Forensic Entomology: An Introduction

Abstract

As forensic entomologists, we constantly hear claims that student interest in forensic science is a passing fad. However, a close inspection of past and future needs soon shows that the demand for more and better qualified forensic scientists has been strong and continues to grow. In much the same way, readers sometimes make a cursory scan of a book and dismiss it as light weight or superficial. We made that mistake with Forensic Entomology: An Introduction—we didn’t expect the book to amount to much, but the more we read, the more we found to value. As we have learned yet again, whereas you can judge a blow fly by its puparium, you can’t judge a booklouse by its exoskeleton. Forensic Entomology: An Introduction is not a reference or a manual; it is an introductory undergraduate text. Actually, it could even serve as a supplemental text in some graduate courses or high school forensic science classes (an increasingly popular method to bait teens into taking a course offering death and mayhem and then switch into a course teaching science—a confidence trick we like). The book offers sufficient detail that students without previous entomology experience can learn about forensic entomology, although they probably will not like those sections on fly and beetle families or the discussion of chaetotaxy. The volume covers all the topics you would expect in a forensic entomology survey, albeit briefly in many instances. Chapters include history, sampling, many on identification and ecology of important insect groups, rearing (sadly called "breeding" in the chapter title), courts and expert witnessing, and calculating the postmortem interval. Actually, the chapter on estimating the postmortem interval is one we were certain we would hate. As guys working on insect development and its relationship to maggot growth, we tend to look at information on forensic insect development as a measure of the quality of forensic texts. Sure, we found many points we did not agree with and some that we would argue are just wrong. However, on balance, Forensic Entomology: An Introduction is better than many books we have seen, and it has two exceptional virtues: it explicitly shows how to calculate the postmortem interval using degree-day analysis and it has student exercises on the topic. We did not find that level of detail in many peer-reviewed papers and reference book chapters ostensibly on forensic insect development. Much of the book is like this. Although the material on DNA analysis is rather cursory and uneven in depth, at least it is addressed in an undergraduate text. Some chapters vary greatly in significance: we think chapter 11, The Role of Professional Associations for Forensic Entomologist, is mostly useless, but chapter 10, The Forensic Entomologist in Court, is outstanding. Similarly, we would have liked to see photos of the stages of human decomposition, but we so loved the color reproductions of the Morishige (1673-1680) paintings of The Nine Contemplations of the Impurity of the Human Body (a series showing human decomp) that we really did not miss the bloated human cadaver pictures. These images appear in both color and black and white, like others in the book. The black and white images are near the associated text, whereas the color plates are bound in the center. If it keeps the cost of the book down for the students (which it must), we see this as a great compromise. Perhaps "great compromise" best describes our impression of Forensic Entomology: An Introduction. Like all textbook authors, Gennard made compromises in deciding what material to include, and as instructors reviewing Forensic Entomology: An Introduction, we mostly agree with those choices. Just as no workshop, course, or (let’s be honest) degree in entomology can make you a forensic entomologist, neither will this (or any) book. However, it succeeds in offering the taste of medicocriminal entomology to the reader. We both teach forensic entomology (separately and together), so the obvious question is whether or not we will use this book? As a primary text no, but only because Forensic Entomology: An Introduction is written for a European audience. However, we will likely put it on our recommended reading lists and will absolutely use material from the book in our teaching. It is a book anyone teaching forensic entomology should own.