discusses the cost of going to law. As outlines, these may prove useful to the non-lawyer seeking basic information. It is aimed at the layman seeking a lawyer, with advice such as "If you are unhappy about the bill, you should ask them for an explanation, and wherever possible come to some arrangement." It does go on to canvass the further action available if an arrangement is not forthcoming!

Many solicitors' firms tell the reader that they have "been established since . . . " and one wonders how far their longevity is really relevant to the quality of their current practice!

For those involved in forensic work, this is a useful book; perhaps in the next edition it could be suggested that Chambers include information about those firms who have an expertise in specific areas within the broad categories of, say, crime (e.g. fraud); and those who regularly appear at inquests, or are involved in medico-legal issues.

At £9.95. it is worth the investment.

LEX

GRAVE OFFENCES

The detection of human remains Edward W Killam (Charles C Thomas, Illinois, 1990, 263pp, index, ISBN 0 398 05662 5; $44.75)

This is a most interesting book which fulfils the promise in the preface of being "the first of its kind". It is aimed not only at forensic pathologists, but at all law enforcement agencies who are concerned in searching for missing persons.

It gives a comprehensive overview of all the methods currently available for the detection of human remains. These include foot search methods, intrusive ground search methods, and aerial survey. It also gives a comprehensive review of up-to-date and experimental techniques drawing on geophysics, remote sensing and even dowsing! The first two chapters on forensic anthropology and search planning are excellent and the appendices serve as useful aides memoire.

The quality of the print and illustrations is excellent and I have found only a few minor typographical and transcription errors.

I do not think that this is a book which every individual investigator need rush out and buy. It should certainly be available in the reference library of every large police force and forensic science laboratory, and will prove to be an invaluable reference work. It very adequately fills a long-standing gap in forensic literature, and I commend it highly.

MAG

ADDRESSING THE TEENS

Science and Criminal Detection John Broad (Macmillan Education, Ltd, Basingstoke, 1988, 120 pp . , index, ISBN 0 333 48325 1, 25.95)

One characteristic of the good reviewer is that he gets down to the job of reviewing a book immediately he receives it from the editor. Thereafter his review arrives in

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the editor's in-tray within days or, at most, weeks. In the present case the reviewer received the book some time ago, read and annotated it, and put it to one side ready to write his piece when an odd hour became available.

Time dragged on until pleading noises from the editorial office drew him to the keyboard where, before starting to write, the reviewer asked himself why had he taken so long to do such a small job? The answer was that he found the book, which is written for teenagers, irritating and in parts quite disagreeable.

It is irritating because a competent and didactic style (the author is a former schoolteacher) is spoiled by a glut of infelicities and it is disagreeable because there is a basic thread of cynicism and smugness running throughout.

Starting with a lofty rubric from Bertrand Russell "Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim" it goes on to say (p. 113) that "most people. . . cannot resist a fiddle on the side" adding that, in relation to the payment of taxes, the author is one of these.

This engaging honesty is quite spoiled when we read in one case history (p. 67) a patronizing account of how one of the author's acquaintances was anonymously reported to the authorities for screwing the Inland Revenue and others. At least I think that this is what he is saying but it is difficult to be sure because the style here, as in some other parts of the book, is oblique to the point of opacity.

"Case history" did I say? Well, not really, because most of the chronicles of events relate to what happened to the author's friends, relations and acquaintances, a rather hazardous correlation one gathers. However, the author does not lack for variety despite his want of case-work experience. Some of his accounts are quite fascinating.

One (p. 70) relates how an embryonic bank-robber broke his forearm by one-handedly firing a sawn-off shotgun into the ceiling. This led the reviewer (who is easily diverted from work) to daydream about the relationship of recoil to barrel length, the nature of progressively burning propellants and, after various intermedi- ate stages, the reasons the American colonists won the War of Independence. Think it out. The most convincing story wins a pint of good Yorkshire bitter.

But back to work!

We learn that the Widmark Factor (p. 7) determines the slope of alcohol clearance from the body, that the antigens on red blood cells are the factors stimulating the production of anti-species antibodies (p. 34), that grouping results can be used to calculate the probability that two blood samples come from the same source (p. 40), that bacteria do not affect DNA, that Brentamine tests the high acid phosphatase activity of semen (p. 46), that quality assurance involves slipping unknown items in among the real ones (p. 41) and that no circumstantial evidence is conclusive (p. 54).

To be fair I think it more likely that these semantic potholes, unwittingly dug for the uncritical reader, are more linguistic in origin than scientific. Penetration and discrimination in any professional field are attained only by working in it daily.

But we professional forensic scientists have no cause to complain. At least the author had a shot at it which is more than can be said for most of us. Until we make more efforts to write for this readership we must be satisfied with Mr Broad's book.

SSK

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