Before there was CSI, there was one man who saw beyond the crime—and into the future of forensic science.

His name was Bernard Spilsbury—and, through the use of cutting-edge science, he single-handedly brought criminal investigations into the modern age. Starting out as a young, charismatic physician in the early 20th. century, Spilsbury hit the English justice system—and the front pages—like a cannonball, garnering a reputation as a real-life Sherlock Holmes. He uncovered evidence others missed, towered above his rivals in the field of crime reconstruction, exposed discrepancies between witness testimony and factual evidence, and most importantly, convicted dozens of murderers with hard-nosed, scientific proof. Killers who would have escaped punishment pre-Spilsbury, began to drop through the hangman's trap-door.

THE FATHER OF FORENSICS is the fascinating story of the life and work of Bernard Spilsbury, history's greatest medical detective—and of the cases that not only made him a celebrity, but also inspired the astonishing science of criminal investigation in our own time.