The Dead Do Talk

Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, Thailand’s most famous forensic pathologist, has daily run-ins with police and frequently crosses swords with Thailand’s political heavyweights. She has also had her life threatened. But her relentless efforts to liberate the secrets of the dead and bring justice to the victims of crime and their families have won her popular support. In a country where there are 10,000 unidentified corpses every year and where crime scene investigation barely exists outside of the world of fiction, Dr Porntip has almost single-handedly dragged forensic science and DNA analysis into the limelight. In this book she recounts her growing-up years and the influences that shaped her life, and lays bare the challenges of her pioneering role as she describes some of her most significant cases, including her experiences dealing with the tragic events at Tak Bai in Thailand’s restive south and at the tsunami-hit Phang Nga.