From a skeleton, a skull, a mere fragment of burnt thighbone, prominent forensic anthropologist Dr. William Maples can deduce the age, gender, and ethnicity of a murder victim, the manner in which the person was dispatched, and, ultimately, the identity of the killer. In Dead Men Do Tell Tales , Dr. Maples revisits his strangest, most interesting, and most horrific investigations, from the baffling cases of conquistador Francisco Pizarro and Vietnam MIAs to the mysterious deaths of President Zachary Taylor and the family of Czar Nicholas II. "When he's not shattering myths about maggots, Dr. Maples is delightfully unraveling true murder mysteries, ancient and modern.  He's not just another clever forensic detective -- he's a poet, a philosopher, and a sly commentator on the fractured human condition, pre-and post-mortem." —Carl Hiaasen, author of Strip Tease and Native Tongue "Whether Maples' subjects are famous or anonymous, it is how he tells their stories that makes this book so fascinating and—in its fashion—delightful." —Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "William R. Maples and Michael Browning could've written a dry clinical analysis of forensic anthropology; instead they tell tales better than the dead could for themselves." — New York Times Book Review "When he's not shattering myths about maggots, Dr. Maples is delightfully unraveling true murder mysteries, ancient and modern. He's not just another clever forensic detective -- he's a poet, a philosopher, and a sly commentator on the fractured human condition, pre-and post-mortem." -- Carl Hiaasen, author of Strip Tease and Native Tongue "Whether Maples' subjects are famous or anonymous, it is how he tells their stories that makes this book so fascinating and -- in its fashion -- delightful." --Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "William R. Maples and Michael Browning could've written a dry clinical analysis of forensic anthropology; instead they tell tales better than the dead could for themselves." -- New York Times Book Review From a skeleton, a skull, a mere fragment of burnt thighbone, Dr. William Maples can deduce the age, gender, and ethnicity of a murder victim, the manner in which the person was dispatched, and, ultimately, the identity of the killer.  In Dead Men Do Tell Tales , Dr. Maples revisits his strangest, most interesting, and most horrific investigations, from the baffling cases of conquistador Francisco Pizarro and Vietnam MIAs to the mysterious deaths of President Zachary Taylor and the family of Czar Nicholas II. From a skeleton, a skull, a mere fragment of burnt thighbone, Dr. William Maples can deduce the age, gender, and ethnicity of a murder victim, the manner in which the person was dispatched, and, ultimately, the identity of the killer. In "Dead Men Do Tell Tales, Dr. Maples revisits his strangest, most interesting, and most horrific investigations, from the baffling cases of conquistador Francisco Pizarro and Vietnam MIAs to the mysterious deaths of President Zachary Taylor and the family of Czar Nicholas II. Until his death in February 1997, Dr. William R. Maples was distinguished service professor and curator-in-charge of the C. A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida. He was president of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A scholarship fund has been established in his honor. After his death, his students painted a large tribute on a memorial wall at the University of Florida, saying simply: “We have stood on the shoulders of a giant.”   Michael Browning was East Asia correspondent for Knight-Ridder Newspapers from 1983–1992. After that, he lived in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and worked for the Palm Beach Post.  I seldom have nightmares. When I do, they are usually flitting images of the everyday things I see on the job: crushed and perforated skulls, lopped-off limbs and severed heads, roasted and dissolving corpses, hanks of human hair and heaps of white bones all in a day's work at my office, the C. A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. Recently I dreamed I was in a faraway country, trying on shoes, and the leather in the shoes was so improperly prepared that the laces and uppers were crawling with maggots.  But there was a simple, ordinary explanation for this phantasm:  one of my graduate students was raising maggots as part of a research project. I have gazed on the face of death innumerable time, witnessed it in all its grim manifestations.  Death has no power to freeze my heart, jangle my nerves or sway my reason.  Death to me is no terror of the night but a daylit companion, a familiar condition, a process obedient to scientific laws and answerable to scientific inquiry. For me, every day is Halloween.  When you think of all the horror movies you have see