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Planting Clues: David Gibson ***

The pedants amongst us have to start by raising an eyebrow at the subtitle (supertitle?) 'how plants solve crimes'. Plants do not solve crimes - people solve crimes. What was intended was more 'how plants are used by forensic scientists to help them solve crimes' - but I suppose that's not so snappy.

In theory, this should be a page turner as a book as it combines science with real-life drama. We're told a fair number of true crime stories where plants have been used as vital evidence. But, unfortunately, David Gibson does not have a flair for storytelling and it all comes across as rather flat. It doesn't help that there's such a focus on US law, with only passing references to Europe/UK - and most puzzling of all, on a regular basis a story will start with something like 'In 1997, Merle and Nicky Merlaue (not their real names) bought waterfront property...' Why don't we get their real names? Presumably the court cases are a matter of public record. And if there really is a reason for not using someone's names, why name them at all? It's just irritating.

There is some genuinely interesting material here on the way that everything from diatoms in a drowned person's bone marrow (that was the one I found most fascinating - it shows if someone was alive when immersed) to the DNA of a specific plant has been used to help bring a criminal to justice or to settle a legal case. Gibson gives us some historical context and compares the early attempts with what's now possible - but also emphasises the limits of appropriate expertise. But, after a while, the different plant identifying methods and how they are used to place someone at a scene get a little repetitive.

Almost as if recognising this, the book finishes with two long chapters that aren't really quite the same thing. One is about poisons (where the distinction between plant and non-plant is not really significant), and the other about people importing plants that they shouldn't. Admittedly this one does involve plant-based forensics, but it's harder to get excited about a garden centre having illegal purple loosestrife on sale, compared with plant residue providing evidence that will help solve a murder.

You can't fault Gibson's enthusiasm for the subject - and I suspect would-be botanists will enjoy it, while murder mystery writers will gain some excellent ideas for methods that their CSI teams can use. Unfortunately, though, I never really found the book engaging.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly digest for free here
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