by VJ Knipe
In many ways, the stories of Sherlock Holmes pioneered the collection of evidence to help solve crime. His writer, Arthur Conan-Doyle, did not invent these methods; what he did was show the latest science to his readers, popularizing them in the same way influencers popularize trends today[i]. Unfortunately, his methods would not pass today’s rigorous standards for admissibility in court. Often, Holmes would lie on the floor, smelling and sometimes tasting the evidence[ii] before recovering it from the crime scene.
In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile of grey dust from the floor, and packed it away in an envelope.[iii]
With today’s need to keep evidence pristine, by controlling the crime scene to preserve and record the evidence in situ, Holmes’s slapdash methods no longer work.
In this final article of the series, documenting the proper crime scene procedure of Control, Preserve, Record, Recover, we look at collecting, or recovering evidence from a crime scene.
For evidence to be valid in a court of law, it is vital to ensure the chain of custody of evidence. For validity, every step, between finding the items, transporting them to the laboratory, and listing who analyses them, must be documented in a paper trail. Any gaps in the pathway, immediately negate any possibility of using that evidence to prove guilt or innocence[iv]. I have yet to find a story that covers chain of custody, the closest reference is to habeas corpus in Terry Pratchett’s Making Money, not even a detective story.
‘Sign!’ he commanded. Moist did so.
And then came the magic bit. It was why the paperwork was so important, in the greasy world of turnkeys, thief-takers and bang-beggars, because what really mattered at any one moment was habeas corpus: whose hand is on the collar? Who is responsible for this corpus?[v]
It is as vital to know who is responsible for the evidence, as it is to know who is responsible for the prisoner.
As a matter of fact, the most important consideration, for recovering evidence from a crime scene, is about using the correct container. If you collect something wet, it makes sense not to put it in a paper bag. At fire investigations, it is possible to collect samples of air, in sealed glass containers, to test for accelerants. But for the most part, a plastic bag or container is the preferred wrapping.
So, ignoring the missing mention of chain of custody, do any modern writers collect evidence properly? Or do their detectives follow the Sherlock Holmes method of wading straight in?
Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
While published in 2021, the alternate history Master of Djinn is set in 1912 Cairo. In this steampunk world, magic returned about forty years before the start of the novel, when a Sudanese Mystic, called Al-Jahiz, opened a portal into the Kaf, the realm of the Djinn. Previous novellas set in this world follow the investigations of the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. In this book, the Department of Supernatural Forensics is introduced, as they collect the vessel of an entrapped Djinn, located by Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi.
He looked to where Supernatural Forensics was gingerly placing the Marid’s vessel into a wooden crate for transport.[vi]
Here, it’s quite clear that the evidence is placed in the correct container. A glass bottle would smash, releasing its angry occupant, if not packed carefully for transport. The Ministry has a Vault, in which evidence and artifacts are stored until required, catalogued by a Djinn librarian. In keeping with the forensic knowledge of 1912, the vault is about containment rather than providing proper evidence for a court case.
However, the Department of Supernatural Forensics does analyze certain items to help investigators.
They found the chief of forensics in a room with darkened windows, sitting before a large glass orb filled with clear liquid being heated under a burner.
Dr. Hoda tapped a pen to her chin before scribbling in a notebook.[vii]
Both the equipment and taking contemporaneous notes is straight out of modern scientific forensics. Without too many spoilers, one forensic report helps the main character solve the case and save the world. Unfortunately, the evidence is handled repeatedly, in a Holmes-esque manner, and would not be viable in our modern courts.
Magic and the Shinigami Detective by Honor Raconteur
One of the less well-known authors in speculative detective fiction is Honor Raconteur. She writes in a number of genres, but my favourites are her books about Magical Examiner Henri Davenforth. Magic and the Shinigami Detective is a portal fantasy, answering the question of what would happen if a law enforcement officer from our world ended up in a magical realm. An insane witch transports FBI agent, Jamie Edwards, to the world of Draiocht. With no hope of return to Earth, she enters into the local police force and starts teaching them about how she learned to solve crime. Let’s start when Edwards explains fingerprints to Examiner Davenforth.
“Less chance of me smudging fingerprints and corrupting trace evidence.”
I blinked at her. “Fingerprints?”
From the patient tone of her words, she’d explained this before, at least a hundred times over. “No two individuals have identical fingerprints. Not even identical twins. If you can find fingerprints at the scene, you can match them up with the criminal later, and prove in a court of law that he has been there.”[viii]
She later shows him how to collect fingerprints with charcoal powder and sticky tape. Trained in our world, she automatically labels the finds with the location and date. Not only fingerprints, Agent Edwards interprets blood splatter, in an unrealistic way I’m afraid, but the highlight is the footprint. So very Sherlock Holmes, but achieved in a modern way. Edwards continually forces Davenforth to expand his ideas to fit what she needs.
“Davenforth, do you have any way of preserving this footprint for me?”
