January 14, 2025 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Tombs and Tomes Book Club January (In Person)

This month’s pick

The Science of Murder
The Forensics of Agatha Christie

Tombs and Tomes is Congressional Cemetery’s book club.

We meet every other month on the second Tuesday in our historic Chapel, and we discuss primarily non-fiction books.

Our book selections have no rhyme and reason; however, our choices tend to stray towards the macabre, as is natural for a cemetery book club. Our very first meeting was in September 2013 and we chose to read Stiff, by Mary Roach.

It’s free to join, and mostly free to attend. For each in-person meeting, we simply ask that you bring either a $5 donation or a bit of food or wine to share with the group. Extra points for brownies!

Loading Events

Discover the science of forensics through Agatha Christie’s novels

Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one―or, more commonly, several―dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put the pieces together to solve the mystery invite the reader to analyze the evidence and race to find the answer before the detective does. Nearly every step of the way, Christie outlines the nuts and bolts of early 20th-century crime detection, relying on physical evidence to tell the real story behind the facades humans erect to escape detection.

Christie wouldn’t have talked of “forensics” as it is understood today―most of her work predates the modern developments of forensics science―but in each tale she harnesses the power of human observation, ingenuity, and scientific developments of the era. A fascinating, science-based deep dive, The Science of Murder examines the use of fingerprints, firearms, handwriting, blood spatter analysis, toxicology, and more in Christie’s beloved works.

Still interested? Sign up here!

Details

Date:
January 14, 2025
Time:
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Event Categories:
,
Event Tags:

Venue

Historic Congressional Cemetery Chapel
1801 E Street, Southeast
Washington, DC 20003 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
(202) 543-0539
Go to Top