GRASSED UP

摘要

When Eileen and Derrick Severs disappeared suddenly from their home in central England, the police suspected murder. But they had no bodies-and no case against the chief suspect, the couple's son Roger. After a massive and fruitless search, police faced the daunting prospect of dredging Rutland Water, the largest man-made lake in Western Europe. First though, they called in the botanist. A botanist? You'd better believe it. Detectives can get crucial leads from plants and their fragments. Sawdust in a safe-cracker's turn-ups, roots growing through a grave and pollen trapped in a stash of cannabis-all can link a criminal with the scene of the crime, show when a body was buried or link two batches of drugs to the same source. Pollen might even have laid to rest the lingering doubts over who killed O. J. Simpson's ex-wife.