Murder & Mayhem Recommendation: First Cut by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell

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Hello!


I hope you're doing well and staying healthy during these crazy times! Because so many of us find ourselves sheltering in place right now, I thought I'd try to step up my recommendations a little to spread the word about some murder-&-mayhem-related awesomeness that I'm enjoying lately.


Today I'm gonna talk about First Cut, by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell:

What made me want to read this: A while back, I recommended Working Stiff by these same authors; Working Stiff is a non-fiction memoir about Dr. Melinek's work as a medical examiner, and covers, among other things, her work in NYC in the days after 9/11. I found that book to be a fascinating, approachable read that I couldn't put down, so when I found out the authors were trying their hand at fiction, I had to read it. Because, in a nutshell, First Cut is a novel about a fictional medical examiner who helps solve crimes, written by a real-life medical examiner who helps solve crimes, writing together with her husband.


Plot basics: Jessie Teska, a medical examiner, moves to San Francisco to escape a painful past. She's barely into her new digs when a very odd case crosses her path: a man shot to death because he snatch-and-grabbed a laptop in a cafe. As she look into the case, a woman she caught crying in the rain turns up on her table, dead of a drug overdose. As she investigates, she begins to suspect the cases are related; when she tries to pursue her line of inquiry, she smashes up against bureaucratic resistance that undercuts her ability to do her job and puts her in danger.


Why I love this: Because one of the two authors is a medical examiner, this book is as authentic as it gets, but is an easy, compelling read. The insight into what medical examiners do and how vital it can be is fascinating, but in the wrong hands could become dense and dry--but the writing here is fresh, inviting and down-to-earth. I also love Jessie Teska as a character; she's tenacious, she's empathetic, she's a little bit grumpy, and she's a lot real. She's the sort of person I'd love to hang out with (at least, after she washes the smell of decomposing corpses off of her). And, because I'm a Bay Area resident, I love that the book is set in San Francisco and manages to celebrate the city I love even if Jessie's not yet sure it's her cup of tea. She lives in a converted cable car, a detail taken from real San Francisco history--how cool is that?


You can find First Cut in bookstores now, and of course you can find it on Amazon if you prefer to order that way.


I purchased First Cut myself, and this review reflects my honest opinion of the book.


Happy reading!

M.M.

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Murder & Mayhem: Exhibit A

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Hello!


Time for this week's Murder & Mayhem recommendation: Exhibit A, a Netflix true-crime documentary.

Exhibit A is an intriguing twist on true crime shows--it's kinda like the flip side of Forensics Files. Each episode examines a type of forensic evidence and, through a target case, questions to what degree we can really trust that evidence.


By now most people have heard of the CSI Effect: the expectation juries have that all cases should have conclusive scientific forensic evidence, particularly DNA. Failing that, the juries will refuse to convict. Exhibit A looks at the other side of this coin: the assumption that evidence is more conclusive than it really is.


No evidence, not even DNA, is a clear-cut slam-dunk; it all involves interpretation, statistical analysis, and human error. Recently hair and fiber analyses have come under attack, and before that, bite-mark analyses were cast into doubt. My particular pet peeve is this arena is "touch DNA." At first glimpse, touch DNA seems like a godsend for identifying perpetrators--all you need is a few skin cells. But it's far more complicated than it seems on the surface (I talk about this very briefly in The Dancing Girls).


Part of understanding what a DNA profile means is knowing where the sample came from, and what type of sample it is. For example, if you get a DNA profile from a victim's underwear, it makes a huge difference whether that DNA comes from semen, blood, or epithelial cells. If there's visible semen or blood on the underwear, you can be fairly certain the sample came from someone who was in the physical presence of the victim. But even that doesn't tell  you for certain you have your perpetrator. Say the victim had relations with her boyfriend before being attacked later in the day; in that case, assuming the semen came from a rapist would be a huge error.


The problem becomes more complex if we're looking at sweat or saliva, and far more complex when we move into epithelial cells (the source of touch DNA). For example, researchers testing new underwear directly out of their original packaging have found DNA profiles, most likely from the factory workers who made or packaged the underwear. So if a victim's underwear gives a DNA profile from epithelial cells, it's difficult (or impossible) to tell where that profile actually originated.
And that's just one issue among many with touch DNA. Exhibit A has an episode that goes into another potential problem with the tiny sample sizes touch DNA often involves.


Does that mean we can't trust touch DNA, or other types of evidence? Not at all. But we do need to understand what we can really take away from any source of evidence, and weight it accordingly when people's lives are at stake. Exhibit A puts these issues squarely out on the table for consideration.


Have you seen Exhibit A? What did you think?


Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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Introducing my new Murder & Mayhem feature...

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Hello!

So, I've been doing a little something on my Facebook page and Twitter that I've been calling M.M.'s Mayhem & Murder feature, and decided it was time to bring it over here to the blog, too.


The idea is this: I love true crime and fictional crime, and a whole range of odd things that touch onto one or both of those areas. Not surprising considering I write crime fiction, I know! But I figured since I'm constantly on the lookout for new things to read and watch and learn about, I might as well share my finds with you.


So, first a recap of the features so far, to catch the blog up:


Week one: I kicked things off with one of the most bizarre (in my opinion) true-crime cases of all times, Anatoly Moskvin. This guy didn't kill anybody, but...let's just say he had philosophical issues with burying young women.



Week two: I recommended one of my favorite true-crime podcasts, Wine And Crime, which mixes true-crime cases with a healthy dose of humor. Three life-long friends work their way through three bottles of wine while discussing a true-crime topic. Fascinating and funny, and I love it.






Week three: I recommended Working Stiff, by Judy Melinek and TJ Mitchell. This is an excellent look at how Medical examiners help determine questionable causes of death, among other things. I found this just fascinating! 







Which brings us to my current recommendation: Since people seemed to respond to Working Stiff, I thought I'd recommend Autopsy: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, a series of HBO documentaries about how autopsy evidence has helped solve cases. This is an oldie (especially the earlier episodes), but definitely a goodie. HBO appears to have released one episode per year for twelve years, and each goes into around 6-10 cases per episode, so each is brief and packs a punch. About half the episodes are available on Amazon, free if you're a Prime member, and you can find most of them on YouTube, too. 


Have you read/watched/listened to any of these? What do you think? Do you know of any related media I should check out?


Thanks for dropping by!

M.M.