Frances Glessner Lee is an absolutely fascinating subject for a biography. Though best known for her "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" - recreation of death scenes in immaculately-detailed miniature, intended to help homicide investigators hone their observational skills - Lee also spent decades learning everything she could on legal (forensic) medicine, then teaching, persuading, lobbying, and spending her vast fortune to promote legal medicine as a discipline.

Though Goldfarb's book is a bit slow and dry, spending a long time on the Glessners' family history and Lee's years before becoming interested in legal medicine, it is meticulous. Though I would've liked more of a glimpse at Lee's inner life and emotions (as well as more pictures of the models!), I appreciate Goldfarb's dedication to primary sources and to avoiding a temptation to injecting imaginings when he didn't actually have the facts. Luckily what's on the record is interesting enough to carry you through the book. I read this book during a weekend with friends and kept having to stop to share astounding facts from Lee's life with them.

If you know someone who's a fan of true crime, or medical or women's history non-fiction, and has a bit of patience, I would recommend this book for them.