Meet the little known and even less understood heroes of police work in Las Vegas -- the forensic investigators. Led by veteran Gil Grissom, the remarkable team assigned to the Criminalistics Bureau's graveyard shift -- including Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Sara Sidle -- must combine cutting-edge scientific methods and old-fashioned savvy as they work to untangle the evidence behind the yellow police tape. While Nick and Catherine investigate a newly discovered fifteen-year-old murder, Grissom and the rest of the team must uncover the indentity of a cold-blooded killer -- one whose execution-style, "double-tap" signature has provoked the interest of FBI agent Rick Culpepper.

Author: Max Allan Collins
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Company: Pocket Books (2003-04-01) (2001-10-30)
ISBN: 0743444043
List Price: $7.99
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THE ULTIMATE READERS’ GUIDE TO THE ART OF FORENSICS!

An intrepid investigator crawls through miles of air conditioning ducts to capture the implicating fibers of a suspect’s wool jacket . . . A forensic entomologist discovers insects in the grill of a car and nails down a drug dealer’s precise geographical path . . . A gluttonous criminal’s fingerprints are lifted from a chocolate truffle. . . .

Filled with these and many other intriguing true stories, and packed with black and white illustrations and photographs, The Forensic Casebook draws on interviews with police personnel and forensic scientists—including animal examiners, botanists, zoologists, firearms specialists, and autoposists—to uncover the vast and detailed underworkings of criminal investigation. Encyclopedic in scope, this riveting, authoritative book leaves no aspect of forensic science untouched, covering such fascinating topics as:

• Securing a crime scene
• Identifying blood splatter patterns
• Collecting fingerprints—and feet, lip, and ear prints
• Interpreting the stages of a body’s decay
• Examining hair and fiber evidence
• Trace evidence from firearms and explosives
• “Lifting” DNA prints
• Computer crime and forensic photography
• Career paths in criminal science

Lucidly written and spiked with real crime stories, The Forensic Casebook exposes the nitty gritty that other books only touch upon. Here is a reference book as addictive as a page-turning novel of suspense.

Author: Ngaire E. Genge
Paperback: 332 pages
Company: Ballantine Books (2002-08) (2002-08-27)
ISBN: 0345452038
List Price: $18.95
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This text for the criminal investigator presents the essential techniques for the examination of physical evidence on the crime scene. Chapters include: Fingerprints, Fibers, Hair, Blood, Tracks and Trails, Firearms, and Vehicular Accidents.

Author: Paul Leland Kirk, John I. Thornton
Hardcover: 508 pages
Company: John Wiley & Sons Inc (1974-06)
ISBN: 0898748542
List Price: $77.25
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Known for its accessibility, best-selling CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, 10th Edition delivers a field-based approach to modern investigative principles and practices that is strongly grounded in current research.

Author: Christine Hess Orthmann, Kären M. Hess
Hardcover: 752 pages
Company: Delmar Cengage Learning (2012-02-22)
ISBN: 1133018920
List Price: $189.95
Amazon Price: $179.63

The authoritative guide to navigating crime scenes—for professionals and for anyone fascinated by the world of CSI.

FBI Handbook of Crime Scene Forensics is the official procedural guide for law enforcement agencies, attorneys, and tribunals submitting evidence to the FBI. This handbook outlines the proper methods for investigating crime scenes, examining evidence (bullets, computers, hairs, inks, lubricants, ropes, shoeprints, tire treads, weapons of mass destruction, and more), packing and shipping evidence to the FBI, and observing safety protocol at hazardous crime scenes. At once a guide for professional forensics experts and an introduction for laymen, FBI Handbook of Crime Scene Forensics makes perfect reading for fans of Cold Case, Silent Witness, and the Law & Order and CSI franchises, and anyone with an interest in investigative police work and the criminal justice system.

