Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample
Follow the author
OK
Unnatural Causes Hardcover – September 20, 2018
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
There is a newer edition of this item:
Included in The Times Books of the Year 2018
'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that but it's fascinating' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2
'One of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. Engrossing, a haunting page-turner. A book I could not put down' The Times
__________
Meet the forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd.
He solves the mysteries of unexplained or sudden death.
He's a detective in his own right.
And he has one, ultimate and pressing question to answer:
How did this person die?
Unnatural Causes is an unputdownable record of an extraordinary life, a unique insight into a remarkable profession, and above all a powerful and reassuring testament to lives cut short.
__________
Dr Shepherd has faced serial killers, natural disaster, 'perfect murders' and freak accidents, all in the pursuit of the truth.
And while he's been involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times, it's often the less well-known encounters that prove the most perplexing, intriguing and even bizarre.
In or out of the public eye, his evidence has put killers behind bars, freed the innocent and turned open-and-shut cases on their heads.
But a life in death, bearing witness to some of humanity's darkest corners, exacts a price and Shepherd doesn't flinch from counting the cost to him and his family.
The dead do not hide the truth and they never lie. Through me the dead can speak . . .
'Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel' Guardian
'Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing' Richard and Judy, Daily Express
'Heart-wrenchingly honest' Professor Sue Black, author of All That Remains
'Fascinating, insightful, candid, compassionate' Observer
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMichael Joseph
- Publication dateSeptember 20, 2018
- Dimensions6.5 x 1.42 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100718182715
- ISBN-13978-0718182717
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
- Embarrassment is just the kind of worldly concern which I believe the dying relinquish, often perhaps with relief.Highlighted by 294 Kindle readers
- There are three ways a body can decompose: by putrefaction, mummification or adipocere, of which putrefaction is by far the most common.Highlighted by 208 Kindle readers
- And so, truth, that elastic commodity I once thought so immutable, becomes a question not of fact but of definition.Highlighted by 163 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
Review
One of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. Engrossing, a haunting page-turner. A book I could not put down - - The Times
Fabulous . . . The UK's top pathologist investigating high-profile deaths such as that of Diana, Princess of Wales - - The Sunday Post
Heart-wrenchingly honest - - Professor Sue Black, author of All That Remains
Partly an autobiography, but also a love letter to pathology. It's dignified and graceful and painfully honest about the human and emotional cost of so much time with the dead. Insightful, moving and mesmerising - - Marylebone Journal
Darkly fascinating - - Daily Mirror
Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel - - Guardian
Insightful, candid and compassionate - - Observer
Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing - - Richard and Judy, Daily Express
About the Author
Richard Shepherd trained as a doctor at St George's Hospital medical school at Hyde Park Corner, qualifying in 1977 and then completed his postgraduate training as a forensic pathologist in 1987. He immediately joined what was then the elite forensic department at Guy's Hospital. He has been involved nationally and internationally in the forensic investigation of thousands of deaths from unnatural causes, from headline-making murders to mass natural disasters, and many sudden and unexplained deaths that his investigations showed were from natural causes or due to accidents. His skills and expertise still remain in demand around the world.
Product details
- Publisher : Michael Joseph (September 20, 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0718182715
- ISBN-13 : 978-0718182717
- Item Weight : 1.42 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.42 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #826,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,944 in Pathology (Books)
- #23,605 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book an engaging read with an insightful story. They describe it as a refreshing and educational journey that sheds light on a topic they are unfamiliar with. The writing quality is described as well-crafted and easy to understand by customers.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They find the subject matter interesting and enjoy reading about the author's life struggles. The cases are also interesting.
"Dr Shepherd, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. You taught me so much about forensic pathology and how it affected you personally as a human...." Read more
"...He incorporates his family, related social and technical debates in time and place, and everyday details in an extraordinary effective manner...." Read more
"...stories and the processes behind his work is fascinating and really interesting...." Read more
"The book is great. Enjoyed it throughout...." Read more
Customers find the story engaging and insightful. They appreciate the author's storytelling skill and the insights into human condition. The book provides a realistic educational journey about the author's professional life and personal struggles.
