Murder and Matchmaking

Murder and Matchmaking
A novel mashup of Sherlock Holmes and Pride & Prejudice

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Forensic Alphabet #5

Q is for QUICKLIME

Calcium oxide requires moisture to slake,
In dry soil the body dries up like a mummified cake.




R is for RIGOR MORTIS

After death the body stiffens from the head to the toes,
This condition recedes only when it starts to decompose.


S is for STOMACH CONTENTS

The state of digestion of the food found inside,
Indicates tiger swallowed a drumstick whole just before he died.




T is for TOXICOLOGY

Tiny traces of poisons can be detected,
So samples of urine, blood, hair and spit are all inspected.


Forensic Alphabet #1 A-D
Forensic Alphabet #2 E-H
Forensic Alphabet #3 I-L
Forensic Alphabet #4 M-P

6 comments:

Giffy said...

Stomach contents is possibly my favourite so far.

Debbie Cowens said...

Thanks Giffy. Pathologist Pig is my favourite forensic toy model. He emotes a sense of wonder and excitement in his work, and yet I feel confident that he's a meticulous professional who would be a tremendous help in any investigation.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, where do you find the animals. Stomach contents is hilarious!

CD

Debbie Cowens said...

I'm fortunate that my son has an extensive stuffed animal collection, although the tiger with the stuffed drumstick is actually a puppet. :-)

Karen said...

Is the stuffed drumstick usually attached to the tiger then? That would be weird even in the world of kids-toy-weirdness!

Debbie Cowens said...

The tiger has a pouch on its front and the drumstick fits into that or dangles from a small string. Apparently some toy designer realised their was a need in the market to have tiger puppets with pockets containing plush drumsticks on string. :-)