests and the use of fingerprints as courtroom evidence.

Publisher Review

'Kate Winkler Dawson is an unbelievable crime historian and such a talented storyteller.' -- Karen Kilgariff, cohost of the My Favorite Murder podcast 'Heinrich changed criminal investigations forever, and anyone fascinated by the myriad detective series and TV shows about forensics will want to read [this].' -- The Washington Post 'Kate Winkler Dawson has researched both her subject and his cases so meticulously that her reconstructions and descriptions made me feel part of the action rather than just a reader and bystander. She has brought to life Edward Oscar Heinrich's character, determination, and skill so vividly that one is left bemused that this man is so little known to most of us.' -- Patricia Wiltshire, author of Traces and The Nature of Life and Death 'An entertaining, absorbing combination of biography and true crime.'-- Kirkus 'American Sherlock will take you on a journey to the origins of crime scene investigation by exploring the obsessive, troubled, brilliant mind of Oscar Heinrich, the nation's first true medical detective, an accomplished polymath who understood, far ahead of his time, that applied forensic science was the key to unlocking criminal mysteries. Kate Dawson offers a riveting, real, and sometimes-unsettling account of Heinrich's life and legacy in this thoroughly-researched and unblinking biography that will at times make you shake your head at the ways that true crime is stranger than fiction.' -- Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell, authors of Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner '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 -- CrimeReads 'Those interested in the development of modern forensics will be enthralled' -- Publishers Weekly