Veteran forensic writer Colin Evans' book Blood on the Table (2008) chronicles some of the many cases of sudden, unexplained and violent deaths that have gone through New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The book, published by Berkley Trade Paperback, is a behind-the-scenes look at public service and private vendettas, of blood in the streets and back-room bloodbaths and of the criminal cases that made history and headlines. Each year the OCME investigates approximately 15,000 cases of suspicious or unnatural death. Around half of these deaths are autopsied. Most never make headlines, but those that do often grab national attention, like the haunting case of Alice Crimmins and the brutal violence of the Son of Sam murders. Blood on the Table takes readers behind the scenes and reveals how the pathologists and scientists at the OCME used forensic science to help trap these and hundreds of other murderers.
