What the Dead Know

Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator

By: Barbara Butcher

Narrated by: Barbara Butcher

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

A riveting, deeply personal memoir of more than twenty years of death-scene investigations by New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher.

Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner’s Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous—she loved it.

Butcher (yes, that is her real name, and she has heard all the jokes) spent day in and day out investigating double homicides, gruesome suicides, and most heartbreaking of all, underage rape victims who had also been murdered. In What the Dead Know, she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides. In the opening chapter, she describes how just from sheer luck of having her arm in cast, she avoided a boobytrapped suicide. Later in her career, she describes working the nation’s largest mass murder, the attack on 9/11, where she and her colleagues initially relied on family members’ descriptions to help distinguish among the 21,900 body parts of the victims.

This is the fascinating and stunning real-life story of a woman who, in dealing with death every day, learned surprising lessons about life—and how some of those lessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself. Fans of Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and true crime won’t be able to put it down.

©2023 Barbara Butcher (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Poured her heart into this book!

To say I loved this book is an understatement and does not begin to cover the layers of emotions that were uncovered while listening.
Thank you, Barbara, for your authenticity and for all the work you did in your career. Thank you for pouring yourself into this audible!
I could not turn it off once I started listening. Thank you to Duty Ron for introducing your work through h podcast.

Raw, beautiful, and surprisingly full of hope

Thank you for taking the time and courage to tell your stories and the stories of the people you encountered: We are all better for it.

this book was simply inspiring

this hit home with me in so many ways. From struggling with alcoholism , anxiety and depression. To hitting rock bottom multiple times and for some reason be giving a God pass. I drew so much from this book and just want to say thank tou for being open, vulnerable and honest. I dead azz wanna fight this ME office though. They made you revamp that place and when it involved one of their friend getting cut they cut you... and that new chief is a spineless bish she could have fought for you. I know your happier for it but they could early retire you or some thing not just cut you like that. I ultate goal is to be an autopsy assistant. I was going for ME but nope and after listening to this book it confirm my decision even more.

looking forward to more books from you... there are not many book that talk about lesbians in the forensic field or lab setting when in real life that is the case. if there is I need the name if the book or series plz.

Excellent book

I loved the honesty, stories, humor and her incredibly impressive strength. Very difficult topic, but could not have been written in a more eloquent and entertaining manner. My deepest respect to the author and all her colleagues along the way—I hope she writes another non-fiction book about her experiences.

Wonderful Read

Barbara puts so much emotion into her writing, and you can feel how she relives so much of what she's experienced.

Authentic Raw & Present

A raw artfully shared story of their journey including details of the science and soul of gruesome work, the power of a willingness to both truly see (the deceased, situation, families, colleagues, etc.) and to be authentically present and seen even though flawed and imperfect (as we all are). A cautionary, courageous tale and well worth the time.
Thank you, Barbara F**king Butcher, for choosing to be present for others, eventually also for yourself and for those who care about you.
For all if us: may we be inspired to be advocates for ourselves and others who are struggling with the weight of life so our stories may also be authentic tales of hope and the power of love and connection even through the darkest times.
Be well

Wow, love it!

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I truly enjoyed her story and feel tremendous gratitude for her strength to share it. Powerful.

There are no coincidences.

Loved everything about this book and wish it were longer or perhaps Barbara F. Butcher has another book inside her to write.

Thank you Barbara for putting it all out there. The level of honesty and vulnerability could only come from a strong, brave woman.

Gritty and real

If you worked in an ER, or as a cop or just on the street you can relate to a gritty day in day out toughness but caring Inv Butcher has for the dead. Interesting reality read. Highly recommend

What the Dead Know

I love that the author read the book. Amazing book and you can feel her passion.