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An Expert Witness

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What to expect

From the UK’s leading forensic scientist and Sunday Times bestselling author of All That Remains and Written in Bone: a gripping exploration of forensic science, told through often shocking real cases to assess its triumphs, failures, and future.

For over forty years, Professor Dame Sue Black has analysed criminal evidence at the highest level. As the UK’s leading forensic scientist, she has stood in court as an expert witness, repeatedly putting her research and reputation on the line, all in the name of justice.

Now in An Expert Witness she puts forensic science itself on trial.

Drawing on shocking real cases and true crime, from historic poisonings to modern sexual offences, Sue Black traces the evolution of forensic science, from early identification methods to more recent breakthroughs such as DNA profiling, Sue’s own vein identification research, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in criminal investigation.

She shows where science has delivered justice, and where failures have led to devastating consequences, including wrongful convictions such as that of Andrew Malkinson, imprisoned for seventeen years for a crime he did not commit.

As she reflects on life serving as an expert witness, Sue looks back at landmark cases to tell the story of forensic science, ask questions for its future, and explain why this book marks the close of a defining chapter in one of the most extraordinary careers in modern forensic science.

No scientist communicates better.’ Val McDermid, award-winning author of the Detective Karen Pirie series

© Sue Black 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Superb . . . full of fascinating insights . . . Black is a very likeable narrator.
Daily Mail
One of the best legal books for summer 2026: with a compelling and conversational style, Black examines the relationship between law and science.
The Times
A candid and unsettling insight into the criminal justice system and how it really works.
New Scientist (Book of the Week)
Compelling . . . It is in her accounts of her courtroom experiences that the book really comes alive . . . Black's integrity and purpose shine through. She is on a mission to chase out bad practice and skewer bad science . . . Black has written a book that will be read by many and both informs and entertains in equal measure.
Financial Times
Sometimes I feel ashamed of the unwholesome interest I have in Sue Black's work, but mostly the shame is overwhelmed by my awe for the difference a magnificent human being can make, furthering science for the cause of truth, decency and justice . . . it is Black's fierce moral mission that makes sense of everything she does . . . tremendous feeling for the vulnerable flashes through An Expert Witness . . . The first half of the book is cogently argued, but . . . the book comes to life when Black is at her most outraged.
The Times
A fascinating, authoritative account, written with clarity and passion.
The Herald
Author Professor Dame Sue Black
Narrator Sue Black
Duration 14 hours and 27 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529975482
Format Audiobook
Publisher Transworld
Genre Autobiography: science, technology and medicine, Criminal law: procedure and offences, Forensic science, Memoirs, True crime
Availability AU, GB, IE

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