Originally published in hardcover: William Morrow, 2007. Includes index.

Introduction: A half-century of forensic evolution and revolution --The golden bowl, the burning palace : applying modern science to ancient bones -- Splash landing, part 1 : finding answers in teeth and skull morphology -- Shedding light on a victim's bones : using UV to illuminate identity -- Forensics at the speed of flight : interpreting teeth and trauma -- The rockets' red glare, bodies bursting in air : dealing with a mass disaster -- Dead for the holidays : determining time since death -- A Texas scorcher : finding a "fingerprint" in a frontal sinus -- No butts about it : convicting a killer by matching bite marks -- Listening to the bugs : pinpointing time since death with forensic entomology -- The professor versus the computer : harnessing software to determine race and ID a victim -- Science at the cutting edge : scanning a knife mark with electron microscopy -- Leoma Patterson, part 1 : reopening an old coffin--and an old case--with DNA -- Splash landing, part 2 : searching the depths with sonar -- Leoma Patterson, part 2 : putting a face on the dead -- The day the bopper died : digging for the truth, and finding it with x-rays -- Leoma Patterson, part 3 : pushing the limits of DNA testing.