Description

Corinne May Botz's book, The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, offers readers an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a master criminal investigator. Frances Glessner Lee, who founded the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard in 1931 and was later appointed captain in the New Hampshire police.  

Corinne Botz is a Brooklyn-based photographic artist, filmmaker, and educator whose seven-year project culminated in an exhibition and this book. Her photographs highlight the models’ painstaking detail, as well as the prominence of female victims. Through framing, scale, lighting, color, and depth of field, she brings intimacy and emotion to the scene of the crime.  

Botz's lush color photographs lure viewers into every crevice of Frances Glessner Lee's models and breathes life into these deadly miniatures. The accompanying line drawings, specially prepared for this volume, highlight the noteworthy forensic evidence in each case. Botz's introductory essay, which draws on archival research and interviews with Lee's family and police colleagues, presents a captivating portrait of Frances Glessner Lee.  (Author: Corrine Botz - Publication 2004)