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2023

Format:	Ebook, Electronic Resources, Book
Author:	Butcher, Barbara
Title:	What the Dead Know [electronic resource] / Barbara Butcher
Publisher, Date:	[S.I.] : Simon & Schuster, 2023.
Summary:	A riveting, deeply personal memoir of more than twenty years of death-scene investigations by New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher. Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner's Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous—she loved it. Butcher (yes, that is her real name, and she has heard all the jokes) spent day in and day out investigating double homicides, gruesome suicides, and most heartbreaking of all, underage rape victims who had also been murdered. In What the Dead Know , she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides. In the opening chapter, she describes how just from sheer luck of having her arm in cast, she avoided a boobytrapped suicide. Later in her career, she describes working the nation's largest mass murder, the attack on 9/11, where she and her colleagues initially relied on family members' descriptions to help distinguish among the 21,900 body parts of the victims. This is the fascinating and stunning real-life story of a woman who, in dealing with death every day, learned surprising lessons about life—and how some of those lessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself. Fans of Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and true crime won't be able to put it down.
Subjects:	Biography & Autobiography Science True Crime Nonfiction
Other Author:	Overdrive Inc.
Notes:	Adobe EPUB eBook ebook-epub-adobe 3402775 Kindle Book ebook-kindle OverDrive Read ebook-overdrive
ISBN:	9781982179403
Medium:	[electronic resource]

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"Reflecting on twenty years of investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, an NYC death investigator, the second woman ever hired for this role, shares how, in dealing with death every day, she learned surprising lessons about life--and how some of thoselessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Now featured in the five-part docuseries on Netflix, Homicide: New York

A “remarkably candid and sensitive” (The Wall Street Journal) memoir of more than twenty years of death-scene investigations by New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher.

Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner’s Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous—and she loved it.

Butcher (yes, that’s her real name, and she has heard all the jokes) spent day in and day out investigating double homicides, gruesome suicides, and most heartbreaking of all, underage rape victims who had also been murdered. In What the Dead Know, she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides. In the opening chapter, she describes how just from sheer luck of having her arm in a cast, she avoided a boobytrapped suicide. Later in her career, she describes working the nation’s largest mass murder, the attack on 9/11, where she and her colleagues initially relied on family members’ descriptions to help distinguish among the 21,900 body parts of the victims.

This is the “breathtakingly honest, compassionate, and raw” (Patricia Cornwell), “completely unputdownable” (Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone) real-life story of a woman who, in dealing with death every day, learned surprising lessons about life—and how some of those lessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself. Fans of Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and true crime won’t be able to put this down. - (Simon and Schuster)

Author Biography

Barbara Butcher, MPH, was Chief of Staff and Director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She was responsible for overall agency management, strategy, and inter-agency relations. She lives in New York City. - (Simon and Schuster)

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Publication date:	2023

About the author:

Barbara Butcher, MPH, was Chief of Staff and Director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She was responsible for overall agency management, strategy, and inter-agency relations. She lives in New York City.

Description:

Now featured in the five-part docuseries on Netflix, Homicide: New York

A "remarkably candid and sensitive" (The Wall Street Journal) memoir of more than twenty years of death-scene investigations by New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher.
Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner's Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous—and she loved it.

Butcher (yes, that's her real name, and she has heard all the jokes) spent day in and day out investigating double homicides, gruesome suicides, and most heartbreaking of all, underage rape victims who had also been murdered. In What the Dead Know, she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides. In the opening chapter, she describes how just from sheer luck of having her arm in a cast, she avoided a boobytrapped suicide. Later in her career, she describes working the nation's largest mass murder, the attack on 9/11, where she and her colleagues initially relied on family members' descriptions to help distinguish among the 21,900 body parts of the victims.

This is the "breathtakingly honest, compassionate, and raw" (Patricia Cornwell), "completely unputdownable" (Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone) real-life story of a woman who, in dealing with death every day, learned surprising lessons about life—and how some of those lessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself. Fans of Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and true crime won't be able to put this down.

