Missing & murdered - A personal adventure in forensic anthropology (Paperback)

Reviews

"A highly readable book that examines forensic anthropology" by Andrew - 11 December 2016

I enjoy the tv series ‘Bones’ except, well, it can be a little light for my abhorrent tastes in misdeed. And, of course, it isn’t factual, it isn’t true and it isn’t set in South Africa. Fortunately, Alan Morris has filled the gap with his ‘Missing & Murdered’, a highly readable book that examines forensic anthropology and explores some of South Africa’s most horrific crimes along the way. As a forensic anthropologist, Morris examines human bones to see what they can say about a person’s life, very often with regard to the cause of death. And because human bones are quite resilient and tend to hang around a bit, Morris is able to investigate lives from hundreds, even thousands of years ago. This has enabled him and others in his field to examine the history of mankind in Southern Africa, the cradle of mankind, and the findings regarding life, community and death are invaluable in understanding South Africa’s past, all the way back to man’s earliest ancestors. And skipping forward a few millennia, Morris’ analysis of the legendary and tragic Sara Baartman is in itself enough to justify the purchase and reading of ‘Missing and ‘Murdered’. But I wanted to know about the crimes, about the vicious things that people do to each other because of rage, jealousy, greed or perhaps just a few cents. And Morris does not disappoint in this regard. He carefully explains what he does as a forensic anthropologist and how this fits into the solving of crimes. He then provides an overview of the skeleton and what it can tell us about the life and death of a person. And while quite technical, it was never boring; Morris is that holy grail of a person - someone who is an expert in their field of expertise and yet can discuss it with people who know nothing about it in a way that the field becomes alive, enjoyable and ultimately understandable. Having provided a grounding in forensic anthropology, Morris takes the reader into the darkness of human behaviour. Particularly gruesome is the section on ‘Muti Murders’, one of the scourges of southern Africa, where the victims (mainly children) are slaughtered for their body parts. Morris’ role is twofold – identify the victims (which may have been reduced to a few bones) and link the sangoma to the murder through those bones. He also looks back at the many politically-related murders he has investigated, as well as many of the domestic murders that he has consulted on. So, yes, while ‘Missing and Murdered’ is a wonderful introduction to the science of forensic anthropology, it certainly satisfied my dark and twisted passion for true crime books.