"Dr Shepherd offers an engrossing look at the lives of cadavers...." Read more
"...Here is the story of raw yeoman work. Life. Death. The author has the master skill of the storyteller and forensic expert...." Read more
"...way he wove his own personal life into the book and the story kept me on edge from page one...." Read more
"...work, his patients, their stories and the processes behind his work is fascinating and really interesting...." Read more
Customers find the book well-written and easy to read. They say the author is gifted.
"...The first thing I noticed is that Shepherd is one hellacious good writer. From the first sentence and paragraph, I was reading a gifted writer...." Read more
"I found the story fascinating and written in a way that made me be grateful that there are humble and honest Doctors doing their best in complex and..." Read more
"The book was well written, however, it was more about his troubled marriage than it was about pathology...." Read more
"...He tells stories behind all of the people he has to look at. It’s an easy read and you might also learn things you didn’t know before." Read more
Reviews with images
Good book, poor quality
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024Dr Shepherd, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. You taught me so much about forensic pathology and how it affected you personally as a human. You took us along an amazing journey across your entire career and it was fascinating. I applaud you for sharing your experience with PTSD, depression and slowly coming out of the darkness. Thank you for such a great book. I crave more!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024Dr Shepherd offers an engrossing look at the lives of cadavers. First, I thank Dr Shepherd for various tidbits about death: that the abdomen decomposes first, and that babies are more likely to mummify than adults.
Shepherd also knows how to write, such as this sentence about the 9/11 coroners’ setup in NYC: “The bodies were treated with great respect and the trailers were kept clean and well ordered, the Stars and Stripes a reminder of the state and the containers of flowers a reminder of the people.”
Unfortunately, Shepherd frequently lapses into the passive voice, making for poor scene setting: “However, my denials were ignored and my protests taken as somehow incriminating.” Had Shepherd focused on his wordsmithing, I might understand how he became a forensic pathologist instead of a coroner (and why that difference matters). His quests to help corrections officers better learn to restrain prisoners might have formed a nice arc, rather than meriting a few pages at the outset and an occasional mention thrown in thereafter.
And perhaps, told in stronger words, his description of the privatization of forensic pathologists in the UK would have made sense to this American. I can’t fathom how the UK would ever need fewer forensic pathologists. Also, he taught at university? When did this happen?
Finally, his experiments with meat, pillows, and knife wounds also eventually fizzles out. Why on Earth did he not apply for funding to create a lab devoted to splatter science? And why didn’t he spare a chapter to explaining (with diagrams) the basic science of knife wounds and blood splatter?
That aside, the Shepherd’s life removed comes full circle in the last 10%.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2018I read a review about Shepherd’s book in the London Sunday Times. I’m a sucker on the subject and bought the Kindle at an absurd price the same day.
The first thing I noticed is that Shepherd is one hellacious good writer. From the first sentence and paragraph, I was reading a gifted writer. The writing just gets better as you progress. He incorporates his family, related social and technical debates in time and place, and everyday details in an extraordinary effective manner. He traces an increasingly vile trial evolution into withering defense 'personal incompetence' strategies.
Shepherd grabs first sentence attention as he narrates his approach into Hungerford, England in his Cessna 170 in the current day. He has a panic attack. He writes one of the best written witnesses to an attack that I've seen in writing. Boom! He doesn’t call it a panic attack but that’s precisely what he describes I have the damn things at the strangest moments like this. After 30-some years as a leading forensic voice in some 28,000 autopsies, Shepherd begins here with his career recollection of his last visit to Hungerford.
Shepherd writes his images precisely … first cadaver, first autopsy, etc. Fantastic fidelity. His style transports you into the seen without notice.
A secondary theme is understanding the nature of "truth" and its perspective intensive demands to understand. "Truth" matures. Shephard is keen enough to notice the nuance.
Here’s a genuinely unique 5-star read that's on the way to best seller. Here is the story of raw yeoman work. Life. Death. The author has the master skill of the storyteller and forensic expert. It’s a rare combo to produce such a grippingly interesting read.
Surely among the years top non-fiction reads.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2023My interest in forensic pathology started when I was a little girl and the only reason I didn't pursue it as a career is because I later found out just how much schooling and training was involved. Nope, not for me.
I found Dr. Shepherd to be such a likeable person and a gifted author. I loved the way he wove his own personal life into the book and the story kept me on edge from page one. I'm an avid reader who rarely gives five stars to any book, but this one certainly earned them.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2020This book was an interesting read.
