'Unexplained Deaths' or '18 Tiny Deaths'

The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics

The story of the Gilded Age Chicago heiress who revolutionized forensic death investigation. As the mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee is the reason why homicide detectives are a thing. She is responsible for the popularity of forensic science in television shows and pop culture. Long overlooked in the history books, this extremely detailed and thoroughly researched biography will at long last tell the story of the life and contributions of this pioneering woman. Born to a wealthy Chicago family, Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) was never meant to have a career, yet she became the mother of modern forensics. After years of intensive study in libraries, labs, and autopsy rooms, Lee went on to create The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of dollhouse-sized crime scene dioramas depicting the facts of actual cases in exquisitely detailed miniature. Bruce Goldfarb is an executive assistant to the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore—where these macabre masterpieces reside—and here he traces how this determined woman's models elevated homicide investigation to a scientific discipline.