"The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases" by Deborah Halber

On July 1st, Deborah Halber is releasing an interesting book called "The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America's Coldest Cases."

Deborah Halber delves into the taboo world of cold cases and their unidentified victims. With an approximated 40,000 nameless Does in America today, the task of solving cold cases is overwhelming and overtaxing to already inundated law enforcement agencies. Web sleuths, regular joes trying their hand at DIY-CSI, use the internet to troll for missing persons hoping to give identities back to the unidentified victims who have slipped through the cracks.

Though the topic of “The Skeleton Crew” is an interesting one, the technicality of the book was wanting. Halber does a good job identifying many cases and key players in the realm of web sleuthing, but the excessive names and jumping from case to case and back left me confused. The book, though well-researched, didn’t flow particularly well.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about those who work hard to bring home the unidentified. It’s a scary realization that thousands are lying unnamed in America’s morgues.