-
Silent Witnesses
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $14.52
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
A crime scene. A murder. A mystery. The most important person on the scene? The forensic scientist. And yet the intricate details of their work remains a mystery to most of us.
Silent Witnesses looks at the history of forensic science over the last two centuries, during which time a combination of remarkable intuition, painstaking observation, and leaps in scientific knowledge have developed this fascinating branch of detection. Throwing open the casebook, it introduces us to such luminaries as 'The Wizard of Berkeley' Edward Heinrich, who is credited with having solved over 2,000 crimes, and Alphonse Bertillon, the French scientist whose guiding principle 'no two individuals share the same characteristics' became the core of identification.
Along the way, it takes us to India and Australia, Columbia and China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. And it proves that, in order to solve ever more complicated cases, science must always stay one step ahead of the killer.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Forensics
- What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Sarah Barron
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dead talk - to the right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of course, who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces.
-
-
Crime Seen
- By Mark on 09-02-16
By: Val McDermid
-
The Complete Jack the Ripper
- By: Donald Rumbelow
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laying out all the evidence in the most comprehensive summary ever written about the Ripper, this book, by a London police officer and crime authority, has subjected every theory - including those that have emerged in recent years-to the same deep scrutiny. The author also examines the mythology surrounding the case and provides some fascinating insights into the portrayal of the Ripper on stage and screen and on the printed page. More seriously, he also examines the horrifying parallel crimes of the Düsseldorf Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper.
-
-
catch the facts if you can
- By Alexandra on 11-17-19
By: Donald Rumbelow
-
Manhunters
- Criminal Profilers and Their Search for the World’s Most Wanted Serial Killers
- By: Colin Wilson
- Narrated by: Brandon Massey
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating, in-depth account of the hunt for serial killers, Colin Wilson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, examines the ways they can be tracked down and caught, from the tried-and-true methods of the early 20th century to the high-tech processes in use today. Wilson examines such areas as psychological profiling, genetic fingerprinting, and the launch of the Behavioral Science Unit. He delves into the importance of fantasy to serial killers, the urge to keep on killing, the desire to become notorious, and murder as an addictive drug.
-
-
Reprinted Material, Questionable Commentary
- By B on 10-18-15
By: Colin Wilson
-
The Invention of Murder
- How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
- By: Judith Flanders
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.
-
-
Excellent, awesome and educational!
- By Janalyn on 03-14-20
By: Judith Flanders
-
Ripper
- The Secret Life of Walter Sickert
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrated by: Mary Stuart Masterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art - as well as extensive evidence - points to another name, one that's left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material - including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause - and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.
-
-
I thought this was a new book.
- By Stephanie on 03-01-17
-
The Big Book of Serial Killers
- An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers - 150 Serial Killer Files of the World's Worst Murderers
- By: Jack Rosewood, Rebecca Lo
- Narrated by: Kevin Kollins
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is little more terrifying than those who hunt, stalk, and snatch their prey under the cloak of darkness. These hunters search not for animals, but for the touch, taste, and empowerment of human flesh. They are cannibals, vampires, and monsters, and they walk among us. These serial killers are not mythical beasts with horns and shaggy hair. They are people living among society, going about their day-to-day activities until nightfall. They are the Dennis Rader's, the fathers, husbands, church-going members of the community.
-
-
GREAT FOR TRUE CRIME DEVOTÉES, BUT....
- By The Louligan on 10-31-17
By: Jack Rosewood, and others
-
Forensics
- What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Sarah Barron
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dead talk - to the right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of course, who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces.
-
-
Crime Seen
- By Mark on 09-02-16
By: Val McDermid
-
The Complete Jack the Ripper
- By: Donald Rumbelow
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laying out all the evidence in the most comprehensive summary ever written about the Ripper, this book, by a London police officer and crime authority, has subjected every theory - including those that have emerged in recent years-to the same deep scrutiny. The author also examines the mythology surrounding the case and provides some fascinating insights into the portrayal of the Ripper on stage and screen and on the printed page. More seriously, he also examines the horrifying parallel crimes of the Düsseldorf Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper.
