bBook of the Year, Saltire Literary Awardsbr A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Monthb pbFor fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, Kathy Reichs, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality.b pDame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book, which is part primer on the basics of identifying human remains, part frank memoir of a woman whose first paying job as a schoolgirl was to apprentice in a butcher shop, and part no-nonsense but deeply humane introduction to the reality of death in our lives. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller readers, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all. pCutting through hype, romanticism, and clich , she recounts her first dissection her own first acquaintance with a loved one's death the mortal remains in her lab and at burial sites as