Reviews:

April 1, 2023
A sober, queer woman describes how becoming a New York City medicolegal examiner changed her life. In the early 1990s, after a particularly devastating drunken night, Butcher decided to get sober. "Once I start something," she writes, "I have to be good at it, so I threw myself heartfirst into AA." To the author, this meant breaking up with her girlfriend, finding "a gay women's meeting" where she celebrated 90 days without a drink, and attending a vocational training service that ultimately led her to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manhattan, where she was unexpectedly hired on the spot. What followed was a decadeslong career that included a wide variety of cases, including accidental deaths, gruesome murders perpetrated by serial killers, identifying the remains of bodies uncovered in the aftermath of 9/11, and suicides. "Some of the angriest suicides I saw took place at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Midtown Manhattan," she writes. "Like the Golden Gate Bridge in the past or the Vessel in Hudson Yards today, it was a popular place to jump to your death." Although Butcher loved her job, her constant exposure to humanity's worst cruelties exacted an emotional toll that led to a post-retirement depression severe enough to require hospitalization and electroshock therapy. The author is a witty, gifted observer who approaches her own struggles with mental health with the same keenness and curiosity as she approaches the bodies she encounters on the job. However, while she never shies away from the gruesome details of corpses and crime scenes, she is less than forthcoming about her personal life, providing only brief glimpses into a history of "depression and suicidal tendencies" that began in her teen. This gap is noteworthy mostly because Butcher's forays into memoir are heartbreakingly beautiful; their brevity leaves readers wanting more. A gritty, humorous portrait of a strong woman who found sobriety while working with the dead.

April 10, 2023
Butcher, the chief of staff at New York City’s office of the chief medical examiner, artfully integrates her personal struggles into this riveting debut memoir that doubles as an inside look at the work of medicolegal investigators. As as a teen, Butcher dealt with her suicidal depression by turning to drugs. She blew multiple opportunities, including a college scholarship, but was transformed by a chance intervention: the director of a nursing home on Long Island who hired Butcher to help orient dementia patients suggested she look into becoming a physician’s assistant. That led Butcher to land an entry-level investigative position with New York’s chief medical examiner in 1992, and she eventually rose through the ranks to become his top aide. Butcher shares some of the grisly tricks of her trade, such as how best to roll over a corpse to look for evidence, and gravely recounts her more sensitive inquiries, including her efforts to identify remains from 9/11. Throughout, though, she employs welcome doses of dark humor and makes even the more complicated aspects of her work fully accessible to a lay audience. Readers interested in how real-life CSI functions will be rapt. Agent: Kathy Schneider, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

May 1, 2023

Butcher worked in New York City's Medical Examiner's office, primarily as a medicolegal death investigator. for more than 20 years. Her book gives insight into a lesser known branch of law enforcement that entails surveying corpses, scenes, and all types of deaths, including suicides, homicides, accidents, and natural deaths when the decedent's primary physician isn't able to provide the basic information necessary to obtain a death certificate. A masterful storyteller, Butcher takes readers on an unforgettable journey into her personal and professional life. Masterfully woven tales include how participation in AA led her to this unique job opportunity, her consideration of how death (and life) vary depending on a person's relative prosperity or lack thereof, and her sympathy for those who have died, no matter the circumstances. Later chapters focus on loss on a larger scale, including 9/11, and reflect on the toll such events take on victims, families, and first responders. The book also depicts Butcher's life after she left the job that had become such an enormous part of her identity. VERDICT An intriguing combination of memoir and true crime. Perfect for readers who enjoyed Mary Roach's Stiff and Caitlin Doughty's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.--Jennifer Moore

Starred review from June 1, 2023
Butcher's life is right out of a novel, and a best-seller at that. She was one of the first women to be hired as a medicolegal investigator in New York City, spending over two decades in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. She battled alcoholism and depression before and during her career as well as the fraught interpersonal dynamics that come from being a gay woman in an overwhelmingly male profession and still managed to rise in the ranks and become one of the most trusted voices in her field. There's even her mystery-series, protagonist-ready name. And, after reading What the Dead Know, readers will wish that Butcher would turn to mystery writing. The book is part memoir, part crime--or more specifically death--procedural. She shares specific cases from her long career, chronicling the range of death scenes she encountered, from the many suicides to front-page-ready double murders. The chapters that follow the complicated nature of her job following the 9/11 attacks are especially harrowing and emotionally resonant. Butcher's relaxed writing style allows her to show off her engaging personality, which often lends moments of humor despite the heavy topic, making this a recommended addition to any public-library collection.

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