-
-
catch the facts if you can
- By Alexandra on 11-17-19
By: Donald Rumbelow
-
Manhunters
- Criminal Profilers and Their Search for the World’s Most Wanted Serial Killers
- By: Colin Wilson
- Narrated by: Brandon Massey
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating, in-depth account of the hunt for serial killers, Colin Wilson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, examines the ways they can be tracked down and caught, from the tried-and-true methods of the early 20th century to the high-tech processes in use today. Wilson examines such areas as psychological profiling, genetic fingerprinting, and the launch of the Behavioral Science Unit. He delves into the importance of fantasy to serial killers, the urge to keep on killing, the desire to become notorious, and murder as an addictive drug.
-
-
Reprinted Material, Questionable Commentary
- By B on 10-18-15
By: Colin Wilson
-
The Invention of Murder
- How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
- By: Judith Flanders
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.
-
-
Excellent, awesome and educational!
- By Janalyn on 03-14-20
By: Judith Flanders
-
Ripper
- The Secret Life of Walter Sickert
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrated by: Mary Stuart Masterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art - as well as extensive evidence - points to another name, one that's left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material - including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause - and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.
-
-
I thought this was a new book.
- By Stephanie on 03-01-17
-
The Big Book of Serial Killers
- An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers - 150 Serial Killer Files of the World's Worst Murderers
- By: Jack Rosewood, Rebecca Lo
- Narrated by: Kevin Kollins
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is little more terrifying than those who hunt, stalk, and snatch their prey under the cloak of darkness. These hunters search not for animals, but for the touch, taste, and empowerment of human flesh. They are cannibals, vampires, and monsters, and they walk among us. These serial killers are not mythical beasts with horns and shaggy hair. They are people living among society, going about their day-to-day activities until nightfall. They are the Dennis Rader's, the fathers, husbands, church-going members of the community.
-
-
GREAT FOR TRUE CRIME DEVOTÉES, BUT....
- By The Louligan on 10-31-17
By: Jack Rosewood, and others
-
Death in the City of Light
- The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
- By: David King
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Death in the City of Light is the gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris. As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld. The main suspect was Dr. Marcel Petiot, a handsome, charming physician with remarkable charisma.
-
-
Too many facts too little story
- By Caitanya on 09-27-11
By: David King
-
Old Sparky
- The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty
- By: Anthony Galvin
- Narrated by: Jack Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Old Sparky covers the history of capital punishment in America and the "current wars" between Edison and Westinghouse, which led to the development of the electric chair. It examines how the electric chair became the most popular method of execution in America before being superseded by lethal injection. Famous executions are explored alongside quirky last meals and poignant last words.
-
-
Information not a sermon.
- By Jakk on 10-24-16
By: Anthony Galvin
-
Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect
- By: Robert House, Roy Hazelwood - foreword
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dozens of theories have attempted to resolve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial killer. Ripperologist Robert House contends that we may have known the answer all along. The head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the murders thought Aaron Kozminski was guilty, but he lacked the legal proof to convict him. By exploring Kozminski's life, Robert House here builds a strong circumstantial case against him.
-
-
A restrained and humane account
- By Tad Davis on 01-08-13
By: Robert House, and others
-
Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends
- By: Dr. Catie Gilchrist
- Narrated by: Emma Grant Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of us today rarely see a dead body. In 19th-century Sydney, when health was precarious and workplaces and the busy city streets were often dangerous, witnessing a death was rather common. And any death that was sudden or suspicious would be investigated by the coroner. Henry Shiell was the Sydney city coroner from 1866 to 1889. In the course of his unusually long career, he delved into the lives, loves, crimes, homes, and workplaces of colonial Sydneysiders.
