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The Skeleton Crew
The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving Americas Coldest Cases | Deborah Halber
12 posts | 18 read | 17 to read
Solving cold cases from the comfort of your living room The Skeleton Crew provides an entree into the gritty and tumultuous world of Sherlock Holmeswannabes who race to beat out law enforcementand one anotherat matching missing persons with unidentified remains. In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths. Its DIY CSI. The web sleuths pore over facial reconstructions (a sort of Facebook for the dead) and other online clues as they vie to solve cold cases and tally up personal scorecards of dead bodies. The Skeleton Crew delves into the macabre underside of the Internet, the fleeting nature of identity, and how even the most ordinary citizen with a laptop and a knack for puzzles can reinvent herself as a web sleuth.
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natalieebloom
Panpan

As someone who loves true crime, this book was a bit disappointing. The cases were fascinating individually, but the separate storylines weaving back and forth were confusing and lacked a common narrative. Overall, it was interesting, but it was too jumbled to keep my attention for more than a few pages at a time.

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bookwrm526
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Mehso-so

I loved the topic of this book, although the information about the number of unidentified remains was infuriating, and it would have been a straight pick except the author hopped around a lot and seemed to go off on tangents. It probably wouldn‘t have been annoying if I had been reading instead of listening, but 🤷🏻‍♀️. This is my book related to a podcast for #booked2019 because Karen mentioned@that she was reading it on My Favorite Murder

Cinfhen This book sounds totally fascinating ~ thanks for sharing 😊and pretty flower 🤩 6y
31 likes1 comment
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jdenslow
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Pickpick

Amateur sleuths are helping America's law enforcement make inroads in dealing with the problem of the thousands of unidentified remains being held in labs and offices across the country. Halber talked to a cross-section of criminal justice professionals, amateur investigators, and bereaved family members to put together a fascinating story of the lost and the found.

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shahn77
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Mehso-so

This book should have been a pick for me. The story is really interesting. The reason this is just so-so is because the story jumps around too much and it was confusing.

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guinsgirlreads
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Heading to work! It‘s hard to find library appropriate costumes 💀🙄!

LauraJ You look spooky-cool! 7y
31 likes2 comments
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catatonic1242
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Could we, I don't know, *not* mention this female doctor's size and shape *twice* in one paragraph when it has absolutely nothing to do with her actual, you know, WORK? #everythingmakesmeangryrightnow

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SarahK
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When what you just read about is a headline on your local news. "Mountain Jane Doe" Identified 47 Years After Death
http://www.lex18.com/story/33150193/mountain-jane-doe-identified-47-years-after-...

thegirlwiththelibrarybag Closure for the family is good but that's so many years of not knowing 😔 8y
14 likes1 comment
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SarahK
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Pickpick

My best friend and I have a plan to move to a quiet seaside town in Maine after we retire where we will solve crimes. So, you know, reading a book about people who actually do solve crimes was very appealing. This was a really interesting book and the people the profiles are very dedicated to what they do. Bonus points for featuring a case (I had never heard of) that takes place pretty much where I live. Anyone heard of Tent Girl?

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M_landis27
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And where's the follow up source saying these "racial" categories are some BS thought up by some people trying to justify colonialism?? I know this book is about identifying missing persons, but this is lazy science reporting. *eyeroll*

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Whitneyrwaller
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I do most of my reading these days around tiny hands.....

4 likes1 stack add
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Quellelove
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Mehso-so

Between a Pick and So-So. The storytelling style didn't fit the subject matter. Too much jumping around when with true crime most of us want a linear narrative. It was still a great book. Fascinating subject. Lots of cultural references. Great listen on audio.

6 likes1 stack add