It took me a moment of thought before I realized I did indeed. “I have a quick setting cement hex on me, will that do?”
“That should be perfect.”[ix]
Plaster casts of marks at the crime scene, including footprints, are standard for modern forensics. Investigators have even worked out how to take a cast of a footprint in the snow[x].
The author has not just included snippets of forensics to create realism, this series of books is all about the forensics, making this forensic scientist very happy.
Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch
It’s probably not surprising that Aaronovitch’s books get mentioned a lot in these articles, after all he is writing about a police constable working in a magical arena. However, like October Man, mentioned in preserving the crime scene, this is a spin off novel. Urban fantasy, Winter’s Gifts, is set in Wisconsin, USA. You all knew that the FBI had an X-files department.
The ‘basement’ reference I already knew about. It was the unofficial name used inside the Bureau to refer to my ‘department’. It was a throwback to the aforementioned TV show The X-Files, where the heroes worked out of a basement in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, combating aliens, supernatural creatures and monsters.[xi]
Unlike Agent Edwards, the Shinigami Detective, Agent Kimberly Reynolds remains on Earth. This is an Earth of hidden magic and ancient, vengeful spirits. Reynolds travels to Eloise, Wisconsin, to investigate an urgent message from former FBI agent, Patrick Henderson. When she arrives, he is missing, and monstrous snow goons[xii] rampage through the town. The town is cut off by a snow storm. While Reynolds is looking into Henderson’s disappearance, she has no back-up or forensic assistance, so collects evidence herself.
My evidence kit was in my closet back in Manassas. I’d been relying on Agent Doughty bringing his up from Wausau, so I was going to have to improvise. I rooted around in the stationery in the desk drawer and found a padded envelope. I labelled it with a Sharpie and slipped the book inside[xiii].
Reynolds has been drilled in evidence collection and, even when the circumstances are unlikely to enter the court system, she follows proper procedure.
Forensic science has progressed a great deal since the discipline was popularised by Arthur Conan Doyle, with his inquisitive detective Sherlock Holmes. Fiction writers, including the speculative genres, have included these advances in their work. If you want to know more about how recent breakthroughs are portrayed in fiction, the In Death series by JD Robb is near-future speculative police fiction. New procedures are added in a way that suggests they have always been there, but crime only just required this test.
It’s not only police procedurals where readers expect the use of forensics. Juliet McKenna’s most recent contemporary rural fantasy Green Man’s War, has a crime scene team show up in their PPE white suits to preserve evidence. While over in urban fantasy, The Wizard’s Butler by Nathan Lowell depicts a common approach path to control the crime scene, when required to visit a scene of arson. The use of the proper crime scene method of Control, Preserve, Record, Recover, is one more detail that helps writers convince their readers of the realism in their stories.
[i] Jimenez.
[ii] Freedman
[iii]Doyle (pp. 29-30).
[iv] CRSC
[v] Pratchett (p. 219).
[vi] Clark (p. 26).
[vii] Clark (p. 255).
[viii] Raconteur (p. 21).
[ix] Raconteur (p. 107).
[x] You can find a discussing of various casting methods here. https://mozartcultures.com/en/footwear-marks-in-solving-crime/
[xi] Aaronovitch (p. 5).
[xii] I can’t help but think Aaronovith has read too much Calvin and Hobbes.
[xiii] Aaronovitch (p. 29).
References
Aaronovitch, Ben. Winter's Gifts: A Rivers Of London Novella. Orion. Kindle Edition.
Clark, P. Djèlí. A Master of Djinn: THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD-WINNER. Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.
CRSC. Chain of Custody. NIST. https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/chain_of_custody
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Di Lernia Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Freedman, S. (2013). Learning from Sherlock. CLM. June 12. https://www.theclm.org/Magazine/articles/claims-investigators-could-learn-from-sherlock-holmes/642#:~:text=He%20is%20not%20shy%20about,speech%20patterns%2C%20to%20body%20language
Jimenez, L. (2024). 10 Forensic Methods Pioneered by Sherlock Holmes. List Verse. Sept 24. https://listverse.com/2024/09/24/10-forensic-methods-pioneered-by-sherlock-holmes/
Pratchett, Terry. Making Money: (Discworld Novel 36) (Discworld series). Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Raconteur, Honor. Magic and the Shinigami Detective (The Case Files of Henri Davenforth Book 1). Raconteur House, LLC. Kindle Edition.
© Copyright 2025 VJ Knipe
About the Author
Armed with a BSc Biochemistry, an MSc Forensic Science, and a thirst for knowledge, Malaysian-born, Scottish writer, VJ Knipe navigates the realm of fantasy with a touch of the uncanny in a handful of published fantasy books and foray into self-publishing. An avid canoeist, cake decorator, and DIY enthusiast, she's also a passionate advocate for autism awareness. Her current work-in-progress is a Police Procedural set on Mars and she has a long-running monthly forensic science article for an online magazine.