After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and budding forensic investigator Cí Song begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his family. But when another tragedy strikes, he’s forced to run and also deemed a fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself—or was murdered. His prowess earns him notoriety, and Cí receives orders to unearth the perpetrator of a horrific series of mutilations and deaths at the Imperial Court. Cí’s gruesome investigation quickly grows complicated thanks to old loyalties and the presence of an alluring, enigmatic woman. But he remains driven by his passion for truth—especially once the killings threaten to take down the Emperor himself. Inspired by Song Cí, considered to be the founding father of CSI-style forensic science, this harrowing novel set during the thirteenth-century Tsong Dynasty draws readers into a multilayered, ingenious plot as disturbing as it is fascinating. In 2012, The Corpse Reader received the Zaragoza International Prize for best historical novel published in Spain (Premio Internacional de Novela Histórica Ciudad de Zaragoza).

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Book Description
After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and
budding forensic investigator Cí Song
begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his
family. But when another tragedy strikes,
he’s forced to run and also deemed a
fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to
accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a
position that allows him to sharpen his
corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce
whether a person killed himself—or was
murdered.
His prowess earns him notoriety, and Cí receives orders to unearth the
perpetrator of a horrific series of mutilations and deaths at the Imperial Court.
Cí’s gruesome investigation quickly grows complicated thanks to old loyalties
and the presence of an alluring, enigmatic woman. But he remains driven by
his passion for truth—especially once the killings threaten to take down the
Emperor himself.
Inspired by Song Cí, considered to be the founding father of CSI-style forensic
science, this harrowing novel set during the thirteenth-century Tsong Dynasty
draws readers into a multilayered, ingenious plot as disturbing as it is
fascinating.

2. In 2012, The Corpse Reader received the Zaragoza International Prize for best
historical novel published in Spain (Premio Internacional de Novela Histórica
Ciudad de Zaragoza).
Reviews
Song Ci (宋慈) was a real life forensic medical expert during the medieval
period of China and is considered the Founding Father of Forensic Science. He
wrote a book about his findings called Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified
which has been translated into English and several other languages. The author
of this novel had taken an interest in this historical figure and created a
fictional account of his life and beginnings.
The character Cí, in this novel strives to learn about human anatomy and
buries himself in his studies. He is forced to return to farm life after his
grandfather dies and there is where his life becomes a series of experiencing
one bad fortune after another. The book is definitely interesting and contains a
series of twists. The author obviously did plenty of research of the time period
for this book. I do think there may be times where the author has confused
Mandarin and Cantonese, which some people (language students like me) will
notice.
Ci finds himself in and out of the forensic world. Sometimes acting as a
charlatan for a fortune teller to eventually working for the Emperor himself.
The people he comes in contact with during his travels are varied, from deviant
huskers to true friends.
Anyone who is interested in criminal investigative type stories and what
happens to the human body after we die, should give this a read. This is

3. definitely an entertaining book and gives a different view of the CSI world for
fans of CSI Miami or the BBC's Copper. Fans of Chinese history will also enjoy
this novel.
The end of the book has some information on how the author became
interested in this subject and some background on the Song Dynasty. For those
wondering, the story is almost 500 pages. My only complants about the book
are the discrepancies in language and the fate of one of Ci's adversaries was
never revealed. Perhaps this is because the author is planning on writing a
sequel.
To download now please click the link below.
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