American Sherlock

November 15, 2019
A biography of a little-known but influential forensic scientist told through the crimes that he helped solve. Documentary producer Dawson (Journalism/Univ. of Texas; Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City, 2017) tells the story of detective and chemist Oscar Heinrich (1881-1953), "the most famous criminalist you've likely never heard of," the man who helped found modern forensic science through his pioneering work solving infamous cases. Though Heinrich had little use for the media, which he viewed as a tool, Dawson's chapters all have fun Sherlock Holmes-esque titles, including "The Case of the Baker's Handwriting," "The Case of the Star's Fingerprints," and "The Case of the Calculating Chemist." In each, the author tells vivid details of a wide variety of infamous crimes--e.g., those alleged of Fatty Arbuckle--not revealing all the secrets or indulging in conspiracy theories but still developing suspense and, most importantly, reporting the scene clearly with both the history accepted at the time and revisionist reflection. While many true-crime books suffer from stale prose, Dawson's writing is remarkable in that it never uses the crutch of false suspense but also doesn't skimp on valuable details. The author explains Heinrich's deductive reasoning matter-of-factly, succinctly, and with the proper respectful attention to the victims while acknowledging the complex hubris of such an adept detective. When he heard of his nickname, the "American Sherlock," Heinrich is reported as saying, "Not Sherlock Holmes....Holmes acted on hunches. And hunches play no part in my crime laboratory." Readers see the development of each crime through victim and suspect profiles that read as objectively as Heinrich's methods. We come to respect him, his scientific brain, and his integrity despite his mistakes. How do detectives understand what pieces relate to one another? Heinrich taught them how. An entertaining, absorbing combination of biography and true crime.

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December 1, 2019

Dawson (Death in the Air) uses five decades worth of files to tell the story of Edward Heinrich, who in the first half of the 20th century, solved some of the most mysterious and high-profile criminal cases in the United States. The case files presented include the page-turning stories of a high-profile Hollywood actor accused of murder, the kidnapping and murder of a Catholic priest, and the baffling case of a Stanford professor accused of killing his wife. Readers will learn about a man with a difficult past being led to an exciting, yet demanding career never pursued; the birth of forensic science; and law enforcement's and the public's shifting views of forensics to solve crimes. VERDICT A fascinating book worthy of being associated with the title's literary sleuth. Readers will want a follow-up so they can discover more of Heinrich's cases as told through Dawson's great storytelling. For fans of Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark and other true crime works.--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 16, 2019
Edward Oscar Heinrich (1881–1953) was one of America’s earliest criminologists. He was also a meticulous record keeper, allowing Dawson (Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog and the Strangling of a City) to recreate his fascinating life story. Heinrich worked as a pharmacist before opening America’s first private crime lab in 1910. In 1921, he was California’s lead criminologist in the manslaughter trial of silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. But his revolutionary use of fingerprint evidence wasn’t enough to win a conviction, as the result was two mistrials and a not-guilty verdict in a third trial. Heinrich’s expertise was redeemed in the public’s eye when he helped convict the men involved in a botched train robbery in 1923. In the early 1930s, he worked for the defense of accused wife-killer David Lamson. Heinrich insisted the woman slipped in the bath and hit her head. Though Lamson was never exonerated, the D.A. declined after four trials to prosecute Lamson again and he was freed. Well versed in deductive reasoning, the comparison microscope, blood splatter, and fingerprints, Heinrich was a brilliant pioneer in the field. Those interested in the development of modern forensics will be enthralled. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

December 1, 2019
In the early twentieth-century, U.S. police and investigators had few tools to help them solve crimes; Oscar Heinrich changed that. Dawson (Death in the Air, 2017) follows several high-profile cases in which Heinrich, a brilliant and eternally dissatisfied man, applied new scientific procedures. Haunted by discovering his father's suicide, Heinrich was obsessive and a workaholic, forever teetering on financial collapse despite his hard work. He employed new methods of criminal detection such as blood pattern analysis, in one instance concluding that a young woman had not been murdered by her husband in the bath, but had merely hit her head on the sink. Juries, however, were less convinced by scientific methods and found Heinrich's explanations off-putting; he never got over a jury's refusal to convict actor Fatty Arbuckle of murder despite his best forensic evidence. In another case, this pioneer in forensic ballistics microscopically photographed two bullets side-by-side, and the jury thought it was trick photography. Despite personal and professional frustrations, he persisted. Dawson combed Heinrich's own, voluminous papers to produce this entertaining read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)