Publishers Weekly
12/04/2023
Bailey debuts with a macabre memoir about her work as an FBI forensic artist. Discussing the tricks of her trade, she notes that the age of a skull can be estimated by examining “wear and tear on teeth” and that clay facial reconstructions are performed on “3D-printed resin replicas” so that the original skull isn’t disturbed or altered. Though Bailey mainly describes the work as quiet and careful, she recounts some of the more dramatic cases she’s been involved with, including flying to Bogotá to draw composite sketches of suspects in the killing of a DEA agent and digitally removing “blood and gore” from photos of the detached heads of suicide bombers so that the images could be released to the public for help with identification. The latter half of the book largely concerns the harassment Bailey endured as one of relatively few women at the Bureau, including getting bullied by vindictive male supervisors who blamed her for their mistakes and sabotaged her work after she filed a complaint against them. Bailey provides gritty insight into the unglamorous labor of forensic artists, but she struggles to effectively integrate the account of her workplace harassment, giving the proceedings a disjointed feel. Still, Bones fans will enjoy the insider’s view of forensic analysis. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
"A fascinating account! Lisa Bailey deserves both our deepest respect and our profound admiration. I say this, first, in tribute to her incisive intellect, as revealed in these astonishing pages, that led to groundbreaking work in forensic investigation. And, importantly, I say this in honor of her unflinching courage in face of the flagrant gender discrimination and despicable administrative dishonesty she was forced to endure in her FBI workplace. The Bureau prides itself on being one of the world’s top law enforcement agencies, but the lack of any sense of internal justice within the ranks of its upper management reveals an organization that has much to answer for.” —Douglas Schofield, coauthor of Giovanni’s Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos
“Lisa Bailey’s story covering her fascinating career as a forensic artist and the bizarre treatment she endured while employed at the FBI is as compelling as a crime novel. In Clay and Bones, readers have a front row seat to the real world of forensic art and the real fight for justice Ms. Bailey braved through for years at the very agency that claims justice as the primary goal.” —Melissa Ross, author of Forensics for Kids
“You know you’re in for a wild ride when a book drops you into the Body Farm on the first page. From investigations of charred corpses to intensive work on boxes of unidentified skulls, Clay and Bones is a gripping account of the day-to-day duties of an FBI forensic artist. And if you think reconstructing someone’s face from decades-old remains is Bailey’s most difficult challenge, you’re in for a big surprise.” —Lindsey Fitzharris, New York Times bestselling author of The Facemaker
“After performing thousands of autopsies and writing dozens of articles and three books on the subject of messy death, the two of us learned things from Lisa Bailey about the grotesque decomposition of the elements of a human face that can happen as a consequence of certain violent, fatal events. Clay and Bones surprises even us. And that’s really saying something!" —Judy Melinek, MD, and T.J. Mitchell, authors of Working Stiff
“A gruesomely vivid book.” — Kirkus Reviews
"...Bones fans will enjoy the insider’s view of forensic analysis” — Publishers Weekly
"Clay and Bones shines a light on a crucial position in law enforcement while also revealing systemic flaws at the premier U.S. law enforcement agency... Readers will be mesmerized by her work and angered by the targeted harassment she received." — Booklist
“Bailey’s writing is profound and personal, with a narrative voice that is intimate, relatable, and a touch wry, making Clay and Bones intensely readable.” —C. S. Poe, author of the award-winning Memento Mori mystery series
JULY 2024 - AudioFile
Christina Delaine narrates with such an engaging conversational tone that listeners will feel they're active participants in this memoir by the FBI's first female forensic sculptor. One minute Delaine urges listeners to prepare for a grisly discussion of forensics practices; the next she's describing hostile bullying by a male manager. The range of the material is broad, and Delaine complements each scene with an apt interpretation. She reflects Bailey's marvel at the near-magical path she followed to find her career, neutrality while describing the many clues skulls provide for facial approximation, and horror at how institutional sexism threatened to rob her of work she loves. Delaine embraces it all with passion whether the subject is satisfying scientific and artistic breakthroughs, employment discrimination, hypocrisy, or justice. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-11-11
A memoir by the first female “forensic sculptor” in the FBI.
Books by forensic experts—those who use science or art to solve crimes—are a minor genre, but this is a solid addition. Retired FBI forensic artist Bailey loved art but couldn’t afford college. Sharp and hardworking, she sped through Navy technical training and became a graphic artist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, before answering a newspaper ad for an illustrator at the FBI. In 2001, she joined a staff of about 50 full-time (and hundreds of part-time) forensic artists who work at law enforcement agencies across the country. What they produce is not art but evidence, mostly composites (a face reassembled from descriptions and remains) or “age progressions” based on a past photo. The miraculous re-creations by fictional TV forensic artists are often exaggerated, but real-life forensics occasionally solves crimes, and the accounts of cases always make for compelling reading. Bailey developed an interest in producing an accurate human face from a naked skull, often from long-dead remains. Although familiar to veteran whodunit readers, the reality of such reconstructions is far more complex, requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of a skull’s innumerable muscles, tendons, nerves, and fat deposits and the ability to approximate a vanished visage. Dramatic crime-solving “hits” are rare but deeply satisfying. In the first 100 pages, the author delivers an entertaining account of the life and work of an FBI forensic artist. From there, she recounts the first of many conflicts with supervisors and alternates details of bizarre forensic assignments and increasingly painful encounters with obnoxious bosses, some of which led to legal action. Readers will fume along with Bailey, but they may wish that her description of a dysfunctional work environment at the FBI were less intensely personal and included other examples from colleagues.
Despite occasional narrative distractions, a gruesomely vivid book.
