Mostly Murder

by Reverend Sydney Smith and Sydney Smith

Book Overview

Mostly Murder: Sir Sydney Smith's Autobiography is a memoir written by Sir Sydney Smith, a renowned British detective. The book chronicles his life and career, which spanned several decades and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880293063
• ISBN13: 9780880293068
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Dorset Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Mostly Murder by Sir Sydney Smith

In this book, the famous British Forensic Pathologist Dr. Sydney Smith narrates with a distinct Scottish charm and in factual manner the way he solved several noteworthy crimes committed in England and in some of its Colonies using his knowledge of Forensic Pathology during the mid 20th Century. Often, he would identify a murderer from a few bones as was once found in a dry well in Egypt where he established in Cairo, its first Forensic Pathology Laboratory. He gives the reader a glimpse of the court-room drama that attorney, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, for the Prosecution and Defence alternatively and Sydney Smith himself opposing Spilsbury produced in the courts of law in Britain. Several B & W photographs add greatly to the narrative of each solved case.

Memoirs of a professor of forensic medicine

"Mostly Murder" by Sir Sydney Smith, late Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh is another great true-crime autobiography from the first half of the twentieth century, very similar in its witty, epigrammatic style to British Home Office Pathologist, Professor Keith Simpson's "Forty Years of Murder." Both books are fascinating memoirs of 'mostly murders,' famous and obscure, although not always committed in Great Britain--Sir Sidney went to Egypt during the First World War and stayed on as the Principal Medico-Legal Expert to the Ministry of Justice until he returned to Edinburgh in 1928. He also relates cases from Ceylon, Australia (the Sydney Shark affair), and other far-flung ports of the British Empire.The author most especially seemed to relish his medico-legal battles with the famous Home Office Pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury. In one of his most interesting trials, Sir Sydney testified on behalf of Sidney Fox, a convicted forger, blackmailer, swindler, and thief who was also accused of murdering his own mother for the insurance money--she died less than an hour before her accidental death policy was due to expire.Dear old mom was a confederate in most of her son's crimes, but Fox emphatically denied strangling her and setting her hotel room on fire, and Sir Sydney believed him. At least he believed that the con man's mother showed no physical evidence of strangulation. He and the great Spilsbury locked horns over the forensic evidence in court and Sir Sidney's client was condemned to the gallows, but was it for the wrong reason?The fact that Fox renewed his mother's accidental death policy the day before she died was the evidence that hung him, but was he really guilty of murdering her? Sir Sidney thinks not.Mordant wit abounds in this book, most especially in the chapter, "Accident, Suicide, or Murder?" Sir Sidney relates the suicide by coal-gas of a plumber from Aberdeen who "connected a tube to the gas-pipe before it entered the meter, and so all the way to the room where his body was found."We've all heard stories about thrifty Scots, but Aberdonians seem to be a legend even amongst their own countrymen."Mostly Murder" contains several gruesome photographs from the author's forensic files, but nothing we haven't already seen on television.

Trust the British with their dry sense of humor...

Murder is not funny. Yet this obviously major first book on early forensic science turned out to be a 'snort of laughter' funny book. It's a very wryly written and very wise autobiography, with no backstabbing or self-congratulatory remarks. If anything, Smith was way too modest, in dealing with the many parts of forensic science (which are now dealt with by different departments in police, FBI, etc). He managed to deal with ballistic forensics, stringing a couple of microscopes together while in Eqypt in order to compare bullets and casings. This was way prior to the invention of comparison microscopes that are regularly used even in med school. The stories he tells are usually not well-known, but he had a good reason for sharing the story because it showed a particular means of solving a crime (or not solving it) using what they had available in forensics during the early 1900's. Smith imagination and ability to 'make do' are something that is badly missed in most sciences today. He certainly lived a very productive and valuable life, and obviously his inventions and unique ideas have been built upon in forensic science. I think he would not be surprised, but would have enjoyed the other newer fields in forensics such as entymology. This is an older book, found at my university library. Quite frankly, it would be worthwhile to publish again and recommend to the many people who are showing such an interest in forensics due to shows such as CSI. Many of the concepts Smith teaches are still valuable today. If readers cannot buy this book, try to find it at a university libary. It is extremely well-written and enjoyable.Karen Sadler,Science Education,University of Pittsburgh

A Pioneer in Forensic Medicine

This book tells of the many interesting cases in his career. If you liked "Quincy ME" or "CSI" you'll love reading true stories about his pioneering work in the first half of the 20th century. He is an outstanding writer as well. This book shows how legal medicine can convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. Most of these cases deal with murder, and tell how the doctor let the dead bones speak to the living.Erle Stanley Gardner says a successful practitioner of forensic medicine must not only be outstanding in his field, but most be quick-thinking and keen of mind: a real version of Sherlock Holmes. A good medical expert should search for the truth, not the facts to support a pre-conceived theory; this usually results in a miscarriage of justice; chapter 20 illustrates this.Page 90 tells of his analysis of the British .303 cartridge. The bullet had an "aluminium tip enclosed in a strong cupro-nickel jacket". This tip often broke off when the bullet entered a body. This could result in a blunt-edged bullet that could tumble in a body and create more damage; in effect, a dum-dum bullet.On page 152 he says that in the British legal system, expert witnesses are made available to the defendants, and paid when the defendant is without means. This is an improvement over just providing a public defender. "While the life of a scoundrel may not be worth saving, the principles of justice always are."Sir Sydney Smith writes with a dry, subtle sense of humor, and with understatements. This book cannot be easily summarized, except to say: get it and read it!

Mostly Fascinating....

Mostly Murder is the autobiography of Sir Sydney Smith, the doyen of forensic pathology in Edinburgh in the early decades of the twentieth century. The book briefly covers his early life and medical training (some of it under Bell, best known as the inspiration for Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) before commencing a comprehensive review of his professional life. Forensic medicine was in its infancy in the 1920's and 30's, and Smith was one of its pioneers. He was involved in investigating many of the high-profile cases of his time, and these are discussed in depth, understanding for the layman being aided by the use of illustrations throughout. Written in a humble and accessible style, the book serves not only as a fascinating insight into a remarkable man, but also as a useful introduction to the basic techniques of forensic science. The author's life and work is placed firmly within its contemporary context, commenting in detail, for example, on his sometimes fractious relationships with other emerging pioneers such as Sir Bernard Spilsbury. Surely a book that desrves a wider audience, though unfortunately now out of print.