-
-
very interesting and enlightening
- By Barbara J Allison on 08-29-19
-
Psycho USA
- Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz are writ large in the imaginations of a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts. But for every celebrity psychopath who's gotten ink for spilling blood, there's a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody margins of US history.
-
-
True crime enthusiast's dream
- By Athelsten on 08-24-17
By: Harold Schechter
-
Butcher's Work
- True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Civil War veteran who perpetrated one of the most ghastly mass slaughters in the annals of U.S. crime. A nineteenth-century female serial killer whose victims included three husbands and six of her own children. A Gilded Age “Bluebeard” who did away with as many as fifty wives throughout the country. A decorated World War I hero who orchestrated a murder that stunned Jazz Age America.
-
-
Another necessary work by Schector
- By Brandon on 12-27-22
By: Harold Schechter
-
Most Evil
- Avenger, Zodiac, and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel
- By: Steve Hodel, Ralph Pezullo
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When veteran LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel discovered that his own late father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, was the killer in the infamous Black Dahlia murder case, he wrote the best seller Black Dahlia Avenger, a book that convinced even the L.A. County Deputy District Attorney that George Hodel was responsible for Elizabeth Short's gruesome death.
-
-
Pretty Good.
- By Lee Kirkland on 09-06-16
By: Steve Hodel, and others
-
Whoever Fights Monsters
- My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI
- By: Robert K. Ressler, Tom Shachtman
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Face-to-face with some of America's most terrifying killers, FBI veteran and ex-Army CID colonel Robert Ressler learned from them how to identify the unknown monsters who walk among us - and put them behind bars. Now the man who coined the phrase "serial killer" and advised Thomas Harris on The Silence of the Lambs shows how he has tracked down some of the nation's most brutal murderers. Join Ressler as he takes you on the hunt for America's most dangerous psychopaths. It is a terrifying journey you will not forget.
-
-
Murderino checking in
- By Sarah R Bongiovanni on 06-16-17
By: Robert K. Ressler, and others
-
Undisclosed Files of the Police
- Cases from the Archives of the NYPD from 1831 to the Present
- By: Bernard Whalen, Philip Messing, Robert Mladinich
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than 175 years of true crimes culled from the city's police blotter, told through an insightful text by two NYPD officers and a NYC crime reporter. From atrocities that occurred before the establishment of New York's police force in 1845 through the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 to the present day, this audio is an insider's look at more than 80 real-life crimes that shocked the nation, from arson to gangland murders, robberies, serial killers, bombings, and kidnappings.
-
-
Good History of Crime in NYC
- By Bob Shinders on 03-10-17
By: Bernard Whalen, and others
-
Morgue
- A Life in Death
- By: Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscell
- Narrated by: Tony Ward
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vincent Di Maio, MD, son of a famous New York City medical examiner, is one of the lions of forensic science. In this clear, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Di Maio himself guides us into the inner sanctum, through the cases that have made him famous, from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and the racially charged shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin to the unmasking of a serial baby killer and the mysterious death of troubled genius Vincent van Gogh.
-
-
Biased book with little actual forensics.
- By Lila Fowler on 08-02-16
By: Vincent Di Maio, and others
-
The Poisoner's Handbook
- Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
- By: Deborah Blum
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Poisoner's Handbook, Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.
-
-
Fascinating book marred by production errors
- By Reagan Kelly on 03-02-10
By: Deborah Blum
-
Helter Skelter
- The True Story of the Manson Murders
- By: Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
-
-
Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
What listeners say about Silent Witnesses
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kimberly
- 12-18-21
Newbie to crime science?
It's a great book. I loved all the old stuff. I wondered how some stuff came about in crime science.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patricia Ferrer
- 07-25-17
Homage to those dedicated to science
well told stories that lead to finding ways to identify evil-doers via scientific techniques and methods.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- O'sensei Gary Masengale
- 01-23-21
Not sure how this book got into my library...
It is time I will never get back. What a waste. I wish I could figure out how to make it go away.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!