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Unnatural Causes

'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2




A REAL-LIFE SILENT WITNESS FROM ONE OF BRITAIN'S FOREMOST FORENSIC PATHOLOGISTS

The dead do not hide the truth and they never lie. Through me the dead can speak ...

As the country's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead.

When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right - and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressing question: how did this person die?

From serial killer to natural disaster, 'perfect murder' to freak accident, Shepherd takes nothing for granted in pursuit of truth. And while he's been involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times, it's often the less well known encounters that prove the most perplexing, intriguing and even bizarre. In or out of the public eye, his evidence has put killers behind bars, freed the innocent and turned open-and-shut cases on their heads.

But a life in death, bearing witness to some of humanity's darkest corners, exacts a price and Shepherd doesn't flinch from counting the cost to him and his family.

Unnatural Causes is an unputdownable record of an extraordinary life, a unique insight into a remarkable profession, and above all a powerful and reassuring testament to lives cut short.

'Heart-wrechingly honest' Sue Black, author of All That Remains

Also by Dr Richard Shepherd

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Praise for Unnatural Causes

One of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. Engrossing, a haunting page-turner. A book I could not put down

The Times

Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel

Guardian

Insightful, candid and compassionate

Observer

Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing

Richard and Judy, Daily Express

Heart-wrenchingly honest

Professor Sue Black, author of All That Remains

Fabulous . . . The UK's top pathologist investigating high-profile deaths such as that of Diana, Princess of Wales

The Sunday Post

Unnatural Causes gives a sense of the toll that dealing with so many dead bodies takes. It's a very human book that looks at the cases he has been involved with, from the Hungerford massacre to the murder of Stephen Lawrence

The Times (Books of the Year, 2018)

Darkly fascinating

Daily Mirror

Partly an autobiography, but also a love letter to pathology. It's dignified and graceful and painfully honest about the human and emotional cost of so much time with the dead. Insightful, moving and mesmerising

Marylebone Journal

This book holds within its pages the story of a life told with honesty, and this is partly why it is such a pleasure to read. A fascinating autobiography. Unputdownable.

Live Ribble Valley

A unique insight into a remarkable profession

The Times

The true crime book of the year; a thoughtful, revealing, chilling and bizarre record of an extraordinary life and profession

Visit Norwich

His experiences, from morgue to court, are sometimes gruesome, always gripping

Sunday Mirror

He recounts experiences in a gripping memoir that melds the personal and professional

The People

Must Read

Daily Mail

A deeply mesmerising memoir of forensic pathology. Human and fascinating

Nigella Lawson

A brilliantly written and compelling account of a medical detective who has worked on many appalling crimes and human tragedies

Woman's Weekly

Must read

Daily Mail

An unputdownable record of an extraordinary life

100 sizzling summer books, Daily Mail

Medical science books are rarely as gripping as Unnatural Causes. It's grimly fascinating, and I suspect I'll read it at least twice.

Evening Standard