Author: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Paperback: 208 pages
Company: Skyhorse Publishing (2008-08-17)
ISBN: 1602392048
List Price: $9.95
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Crime Scene Investigation offers an innovative approach to learning about crime scene investigation, taking the reader from the first response on the crime scene to documenting crime scene evidence and preparing evidence for courtroom presentation. It includes topics not normally covered in other texts, such as forensic anthropology and pathology, arson and explosives, and the electronic crime scene. Numerous photographs and illustrations complement text material, and chapter-by-chapter fictional narrative also provides the reader with a qualitative dimension of the crime scene experience. The text is further enhanced by the contributions of such recognized forensic scholars as William Bass and Arthur Bohannon.

Dozens of photographs and illustrations supplement the text.
Includes key terms, discussion questions and a glossary.
A chapter-by-chapter fictional narrative provides a colorful look at a crime scene investigation.

Author: Jacqueline T. Fish, Larry S. Miller, Michael C. Braswell
Paperback: 504 pages
Company: Anderson (2010-11-30)
ISBN: 1422463311
List Price: $61.95
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This latest edition of Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation examines concepts, field-tested techniques and procedures, and technical information concerning crime scene investigation. It has been widely adopted by police academies, community colleges, and universities and is recommended for preparation for certification exams. Written in an easy-to-read style, this comprehensive text offers up-to-date technical expertise that the author has developed over many years in law enforcement. Includes check-off lists, case studies, and 16 pages of full-color illustrated photos. Also included is an appendix on equipment for crime scene investigations.

Author: Barry A. J. Fisher, David Fisher
Hardcover: 572 pages
Company: CRC Press (2003-09-25)
ISBN: 084931691X
List Price: $107.95
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First Slurpy is fishnapped, then other things from Mrs. Blackwell's room start to disappear. Odder still, whoever is committing these crimes leaves a note written in poetry. Edgar has it all covered in his "crime investigation notebook"--but so does Patrick Chen, who has copied Edgar and is trying to solve the case first. Yet as Edgar keenly observes his surroundings, he notices many interesting things about his classmates. The more closely he watches two "suspects," the more he begins to think they might make pretty good friends. This warm and humorous story puts writing, friendship, and mystery into a short, accessible chapter book. 

Author: Mary Amato
Paperback: 140 pages
Company: Holiday House (P) (2011-07)
ISBN: 0823423867
List Price: $6.95
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Taking a systematic approach, Crime Scene Investigation and Reconstruction, 3e outlines techniques that will help investigators answer the critical what, who, when questions of crime scene investigations. With a focus on crime scene processing, the book includes the latest on database technologies, digital cameras, DNA analyses and computer-aided crime scene reconstructions.  Each chapter includes introductions and summaries that demystify the technical aspects of the field. This edition includes a separate chapter on crime scene reconstruction, the latest on search and seizure laws and updated photographs that show efficient and effective crime scene investigation methods.

Author: Robert R. Ogle
Paperback: 480 pages
Company: Prentice Hall (2011-01-14)
ISBN: 0136093604
List Price: $80.20
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MEDICOLEGAL INVESTIGATION OF DEATH, known as the "bible" of forensic pathology to pathologists around the world, has withstood the test of time, recently celebrating its twentieth year of publication. Totally rewritten and updated throughout, the text is oriented to forensic pathologists, criminal investigators, and attorneys. It embraces all aspects of the pathology of trauma as it is witnessed daily by law enforcement officers, interpreted by pathologists of varying experience and expertise in forensic pathology, and used by lawyers involved in the prosecution and defense in criminal cases as well as those engaged in civil litigation. This authoritative and complete textbook is written by some of the most respected experts in the United States. The book continues to use a simple and practical approach in keeping with the tradition established by the previous editions. It avoids technical terminology, where possible, in compliance with the aim of addressing not only physicians but all parties with an interest in the study of injury patterns and the practice of pathology as it relates to the law. A large amount of new information and abundant material not previously covered are included in this volume. The many new illustrations, diagrams and sketches showing patterns and mechanisms of injury as well as an inclusive index render this book unique.

Author: Werner U. Spitz
Hardcover: 1325 pages
Company: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd (2005-12-21)
ISBN: 0398075441
List Price: $129.95
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