Books: Life Among the Dead

THE SCALPEL OF SCOTLAND YARD (503 pp.)—Douglas G. Browne and E. V. Tullett—Dutton ($5).

Scotland Yard detectives were convinced that the body in the seaside bungalow was Emily Kaye's. The trouble was going to be in proving it. Four large pieces of her body were lying in a trunk. Thirty-seven smaller pieces were in a hatbox. The rest of her had been reduced to splinters and bone dust.

Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Home Office pathologist, was called upon to reconstruct the body. He spent a full day collecting the pieces, and worked all night making...