The Killer of Little Shepherds - A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science

Douglas Starr

Knopf

2010

320 páginas

10h 40m

ISBN-13: 9780307266194

A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.

At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds,” terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years—until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men—intelligent and bold—typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science’s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.