William Maples is a criminal anthropologist. From a skeleton, a skull, or a mere fragment of bone, he can deduce the age and sex of a corpse and the manner in which the victim met its death. Numerous brutal and vicious murders have been solved through his skill in reading the bones of the dead.
In this book, Maples reveals the fascinating case histories behind some of the most unusual and horrific investigations, describing in gruesome detail, yet with remarkable compassion, the steps he took in resolving each mystery - from baffling dismemberment cases to the identity of long-buried skeletons.