Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook ARC. 
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True crime meets environmental biology in this fascinating collection of case studies by Patricia Wiltshire. As a forensic ecologist, Wiltshire uses her knowledge of nature (across a broad spectrum) to help solve horrendous crimes. Whether that’s finding holly pollen in a deep cut or matching mud samples to shoes, her expertise absolutely pulls at my scientific side and I can empathize with the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated field.

Now, I will be the first to say that I am not into...murder. That sounds weird, but it’s true! I hardly ever read thrillers and I prefer cozy mysteries -- I’ve never listened to a true crime podcast and I can’t get through an episode of Criminal Minds without feeling ill. In fact, I almost passed on this ARC! However, I decided to stick around because I knew it would interest my students and it was so connected to my academic passions. 

That being said, the narrator’s lovely accent reminded me of my grandmother and made the content much more manageable. 

I respect Wiltshire’s ability to delicately describe the stomach-twisting crimes and how her research intertwined. She often references her previous book and keeps the reader in tune with updated information such as COVID-changes, made-into-movie coverage, and scientific developments. What does stand out is the slight rambling and sometimes sour-tone in the writing about her co-workers.

True crime, environmental evidence, and...gossip? Without dropping names (and sometimes actually dropping them), Wiltshire exposes the highs and lows of what it was like to work alongside her colleagues. And I get it, really I do, but these sentiments didn’t exactly suit the rest of the book. 

Overall, the production of this audiobook was excellent. I split it between walking my dog and hanging out at the local cafe, taking breaks when I needed to process the harder-to-swallow details. The writing is targetted for popular-science lovers and true crime virtuosos, and with some editing, it could have been stellar.