General Remarks on Estimating the Time Since Death
Burkhard Madea and Claus Henssge

Historical Review on Early Work on Estimating of the Time Since Death
Bernard Knight and Burkhard Madea

Supravitality in Tissues
Burkhard Madea

Rigor Mortis
Thomas Krompecher

Postmortem Lividity
Burkhard Madea and Bernard Knight

Postmortem Body Cooling and Temperature-Based Methods
Claus Henssge, Guy Rutty, Michael Hubig, Holger Muggenthaler, and Gita Mall

Autolysis, Putrefactive Changes and Postmortem Chemistry
Burkhard Madea, Gerhard Kernbach-Wighton, Claus Henssge, Elke Doberentz and
Frank Musshoff

Gastric Contents and Time Since Death
Burkhard Madea and Bernard Knight

Immunohistochemical Methods as an Aid in Estimating the Time Since Death
Burkhard Madea

Practical Casework
Claus Henssge, Burkhard Madea and Stephan Potente

Forensic Entomology
Saskia Reibe

Radiocarbon Dating
Wilfried Rosendahl and Doris Döppes

Cross-Sectional Imaging and the Postmortem Interval
Guy Rutty and Bruno Morgan

Estimation of the Time Since Death remains the foremost authoritative book on scientifically calculating the estimated time of death postmortem. Building on the success of previous editions which covered the early postmortem period, this new edition also covers the later postmortem period including putrefactive changes, entomology, and postmortem resonance spectroscopy.

Entomology and the radiocarbon test are now included, as they may be of significance in the early postmortem period. Because of the increasing importance of postmortem imaging, a chapter on cross-sectional imaging and the postmortem interval has been added. The book also describes in detail a new mathematical approach to narrow down the postmortem interval derived from the compound method (conditional probability in death time estimation).

A unique work of synthesis combining rigorous science with practical guidance, the book has been improved, updated, reformatted, and extended in scope. Redesigned in colour throughout, it continues to be an invaluable resource and also the standard for the estimation of the time since death.

Burkhard Madea, MD, director, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bonn, Germany