Forensic Detectives and Crime Fiction

Nigel Cooper

May 2002

Author Henry James (1843-1916) claimed that the detective novel was 'not so much a work of art as a work of science'. With the increase of forensic science in detective novels, this has never been truer. But despite the recent success of forensic crime writers like Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell, forensic crime fiction isn't new. In fact, it's played a part in defining the crime fiction genre from its very beginnings.

The first fictional detective of modern times was Edgar Allen Poe's Auguste C Dupin, from Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841). And it was another of Poe's novels, The Mystery of Marie Roget (1850), that first featured forensic detection in crime-solving. In The Mystery of Marie Roget, Poe fictionalised the real-life discovery of a young woman's body. He created his own theory of her death through attention to the clues on her body. This was remarkable for the time, as although writers like Dickins and Wilkie Collins were writing mystery novels, they didn't include forensic science. In fact, it was 20 years before the young doctor Arthur Conan Doyle carried on from where Poe left off – writing detective novels featuring the new science of forensics.

Sherlock Holmes

In 1887, whilst working as a doctor in Portsmouth, Doyle published A Study in Scarlet, the first novel to feature Sherlock Holmes. although named after poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, the detective was largely based on surgeons and forensic experts Dr Joseph Bell and Sir Henry Littlejohn. Both of whom Doyle had met whilst studying medicine at Edinburgh University.

Sherlock Holmes was a crime solver. But more than this, he caught his culprits by the power of forensic science: lie detectors, fingerprints, photographs and serology (the study of blood or fluids). In The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), Holmes is praised by another character as a master comparable to Alphonse Bertillion – the real-life father of criminal identification. Bertillion devised a system of measuring body parts to catalogue criminals – a practice superseded only in the early 1900s by fingerprinting.

In the opening pages of A Study in Scarlet, Holmes discusses haemoglobin (the protein that transports oxygen in blood). When sidekick Watson doesn't see its relevance to crime detection, Holmes declares: ''Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains?''

And so Sherlock Holmes was born. And as he taught Watson the beauty and power of forensic science he also taught the fascinated public. Doyle's role in popularising scientific crime detection is undeniable. Soon after their publication, French forensic scientist Edmund Locard told his pupils to read A Study in Scarlet and A Sign of Four (1891) in order that they further understand forensic methods. With his deerstalker hat and pipe (and cocaine addiction) Holmes had arguably become the most popular and influential detective in history.

Agatha Christie

Influenced by the work of Doyle, other writers had begun writing detective novels. Assisted by the introduction of cheaper paperback books, or penguins as they became known, the early 1900s became the golden age of crime fiction. And, with a wider audience than ever before, it was a female crime writer who captured the public's imagination.

The first woman to write a detective novel was Anna Katherine Green with The Leavenworth Case in 1878. But it was Devon-born Agatha Christie who first put a female name in the crime fiction hall of fame. Today, the English country house murder mystery is a cliché, but in Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), it was a new and innovative format. The book also introduced the world to a retired Belgian police officer called Hercule Poirot. His waxed moustache, egg-shaped head and 'little grey cells' soon made him the most popular detective since Sherlock Holmes.

Like Conan Doyle, Christie went to great lengths researching up-to-date forensic techniques for her novels. During the war, she worked in a hospital dispensary, developing her knowledge of poisons and their effects. This proved invaluable to her writing – poison features as a means of murder in no less than 34 of her novels. Christie became one of the most well-loved crime writers of all time, producing over 60 novels and numerous short stories and screenplays.

She wasn't the only female crime writer in the golden age, however. Often forgotten is Oxford-educated Dorothy L Sayers and her monocle-wearing detective Peter Wimsey. She seemed to take particular delight in inventing bizarre causes of death, including poisoned teeth fillings and cats with poisoned claws.

A new audience

By the 1940s, police crime fiction was all over the television. Soon, shows like Dragnet, Hawaii 5-0, Kojac and Hill Street Blues would dominate the ratings. Since then the small screen has seen a multitude of crime busters: Columbo, Jim Rockford, Bergerac, Inspectors Wexford and Morse, not to mention the Miss Marple-like Jessica Fletcher in Murder she Wrote.

