The Killer Of Little Shepherds - The Case Of The French Ripper And The
Birth Of Forensic Science

Product Description

At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, dubbed " The Killer of Little Shepherds, terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years-until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet & Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era's most renowned criminologist. The two men typified the Belle Epoque, a period of immense scientific achievement & fascination with its promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. With high drama & stunning detail, Douglas Starr recounts the infamous crime & punishment of Vacher, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne & his colleagues developed forensics as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts, leading to Vacher's arrest. & we see the twists & turns of the celebrated trial: to disprove Vacher's defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who had revolutionized criminal science: refining the use of blood spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy & doing ground-breaking research in psychology. Lacassagne's forensic investigation ranks among the greatest of all time, & its denouement is gripping. An important contribution to the history of medicine & criminal justice, impressively researched & thrillingly told.