Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Bookworm: ‘Skeletons in the Closet’ a suspenseful look at how we die
You try to do everything right.
You eat from all the major food groups. You hit the gym regularly. You read the labels to make sure you’re not ingesting bad-for-you things. Bedtime is at the same time every night, you gave up smoking and drinking, and you buckle up when you get behind the wheel.
And you know what? You can’t escape it.
Someday, you’ll die.
In the new book “Skeletons in the Closet: Stories from the County Morgue” by Tobin T. Buhk and Stephen D. Cohle, M.D. (c.2008, Prometheus Books $27.95, 408 pages, includes index and notes), you’ll read about the ways people die — accidents, murder, natural causes — and a real-life Michigan forensic team that investigates them all.
As a volunteer for the Kent County Morgue in the western part of Michigan, Buhk spends a lot of time in the morgue, assisting with death investigation and, indirectly, catching criminals.
In this book (his second with Cohle), they write about cases they’ve investigated and ways a body can meet an untimely demise.
Because identical twins possess identical DNA, mistaken identity is possible. This makes it easy for one twin to kill the other and assume his identity. In the opening case of this book, one twin has an unfortunate snowmobile accident. Was his brother hiding a murder?
After a frozen stiff was
carried into the morgue, a
convoluted case comes before the courts. Did a man kill one of his employees or was the man’s father the murderer? In a he-said-he-said-he-said-he-said argument, nobody pays in the end.
When paramedics are called to the home of a distraught mother, they do everything they can to save her infant son, but the baby dies. Until the boy’s autopsy, no one had thought to look into the deaths of the mother’s other two children.
When a woman’s nude body is discovered floating in a small lake near Lake Michigan, authorities determine she was a Wisconsin resident. What still confounds them is the belief that she floated more than 100 miles to the point where she was found.
Or did she?
Do you like to read while you eat meals? It’s safe with this book, but only barely …
Although the authors tend to wax melodramatic, overuse clichés and meander on topics, you won’t mind because this book reads like a fictional mystery with all of the whodunits, suspense and sleuthing.
The difference is that here, every word is true, but not disgustingly so. There are few stomach-churning case studies and blood and a little bit of gore, but it’s not the focus. Buhk and Cohle present the crimes and the evidence without overly graphic descriptions.
Make no bones about it: If you like true crime stories and mysteries, or if you don’t miss any of the “CSI” incarnations on televisions, grab “Skeletons in the Closet.”
Terri Schlichenmeyer lives in the La Crosse area and reviews books as The Bookworm.
Send her messages via etcetera@lacrossetribune.com.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.