In this empathetic and darkly funny memoir, Thomas Coyle – one of New Zealand's most seasoned forensic investigators – pulls back the police tape and walks us straight into the crime scenes. With sharp detail, he reveals how the tiniest fragment of evidence can expose a suspect, prove a motive or confirm an identity. Sometimes, all at once. Taking us from meticulous casework at New Scotland Yard to the chaos of the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand and the devastation of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, The Dead Speak is both a gripping insider's account of forensic investigation and an unflinching portrait of humanity at its best and worst.