Investigating Frances Glessner Lee with author Bruce Goldfarb

Attention true crime fans!

Everything we know and expect in a CSI-type crime scene investigation -- in real life and in pop culture -- is because of Frances Glessner Lee. Known mostly as the creator of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, this elderly millionairess with no formal training is the Mother of Forensic Science. Bruce Goldfarb, author of Lee's biography, discusses her role as a reformer, educator, and activist in the movement from the archaic coroner system to a modern, science-based medical examiner system of death investigation.

Bio: A former EMT/paramedic Goldfarb is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in many print and online publications. He was executive assistant for the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where he was curator of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. His biography of Frances Glessner Lee, 18 TINY DEATHS, was published in 2020. His second work of nonfiction, a behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the nation's largest and busiest medical examiner offices as it plunges into crisis, titled, OCME, was published in 2022.

The author will be joining us virtually.