Bone Detective

Diane France, Bone Detective

Hey, ever wanted to dig-up a murder victim's body or hold your own skull? Well then, this is the book for you. Bone Detective is the story of forensic anthropologist Diane France written by Lorraine Jean Hopping. It is a biography about the forensic anthropologist Diane France's amazing life. This book is part of a stunning series called "Women in Science."

Bone Detective the story of forensic anthropologist
Diane France

Anthropology means the study of human beings. In this book we learn about Diane's life from when she was born in 1954, to 2005 when she marries Arthur Abplanalp.  Through diagrams and some explanation it shows some of the ways you can tell age, sex, ancestry, height and other key facts from someone's skeleton. It talks through how NecroSearch (a group of highly trained personnel who solve murder cases for the government) solved the cases of Michele Wallece, Cher Elder, The Hunley and others.

Personally I really enjoyed this book because it told the whole story. By that, I mean in a murder case it wouldn't say "Michele Wallece was murdered" they would say "The body had been dumped. The vertebrae and ribs were found at the base of tree about 25 feet below the road. Diane concluded that the body was tossed from the roadside, rolled downhill on its own and came to rest at a tree ... Over time, gravity must have caused the skull to roll further."




If you are interested in forensics, anthropology or just want to find out what that means then this is definitely the book for you. On the other hand if you're not the kind of person who can stand "the gory stuff" then I suggest you stay away from this book, but only until you think you can handle it.

This is a video of Diane's lecture at The Beckman Center on anthropology (and the case of Peter  Michael). It goes for almost an hour but I suggest watching it if you are really interested in anthropology and you will learn a lot in that hour if you take the time to watch it.