The documentation as regards his professional work, his patients, their stories and the processes behind his work is fascinating and really interesting. The author is very good at explaining his involvement in prestigious cases, and new processes in his field and I learnt a lot from reading this book, but I would argue there's a lack of responsibility throughout the book when he writes about things that didn't work out so well (his marriage, some difficult cases, etc)
I didn't particularly enjoy learning about his personal life, and the more he discussed it the more frustrated I felt with him (refer back to the ownership comment above).
I also felt uncomfortable when he was discussing colleagues of his and felt like he used this opportunity to complain about them.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2023The book is great. Enjoyed it throughout. However, I purchased the book “new” and it not only arrived a week and a half after it was supposed to, it arrived with scratched/peeling covers and torn pages. If I’m paying for a new copy of a book, I’d like to actually recieve a new copy and not one that clearly is extremely secondhand. For almost $20 this was very disappointing and I’m thankful it was not for a gift.
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, poor qualityThe book is great. Enjoyed it throughout. However, I purchased the book “new” and it not only arrived a week and a half after it was supposed to, it arrived with scratched/peeling covers and torn pages. If I’m paying for a new copy of a book, I’d like to actually recieve a new copy and not one that clearly is extremely secondhand. For almost $20 this was very disappointing and I’m thankful it was not for a gift.
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2023
Images in this review - Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024What an amazing life story. We owe people like this man so much respect for the care they show the dead. What a difficult career to pursue.
Top reviews from other countries
- NaómiReviewed in the Netherlands on February 17, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! Read it in one sitting!
We need more professionals like Dr Shepherd to share their knowledge! The forensic insights, pathology as a career and professional burnout - all beautifully captured in this stunning read.
-
Tina SjöstrandReviewed in Sweden on November 16, 2022
2.0 out of 5 stars Besvikelse
Trodde boken skulle handla om rättsläkarens fall och sökandet efter dödsorsaker. Men ded är mer en biografi om författarens liv fända rån barndomen. Väldigt ointressant och jag läste bara typ en tredjedel.
- HilaryReviewed in Germany on September 3, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting and honest insight into the work of a forensic pathologist
Well worth reading this personal, detailed account of a career as a forensic pathologist. Not just about the job, also the effect it has on the family and the price paid for witnessing so many terrible ends to life.
- TMMReviewed in Canada on August 21, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
This was a fascinating look into the career of a forensic pathologist. The medical terminology wasn’t too hard to understand for a lay person at all and the details were embedded into the story. I found it interesting and not dry at all.
Excellent.
- Janie UReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing memoir from a top pathologist
Pathology is part of the medical world that has traditionally been hidden from the public. Their patients are already dead which creates an immediate mystery and curiosity. More recently, advances in science and deeper investigations into the causes of previously unexplained deaths have opened up pathology to be scrutinised by the outside world.
Dr Richard Shepherd has been involved in many well known cases of unnatural deaths and his book serves to allow him to detail his career in the style of many of the medical memoirs which have been written over the last decade or so. The question before starting to read is how good a writer is he?
The answer comes on the first page as he is clearly a talented story teller. I was with him in that plane and could almost see him suffering that panic attack. He explains that he was being taken back to a major incident that he attended early in his career which prompts him then to expand and give a full account. He explains the detail in a matter of fact manner and explores how he dealt with it emotionally.
Throughout the book there is a balance between the factual work and the emotions of the person doing it. Lines are drawn between job and man but these lines move all the time.
For anyone being asked to authorise a post mortem this would be a good book to read as research. There is a huge respect for the dead whilst maintaining a professional detachment necessary to be able to do the work. The author quotes a QC "The care with which our dead are treated is a mark of how civilised a society we are", whatever you think of this opinion it gives food for thought while reading the book.
RS spends a lot of time thinking about how he deals with relatives and their grief which he explains clearly - respecting and understanding without internalising. This is articulated very well - he is continually questioning himself as well which is admirable.
The book will be of interest to many as the author has the ability to communicate on different levels. There is no doubt that any medic would find areas of interest (particularly how RS deals with the stress of attending dreadful events) but the writing is also very accessible to any member of the general public who just want to know more about what it is like to be a pathologist.
This world is opening up thanks to TV programmes and crime novels and here the reader has the chance to understand the reality.
I found this book fascinating and was hooked by the author's writing style.