Unnatural Causes

although reading about the post-mortems carried out by a forensic pathologist was gruelling in places, the dedication and respect that Dr Shepherd obviously brought to his profession was educational and inspiring. There are fascinating descriptions of his cases, which involved the victims of many high-profile disasters. These are interwoven with an honest account of the damage to his mental health and family life that was exerted by his work until he found happiness in later life.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Richard Shepherd has performed over 23,000 autopsies over his career. This has given him a unique perspective on life and death.

His description of his arrival at one of the first crime scenes he’d attended The Hungerford Massacre is worth the price of this book alone. It reads a like a haunting, eerie screenplay. Driving through a normal, ordinary suburban housing estate, coming across body after body. Haunting and respectful.

Shepherd also deals with the difficulty of not taking his work home with him after examining the results of the horrors people can inflict upon one another.