‘Skeleton Crew’ author to read, discuss work in Brooklyn

June 19, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Retired NYPD detective sergeant John Paolucci will join author Deborah Halber on July 8

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Retired NYPD detective sergeant John Paolucci will join author Deborah Halber to talk about the issues surrounding unidentified human remains in the U.S. at Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum on July 8.

The reading, book signing and wine-and-cheese reception marks the release of Halber’s narrative nonfiction book, “The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America’s Coldest Cases.”

Halber will provide an overview of the shocking numbers of unidentified human remains stowed in potters fields and morgues across the U.S., and a behind-the-scenes look at the Internet subculture working to match missing people with nameless, forgotten victims. Paolucci will describe the unique challenges of unidentified bodies, how real-life crime scenes differ from those on television, and how he solved a mystery involving insurance fraud and a Paraguayan corpse.

Halber began her writing careers as a daily newspaper reporter and then became a writer and editor for Tufts University and a science writer for MIT. A freelance journalist since 2004, her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, MIT Technology Review, the graphic news magazine Symbolia, and many university publications.

The July 8 event will begin at 8 p.m. Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum is located at 424A 3rd Ave. (Corner of 7th Street and 3rd Avenue). Admission is $8.