Dead Reckoning

Some people like to read Chicken Soup before dozing off; some of us prefer darker bedstand fodder. Take Dead Reckoning, just released in trade paperback, an easy-to-read, pleasant little book about forensic pathology. Baden is a medical examiner; prosecutors or defense attorneys hire him to help make or break cases. If you’ve ever wanted a play-by-play description of an autopsy, you’ll find it here, along with other dream-enhancing material on the value of blood-spatter patterns in an investigation, the secrets that dead bugs can tell an investigator, what might be found in an exhumed body and other pertinent information, all of it delivered in a nice conversational style, with plenty of informative asides. There’s even a description of a forensic pathologist’s convention at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, with Wayne Newton as entertainment. Baden’s no music critic. Who cares? Sweet dreams.