April Book List

This month's selections are on the macabre side:

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death--Corinne May Botz
The Nutshell Studies are handmade miniature crime-scene dioramas created in the mid-1900s by Frances Glessner Lee, eccentric daughter of the founder of International Harvester, to help police detective trainees learn the art of crime-scene detection. The dioramas are based on actual crimes, and the best part is that the solutions are included for only 4 of the crimes because they are still being used today.

Mütter Museum: Historic Medical Photographs--edited by Laura Lindgren; introduction by Gretchen Worden
A visit to the Mutter Museum was the highlight of a recent trip to Philadelphia, even if Youth left the building a bit green about the gills. This book is beautiful and very grim. Amputated feet, giant distended breasts, babies with two heads, enormous cysts, and captions that are informative and yet cryptic. A feast for the imagination.