A crime scene investigator notes the tiny indentations on the fragments of a tin can identified at a bomb site. After months of testing he is able to match them to the can opener that made them - and lead police to the bomb-maker who used it.

A forensic dentist documents the marks in chewing gum dropped by a thief during a burglary and matches them to the teeth of the suspect. A forensic physician examines an abused child, "reading" the terrible alphabet that fists and weapons write on the skin and identifying a mother's hairbrush as the source of the "tramline bruising" on her daughter's leg.

Liz Porter's riveting casebook shows how forensic investigators - including pathologists, chemists, entomologists, DNA specialists and document examiners - have used their specialist knowledge to identify victims, catch perpetrators, exonerate innocent suspects and solve dozens of crimes and mysteries.

Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime 2007