The more recent leaps forward in forensic medicine have spawned more and more medical crime dramas since the 60s and 70s, both on the page and on the screen. Thankfully, shows like Quincy (where the crime-busting pathologist never allowed the (regular) death of his new young woman to obstruct his work) were replaced. Along came more hard-hitting dramas such as Silent Witness and Prime Suspect. Another notable inclusion is the detective drama series Cracker – starring an overweight, hard-drinking, gambling forensic psychologist called 'Fitz'. Created by Jimmy McGovern, Cracker dealt with serial killers, rapists and ritual slayings, amongst other things. His brand of forensics may have been different to that of Poirot and Holmes, but it was no less effective.

Modern writers

The first case of DNA being used to solve a crime occurred in 1986. Since then forensic analysis has been advancing at an amazing pace. This is reflected in the crime fiction market. Nowadays, even if the main character isn't a forensic expert, he or she usually liases with a pathologist at some point.

There have been practising lawyers who are successful novelists for some time, for example John Grisham and Lisa Scottolini. Now, doctors and forensic experts are also producing crime novels, based on forensic detectives. Readers get to enjoy a crime mystery and learn about forensic science at the same time.

Two of the most successful forensic fiction writers today are Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs. Reichs' first novel, Deja Dead (1997), introduces crime-solving forensic anthropologist (Reichs' own profession) Temperence Brennan. The book won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Brennan has now featured in several novels and made her creator a world famous author.

Cornwell worked as a clerk in a forensic pathologist's office in Richmond, Virginia and like Reichs fed her work into her fiction. And like Edgar Allen Poe, she based several of her books on real-life crimes. Her debut novel, Post Mortem, was published in 1990. It became the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasy, Anthony and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventurei, all in a single year. It also introduced the incredibly popular forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta who now earns Cornwell millions of pounds.

The power of the forensic detective in today's crime fiction market is clear. And it increases with every new scientific breakthrough. But it's worth remembering that far from being a new development, forensic science and crime fiction have always had a symbiotic relationship. Forensic science has shaped the crime fiction genre in a partnership between art and science that Henry James would have been proud of.

Find out more

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Websites

Crime Team
Channel 4's Crime Team lifts the lid on grisly murders from the crime history books.

Forensic Handbook 1 – Marks at the Crime Scene
DNA and fingerprints are well-known sources of forensic evidence found at crime scenes. But there are other marks left by criminals. Like the footwear marks and tool marks explained here.

Forensic Handbook 2 – Trace Evidence
A forensic theory says that every contact leaves a trace. A burglar might leave hair behind and take carpet fibre with them. But he might take more besides. Like paint and glass. Find out how this can help detectives solve crimes.

Books

	Fingerprints by Colin Beaven Excellent account of the history of fingerprinting culminating in the trial in 1905 where two brothers were convicted on the evidence of a thumb print. Get this book
	The Casebook of Forensic Detection by Colin Evans A selection of Holmes' finest stories including A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Get this book
	The Real Cracker by Stephen Cook Explores the work of real-life offender profilers as they investigate five horrific recent crimes. How do they compare to the public's image inspired by Fitz, TV's larger-than-life psychologist? Get this book
	Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs Reichs is one of the most successful forensic fiction writers today and Deja Dead featuring the crime-solving forensic anthropologist Temperence Brennan, won an award for best first novel. Get this book
	The First Scarpetta Collection by Patricia Cornwell Cornwell worked as a clerk in a forensic pathologists office in Richmond, Virginia and several of her books are loosely based on real-life crimes. This volume contains Post-mortem and Body of Evidence, the first two Dr Kay Scarpetta novels. Get this book
	The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie Devon-born Christie's first novel was a new and innovative format, notable for introducing the world to a retired Belgian police officer called Hercule Poirot. Get this book

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