The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy

 

First Line: One night in September 2018, I dreamed that I was standing in a courtroom, blinking in the bright lights, with microphones poking up all around me.

In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline in Chicago, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. It didn't take long for Marty to want an answer to a very important question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and to treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool-- the rape kit-- and once adopted by the Chicago Police Department, the use of this tool soon spread to New York City and beyond.

But even as Marty fought for women's rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work, and when journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this pioneer, she discovered that even Marty's closest friends had lost track of her. While following clues to find out what happened to Marty, Kennedy also learned more about the problematic history of American forensics.

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When I read the synopsis of The Secret History of the Rape Kit, I knew I had to read it. Call me more than a little disgruntled when I learn of all the work done by women that men have stolen the credit for.

Martha "Marty" Goddard's work is outstanding because she pushed it through the most corrupt police department in America at the time: the Chicago Police Department. This woman did not like public speaking and often found someone else to do it for her, but when she had to, she would. That is how dedicated she was to her project. It's hard for me to believe that Goddard sank almost without a trace. How can someone do something so important and then disappear? I congratulate Kennedy for bringing Goddard back into the spotlight where she belongs.

The history the author provides is fascinating. I'll share a couple of examples. Would it surprise you to learn that Hugh Hefner and Playboy played a very important part in getting Goddard's rape kits accepted? They did. Would it also surprise you to learn that the infrastructure we use every day is constantly feeding us messages about who is important and who is not? It does. The designer of the bridges and underpasses leading into Long Island purposely had them built with low clearances so buses couldn't get through. You see, he didn't want poor people to have easy access to the area.

Kennedy shows us how the rape kits and forensics have changed over time and shares her own experience of sexual assault. While I didn't really find the author's personal experience all that necessary to the book as a whole, it does shed light on a survivor's thoughts and feelings.

The Secret History of the Rape Kit is a valuable addition to not only the history of forensics but women's history as well.

The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy

eISBN: 9780593314722

Vintage Books © 2025

eBook, 320 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson

First Line: His upper jawbone was massive-- a long, curved bone with nine tiny holes meant to hold his teeth.

In his private science laboratory (the nation's first), a man named Edward Oscar Heinrich would become known as the "American Sherlock Holmes." He was one of America's greatest-- and first-- forensic scientists who would crack at least two thousand cases in his forty-year career.

Heinrich became one of the nation's first expert witnesses in an era when the chaos of Prohibition led to sensationalized crime reporting and only a very small, systematic study of the evidence.

After reading Kate Winkler Dawson's Death in the Air and attending one of her events for American Sherlock, I had to read this book. It was absorbing.

Beginning with the impact the death of his father had on him, to working in a drugstore (which he called "a veritable laboratory in behavioristic psychology" and handwriting analysis), to the building of his own private laboratory and work as a forensic scientist and expert witness, American Sherlock portrays a complex and formidable man who earned his nickname because no one else before or since has had his expertise in so many disciplines.

In reading this book, all sorts of fascinating facts come to light-- like what led to Walgreens' phenomenal expansion in the 1920s. Readers also learn that Heinrich couldn't have reached his unbelievable level of expertise without the help of two men: law enforcement officer August Vollmer, who deserves a book of his own, and Heinrich's closest confidante, John Boynton Kaiser, a reference librarian who kept his friend supplied with the latest in scientific publications.

The best parts of this book are watching Heinrich at work solving crimes; it can be riveting. Heinrich also had several rivalries with fellow "expert" witnesses, and in the process of watching these other men during trials, Heinrich learned how to present his own findings-- because getting the juries to accept the science was the hardest part of his job.

American Sherlock ends on a cautionary note. The United States needs a centralized and standardized system of forensics. It should take more than a forty-hour course for someone to be regarded as an expert in any forensic discipline. Every state should have the exact same requirements across the board. If that is done, our criminal justice system will be vastly improved.

If you're in the mood to learn about a remarkable man, some engrossing criminal court cases, and the birth of our fascination with forensics, I'd say you're in the mood for Kate Winkler Dawson's American Sherlock, wouldn't you?

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI

by Kate Winkler Dawson

eISBN: 9780525539575

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2020

eBook, 335 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

First Line: Shang didn't know death was coming for him until he tasted the blood spurting up into his throat.

In obeyance with custom in 13th century China,  budding forensic investigator Ci Song unwillingly gives up his studies to help his family. After another tragedy strikes, Ci finds himself a fugitive and has no other recourse but to take a job as a lowly gravedigger-- which does allow him to sharpen his skills as a "corpse reader." His abilities make him sought after, and he soon receives a summons from the Imperial Court itself-- a summons that will take every ounce of his corpse reading skill to keep the Emperor-- and Ci himself-- out of danger.

The author did much research on an actual person-- Song Ci, considered the founding father of CSI-style forensic science. Garrido tells us about his research and how he went about writing the book in a section at the end. This section is well worth reading. In fact I would have to say that I probably enjoyed it more than I did the story itself.

I found the villain to be glaringly obvious, but even more than that is the fact that Garrido's main character drove me crazy. As written by the author, Ci is academically brilliant and socially obtuse. For a person who is supposedly as brilliant as he at piecing together the most obscure forensic details, Ci is completely ignorant of the people around him. In addition, each time he's cornered by someone who's unraveled one of his personal secrets, his only reaction is to run-- yet he has the courage to face down the Emperor himself over a small forensic detail?

As you can see, my enjoyment of this book was hampered by two things: (1) my inability to put myself in the time period and cultural beliefs of 13th century China, and (2) my reaction to the main character. Something tells me that if I fell into a time machine and opened the door onto this era in China, I wouldn't last very long. I don't have a feudal "decapitate-first-don't-bother-asking-questions" mentality, and I've always had a problem-- in books and in real life-- with people who are book smart yet have absolutely no common sense.

This book sets you down right in the heart of China 800 years ago. If-- unlike me-- you can be more forgiving of that time period's mindset and of a main character who's almost too naive to live, your mileage will most certainly vary from mine. I sincerely hope it does, and even though everything was not to my liking, I really appreciated a glimpse into the mind of a truly brilliant man, Song Ci.

The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead

ISBN: 9781612184364

AmazonCrossing © 2013

Paperback, 494 pages

Historical Mystery, Standalone

Rating: C-

Source: Publicist