D. P. Lyle - Howdunit Forensics: a guide for writers

HOW ? DUNIT

FORENSICS

A GUIDE FOR WRITERS

D.P. LYLE, M.D.

WRITER'S DIGEST BOOKS

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Forensics 2008 by D.P. Lyle. Manufactured in Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writers Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lyle, D. P.

Forensics : a guide for writers / by D.P. Lyle.

p. cm. -- (Howdunit)

ISBN 978-1-58297-474-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Forensic sciences--Popular works. 2. Criminal investigation. 3. Fiction--Authorship--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Criminal investigation in literature. I. Title.

HV8073.L93 2008

363.25--dc22

2007029114

Edited by Michelle Ehrhard
Designed by Claudean Wheeler
Production coordinated by Mark Griffin

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the clever writers who work to get it right. I hope this book will help them do just that.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D.P. Lyle, M.D. is the Macavity Award-winning and Edgar Award-nominated author of the nonfiction books, Murder and Mayhem , Forensics for Dummies , and Forensics and Fiction, as well as the thrillers, Devils Playground and Double Blind .

He has worked as a story and technical consultant with many published authors and with the writers and producers of several popular television shows, including Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Cold Case, Peacemakers, House, Medium, and 1-800-Missing .

Through his Web site, The Writers Medical and Forensics Lab (www.dplylemd.com), he works with writers and readers to enrich their understanding of complex medical and forensic issues in the stories they write and read.

He was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, where his childhood interests revolved around football, baseball, and building rockets in his backyard. The latter pursuit was common in Huntsville during the 1950s and 60s due to the nearby NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center.

After leaving Huntsville, he attended college and medical school, and served an internship at the University of Alabama; followed by a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas at Houston; then a Fellowship in Cardiology at The Texas Heart Institute, also in Houston. For the past thirty years, he has practiced cardiology in Orange County, California.

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

BY MATT WITTEN

BY LEE GOLDBERG

FOREWORD

BY MATT WITTEN

W riting crime novels and TV shows is a lot of fun, but there are definitely occupational hazards. For one thing, you tend to have rather odd dreams. Also, your family can get a tad perturbed when you discuss serial killers or methods of strangulation at the dinner table. And last but not least, you can find yourself in the middle of writing a great murder mystery and suddenly realize you have no idea what the hell youre talking about.

Reading Howdunit: Forensics may not cure your dreams or make you a more socially appropriate dinner partner, but it will definitely make you feel more knowledgeable. Even better, youll actually be more knowledgeable. This book covers all of the forensics basics, from DNA to gunshot residue to associated legal issues, in a comprehensive way.

Not only that, this book is extremely readable with highly entertaining anecdotes. In fact, my biggest problem with the book is that when I was reading it, my wife kept sneaking it away from me so she could read it. And shes not even into this stuff.

In my work on Law & Order, Womens Murder Club , and other crime shows, I have consulted a lot of experts and read a lot of reference books. I have found that most scientists dont think like crime writers. Doug Lyle actually does, no doubt because hes been helping crime writers for over a decade and has answered hundreds upon hundreds of our questions. Howdunit: Forensics is absolutely the best reference for crime writers I have ever seen.

Best of all, you will probably find that reading this book inspires you to think up new ideas for murder mysteries and plot twists. In fact, Im thinking of a way to work Lyles story about The Shark Arm Murder into my next TV episode. Maybe Ill try it out on my family at dinner.

MATT WITTEN has written for several television crime shows including Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Womens Murder Club , and Homicide . He also wrote the Jacob Burns mystery novels for Signet.

FOREWORD

BY LEE GOLDBERG

W hen I started out writing TV cop shows, I was taught to avoid the science stuff, the boring exposition that kills the momentum of a good story. Whatever the science was, and there shouldnt be too much of it, you could quickly throw away in a line. You could have one of your cops say the lab found trace evidence at the crime scene that leads directly to Doug Lyle, and off wed go to the next car chase, gunfight, or cat-and-mouse game of wits.

The only show I can remember that even showed a passing interest in science was Hawaii Five-O . In each episode you could count on blue-suited, lantern-jawed Steve McGarrett going down to see Che Fong who, in his white lab coat, would dryly spout useless exposition based on, at best, questionable science. It was so silly that every Naked Gun movie couldnt resist spoofing it.

Nobody wanted science in their cop shows. They wanted good-looking heroes, fast-moving stories, quirky characters, and great action.

Did Columbo ever talk to a crime scene investigator? Hell no.

Did Jessica Fletcher ever consult a lab report? Get real.

How often did the cops of Hill Street Blues , Homicide , or NYPD Blue go down to the lab for a briefing? Almost never. They were too busy dealing with their complicated sex lives, their substance abuse problems, the bureaucracy of the legal system, and the political machinations within their police departments.

Why werent the TV writers behind those shows paying attention to forensics? Because it was exposition which, by definition, isnt exciting. We believed that viewers didnt care about physical evidence; they cared about people, they cared about passion, they cared about action. They were interested in whodunit, and whydunit, not particularly howdunit.

There simply wasnt anything sexy, thrilling, or suspenseful about test tubes, fingerprints, bodily fluids, DNA, pubic hairs, and autopsies.

Or so it seemed.