Two National Forensic Science Institute administrators invite readers into what the Washington Post calls "the Harvard of hellish violence"-the only hands-on CSI school of its kind where students are trained in burial recovery with actual human remains. With exclusive access to a world normally off-limits to the public, this is the first book to go behind the scenes of the ten-week course that discloses the uncensored realities of burial exhumations and the fascinating art of forensic investigation.

Two National Forensic Science Institute administrators invite readers into what the Washington Post calls "the Harvard of hellish violence"-the only hands-on CSI school of its kind where students are trained in burial recovery with actual human remains. With exclusive access to a world normally off-limits to the public, this is the first book to go behind the scenes of the ten-week course that discloses the uncensored realities of burial exhumations and the fascinating art of forensic investigation.

“A fearless and brutal look at friendships...you will laugh, rage, and mourn its loss when it’s over.” —Justina Ireland, New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation “Simultaneously hilarious and moving, weird and wonderful.” —Jeff Zentner, Morris Award–winning author of The Serpent King Six Feet Under meets Pushing Daisies in this quirky, heartfelt story about two teens who are granted extra time to resolve what was left unfinished after one of them suddenly dies. A good friend will bury your body, a best friend will dig you back up. Dino doesn’t mind spending time with the dead. His parents own a funeral home, and death is literally the family business. He’s just not used to them talking back. Until Dino’s ex-best friend July dies suddenly—and then comes back to life. Except not exactly. Somehow July is not quite alive, and not quite dead. As Dino and July attempt to figure out what’s happening, they must also confront why and how their friendship ended so badly, and what they have left to understand about themselves, each other, and all those grand mysteries of life. Critically acclaimed author Shaun Hutchinson delivers another wholly unique novel blending the real and surreal while reminding all of us what it is to love someone through and around our faults.

From the authors of Bodies We've Buried-an uncensored look at real-life CSIs. With a foreword by Patricia Cornwell. For years, Jarrett Hallcox and Amy Welch trained CSIs at the National Forensic Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. Now they provide a glimpse into the real world of crime scene investigation, and the investigators themselves. Experience, through gripping text and photographs, eight gripping accounts of true crime from across the country: from the murky waters of the Puget Sound to the crumbling ruins of the Alamo and the grimy streets of the Big Apple, these are the real stories of the people who work behind the yellow tape.

In the summer of 2009, two friends embarked on a road trip through a narrative history of American music. They visited cities of the dead, sold their souls at the Crossroads, dipped their feet in the Mississippi, and made memories with preachers, police, and teachers. Musicians, hippies, and gatekeepers. And when the dust settled, they discovered more than just music. They found the Blues.

A look inside the world of forensics examines the use of human cadavers in a wide range of endeavors, including research into new surgical procedures, space exploration, and a Tennessee human decay research facility.

A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative that explores the valuable but often shocking interface between crime and nature--and the secrets each can reveal about the other--from a pioneer in forensic ecology and a trailblazing female scientist. From mud tracks on a quiet country road to dirt specks on the soles of walking boots, forensic ecologist Patricia Wiltshire uses her decades of scientific expertise to find often-overlooked clues left behind by criminal activity. She detects evidence and eliminates hypotheses armed with little more than a microscope, eventually developing a compelling thesis of the who, what, how, and when of a crime. Wiltshire's remarkable accuracy has made her one of the most in-demand police consultants in the world, and her curiosity, humility, and passion for the truth have guided her every step of the way. A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative, The Nature of Life and Death details Wiltshire's unique journey from college professor to crime fighter: solving murders, locating corpses, and exonerating the falsely accused. Along the way, she introduces us to the unseen world all around us and underneath our feet: plants, animals, pollen, spores, fungi, and microbes that we move through every day. Her story is a testament to the power of persistence and reveals how our relationship with the vast natural world reaches far deeper than we might think.

Volume II of PEE WEE, Serial Killer or Homicidal Maniac, focuses on the courtroom drama of his several trials and appeals. Readers that enjoy trial strategy, courtroom personalities and the cloakroom maneuvering of the criminal courts will find a plethora of intriguing twists and turns. Seemingly foregone outcomes are reversed by national events or by the local politics of the farmlands of South Carolina that stubbornly resist change. It is replete with excerpts from actual trial transcriptions and transcripts of out of court statements given under oath. Despite his numerous murder convictions Gaskins manages time and again to avoid the death penalty in real life by virtue of unexpected events that could seemingly occur only in fiction. Told by an attorney intimately involved in the cases, there are pithy descriptions of battles fought in and out of the courtroom on the one hand and on the other of the camaraderie between adversaries. Both often lead to unpredictable outcomes. Pee Wee Gaskins describes the murders to which he will plead guilty in his own words. At the same time by either omission or outright lies, he avoids the inclusion of those murders for which he does not want to admit responsibility. Finally, in one of the most incredible crimes imaginable, the tiny killer foils the safeguard systems of a maximum security penitentiary to murder a fellow death row inmate with plastic explosives.