Forensic pathologist Ryan Blumenthal works in a world few people are ever exposed to . . . the mortuary. He spends his days among the dead, uncovering how they died and whether a crime was committed. To date, he has performed over 13 000 autopsies.

In Trace, Ryan takes readers behind the scenes of some of the strange death scenes he has attended, such as a shallow grave beside a river where a body was found with an amputated finger. He also shares rare and unusual cases, including a man who may have died from autoerotic asphyxia and a suspected poisoning that turned out to be a shooting. His work has brought him face to face with many kinds of unnatural deaths, including those caused by lightning strikes, wild animals, muti killings, and even a solitary wasp sting.

Through it all, Ryan sees himself as a voice for the voiceless, striving to bring justice to the dead and truth to their loved ones.

Ryan Blumenthal is a forensic pathologist with more than a quarter of a century of experience in the field. His first book, Autopsy: Life in the Trenches with a Forensic Pathologist in Africa, became a non-fiction bestseller and was translated into Afrikaans and Russian.
His second book, Risking Life for Death: Lessons for the Living from the Autopsy Table, was published in 2023. He also presented an eight-part documentary series, Lightning Pathologist, which aired on Channel 180 on DStv in 2020.