Upon further examination of the book, I found fully illustrated, in-depth documentation of every story told by a cadaver, from the actual death event itself, through all types of murder 'weapons' and their effects including all types of wounds, both legal and illegal drugs and poisons, drowning and identification of the victim, then going further to look at cases of both child and other human rights abuses. At this point, it would be wise to mention that the pictures are horrifying, as they always are when dealing with harm to children, but these are real-cases and if you are faint of heart, it is not a good subject to study anyway!
It also goes into great detail of the medico-legal aspects of courtroom forensics itself, including ethics and medical malpractice.

In short the book may look thin in comparison to great big huge textbooks (I have many myself), but the information is concise, informative and it is a very valuable source of reference to any student from A-level to post-graduate!

In short, yes it does. For starters it will appeal to a much wider audience than purely medical students, but junior doctors, science students, forensic practitioners and police and Coroner's officers aswell.

The opening chapters set out the legal system as it impacts upon doctors (concentrating on UK legislation), and includes advice on behavior in court, as well as writing legal reports. Medical ethics and the law relating to medical negligence are briefly presented. A useful feature is a set of example cases of 'medical error' divided into obstetrics and gynaecology; orthopaedics; general surgery; general medicine and anaesthesiology.

Chapters on the medical aspects of death take the reader through definitions of death (cellular and somatic), the process of death certification and the role of the Coroner. Presumably the manuscript was prepared before the details of the fundamental review of the Coroner's system (Luce Report) were known, and so unfortunately this chapter may not stand the test of time if the 123 recommendations of the review are implemented.

Identification of the living describes the use of physical characteristics, including teeth, fingerprints and tattoos etc, as well as the use of DNA. It also makes the point that it is in the area of DNA analysis and not serology that the modern forensic scientist excels - a marked change from Simpson's day.

The chapter on wounds is an excellent introductory text - some clear photos and descriptions are given, and the point is made that incorrect terminology should be avoided, and if one is not sure which term to use, one should use a layperson's term, such as a cut etc (rather than use laceration to describe an incision etc).

The factors relating to the force required to cause a stab wound are listed, summarizing the recently available research into this area, of interest of course to those who design stab-proof body armour etc.

Patterns of injury are brought together in descriptions of regional injuries, and there is an excellent overview chapter on firearms injuries and explosive wounds. Further detail can of course be obtained from some of the larger texts on forensic medicine, but the material here is perfectly adequate for an introductory text.

Of particular interest to junior pathologists is the chapter on the pathology of sudden and unexpected natural deaths - the bulk of their autopsy practice. This chapter gives a useful starting point, with an overview of heart disease, aneurysms and intracranial bleeds, for example.

There is an excellent introduction to human rights issues including neglect, and the final third of the book is devoted to toxicology. Chapters on alcohol, drugs of abuse, medicines, corrosives and gases are covered, as well agricultural poisons and others. These chapters make an excellent addition to the material commonly presented in clinical pharmacology textbooks, and would I suspect bring this fairly dry subject to life!

This edition of Simpson's does not disappoint, and Dr Shepherd should be congratulated on managing to improve upon a wonderful introductory text, whilst still keeping the feel of the book - it is still easily recognizable as Simpson's.

Having said that, it would also have been nice to have seen more updating of the illustrations - most are clearly from the last edition, whereas the 11th edition managed to completely update the illustrations from previous editions, using pictures from Knight's other works. I would like to see a similar change in the next edition, with Dr Shepherd stamping more of an influence over the illustrations.

I would definitely recommend this text to all medical students - I think that Simpson's is unique in that it presents the subject in such a straight forward manner, in a clear fashion, and manages to provide an effective overview in a short amount of space, and yet thoroughly do it justice! A great achievement, and one which I hope continues in forthcoming editions. Long live Simpson's!