An excellent book for the forensics fan. This book - although written in the 90's - is virtually a textbook for crime scene investigation.

The author describes the development of the FBI crime labs from the earliest days, (when J. Edgar Hoover ignored the potential benefits of such development) and the function of a number of the forensic disciplines - DNA, fibers, fingerprints, trace, questioned documents, etc. I was afraid the age of the book would preclude a lot of the tools we CSI fans take for granted, but all the basics are here, and not badly dated at all.

The main indicator of the age of the book is noticeable in the examples offered of cases where various techniques are used. This was before the multiple CSI programs and before 9-11. Therefore the author mentions Colombo and Quincy, and references the Oklahoma bombing and the first bombing of the World Trade Center. Since I'm old enough to get the references, it was not a problem for me, but I subtracted a star for age. ( )