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Title: Maggots, Murder, and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist by Zakaria Erzinclioglu ISBN: 0312287747 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67
Rating: 4
Summary: A Fine Collection of Anecdotes and Opinions
Comment: The secondary title of Maggots, Murder, and Men by Zakaria Erzinçlioglu is accurate-- Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist. Dr. Zak, as he is known to those unwilling to pronounce his name, has compiled an anthology of anecdotes and opinions accumulated over his long career of examining bugs for the British criminal justice system. I chose to read this book because I wanted to learn more than I already knew about forensic entomology, but I did not want to shell out the bucks to purchase an appropriate textbook. Maggots, Murder, and Men is a fine introduction to the basics; Dr. Erzinçlioglu explains quite nicely the logic of using flies, fly larvae and other creepy-crawlies to determine the time of death of a body. He provides a bit of the fly life cycle and discusses the ecology of various species, but the entomology ends there. There are no identification keys or the like.
The book is well written and entertaining. Besides bug stories, there is also a fair bit of exposition on such subjects as the criminal justice system, hypothesis testing, shady people (from both sides of the law), and Sherlock Holmes. I am quite sure that while one is picking through many tedious piles of insect samples a jillion odd thoughts pop to mind. I am thankful that Zakaria Erzinçlioglu chose to commit some of his to posterity.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Maggots, Begetter Flies & Etc. in the Justice System"
Comment: "Maggots, Murder, and Men"...is a 256 page treatise written by a notable forensic entomologist with more than 25 years of experience with Cambridge University academia, research at Durham University, and administration of criminal law in England.
The book is scholarly and extraordinarily well-written with innumerous factual details on a variety of maggots, begetter flies and a medley of insects which, to the trained scientist, can provided desirous and often crucial information and evidence that otherwise may be lacking regarding the time of day, season and place(s) of death. Such information is often critical in indicting and convicting or dismissing suspects in deaths from natural, accidental, suicidal, unknown, or homocidal causes.
More than a potpourri of intensely interesting forensic cases solved or confirmed by forensic entomology, the author provides 10 chapters which move from discussion of entomology, maggots, flies, to the identification of human remains and the nature of crime, criminals and the justice system. Chapter 4 "Foul, Strange and Unnatural" describes some grisly cases and the author muses about those evils perpetrated today contrasted to those in times long gone and proffers that "meaningless violence now occurs during times of peace and prosperity," and that the modern day vandal "derives pleasure from distress it causes others." He is loathe to openly discuss the feral things he has seen done to children. He is aghast at those who give "serious talk about the 'rights' of paedophiles to indulge their desires" and who assert these paedophiles "are yet another persecuted minority." He is concerned about societal fragmentation by the agency of moral relativism. Dr. Erzinclioglu regards some values/actions as "sacrosanct and inviolable."
Reference is given to the initial application of DNA using PCR in Chapter 7 and of the "coffin" scuttle fly Conicera tibialis which can locate a corpse 6 feet underground, and he provides comnmentaries in Chapter 8 "Past Times" of the four plagues of Egypt (O.T.), and coverage of myiasis (obligate and/or facultative parasitic maggot feeding on live flesh) with specific references to King Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Syria), Herod the Great, King Herod Agrippa (Judea), Pheretima, etc., and reviews some of the unique problems of myiasis in domesticated versus indigenous mammals of different continents.
The Medicinal application of maggot therapy is well-covered in Chapter 9 that is replete with major tropical maladies, parasitology, and of the scientists who made discoveries leading to effective treatments and observations of maggot infestation in the Napoleonic, American Civil and the Great Wars.
In the final 25 pages, Chapter 10, the author articulates those perceived flaws and weaknesses he detected within the forensics of the Criminal Justice System (CJS), an adversarial system betwixt barristers. Elements of corruption on occasion were observed within the police system regarding creditability of evidence. The Home Office Forensic Science Service (HOFSS) under the CJS evolved into a 'privatized' FSS agency where cost factor by and by ordained the extent and type of forensic studies available to the prosecution. Frumpy & unqualified "muddy-water" consultants emerged as "specialists", plying their expertise through defence barristers. Since April 1999 scientific witnesses within the British Civil Justice System are no longer adversarial but answerable to the judge alone: This is not yet the case within the Criminal Justice System.
All in all, there is much more to this book than reviewed above. It is a scholarly work, written in a style which does not yield to cursory reading but with provoking commentary on those societal, judicial, and scientific issues that should insure a large audience for this exposition.
I would have liked to have seen a few illustrations of the various commonly encountered flies and maggots that were discussed, but references are provided for me to do so. A mystery to this reviewer is substitution of Pica pica with a member of the Muscidae family. To wit: the book's opening quotation taken from 'Who Killed Cock Robin?' Anon. is given as 'Who saw him die?', 'I' said the Fly...' is at variance with my library version which reads 'I', said the Magpie, 'with my little eye, I saw him die' from "Poor Cock Robin" printed in "Favorite Poems for Children" Ed. by Holly Pell McConnaughy. From cover to cover this is one of those books that simply can't get any better. It is underpriced and a "must read" that puts forensics in perspective.
Rating: 3
Summary: Dr. Bugs Talks About Shirley Holmes
Comment: This book was worth the read, but it took a lot more effort to pay attention to than other forensic books I've read. The author is a forensic entomologist meaning he studies the life cycle of bugs on the dead to help estimate time of death and also connect the type of insect with the place of the homicide. This book had very small print and the author tended to refer back to a lot of Shirley Holmes stories (which made me want to buy some Shirley Holmes books because he never finished the whole story). Also, he tended to jump around a lot and not stay focused on one crime scene enough to give good details. The stories of the crime scenes and the insects found were not very detailed, and I really thought he would explain more about the different types of insects and get into more detail about them. The book was definitely worth the insight into the field of forensic entomology, but I just would have liked it better if his explanations of the crime scenes were more detailed and the insect identification was more detailed. Also, there were no pictures at all (other than fly sketches here and there), so that was definitely a bummer. The author is very knowledgable about his field, but book writing and story telling are not his forte.
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