'I love puzzles, and finding answers is the only truly enjoyable part of what I do.' This is because Professor Patricia Wiltshire is a forensic ecologist, her days spent at crime scenes collecting samples, standing over dead bodies in a mortuary, or looking down her microscope for evidence. Nature has given us a messy, imperfect world, but her job is to help make sense of it when we need it to most. A pioneer of forensic ecology - using the natural world to help solve crimes - Patricia has been involved in some of the most high-profile murder cases. Not only does she help the police solve crimes and give answers to the most bemusing circumstances, she can help to exonerate the innocent and enable confessions from the guilty. Working at the interface of where the criminal and natural world interact, Patricia will show us how she finds the answers to some of the worst crimes imaginable.Through a study of her most infamous cases, we join Patricia in putting the puzzle together, teasing the evidence out of her cases - 'a garden came out of his hair' - and showing us all how life and death have always been, and always will be, intertwined. But how do you find justice for a mother who has lost her daughter in the most horrific of circumstances? How does she face the very worst of humanity's crimes, and the weight of responsibility to the victims and those they leave behind?

'Engrossing, emotionally honest and forensically fascinating' - Dr Richard Shepherd, author of Unnatural Causes In Traces, Professor Patricia Wiltshire will take you on a journey through the fascinating edgeland where nature and crime are intertwined. She'll take you searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands, along hedgerows, field-edges, and through plantations - solving time since death, and disposal of remains, from ditches to living rooms. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. Pat will show you how her work with a microscope reveals tell-tale traces of the world around us, and how these have taken suspects of the darkest criminal activities to court. From flowers, fungi, tree trunks to car pedals, walking boots, carpets, and corpses' hair, Traces is a fascinating, unique, and utterly compelling book on life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.

'ASTONISHING AND ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING' - LYNDA LA PLANTE 'Engrossing, emotionally honest and forensically fascinating' - Dr Richard Shepherd, author of Unnatural Causes EVERY BODY LEAVES A MARK In Traces, Professor Patricia Wiltshire will take you on a journey through the fascinating edgeland where nature and crime are intertwined. She'll take you searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands and plantations, along hedgerows and field-edges, from ditches to living rooms - solving time since death and how remains were disposed of. She will show you how pollen from a jacket led to a confession and how two pairs of trainers, a car and a garden fork led to the location of a murdered girl. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. From flowers, fungi, tree trunks to walking boots, carpets and corpses' hair, Traces is a fascinating and unique book on life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.