In Traces, Professor Patricia Wiltshire will take you on a journey through the fascinating edgeland where nature and crime are intertwined. She'll take you on a journey searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands, along hedgerows, field edges, and through plantations - solving time since death, and disposal of remains, from ditches to living rooms. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. And Pat will show you how her work with a microscope reveals telltale traces of the world around us, and how these have taken suspects of the darkest of criminal activities to court. From flowers, fungi, tree trunks, and car pedals - to walking boots, carpets, and even corpses' hair: Traces is a fascinating, unique, and utterly compelling book on the universal themes of life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.