A fascinating and unusual collection.
~Lore and Language
The stories are interesting and the scientific approaches used to investigate them are fascinating.
~Paintsville (KY) Herald
A riveting collection of historical mysteries that can stand as 'mere' entertainment, or a thought-provoking introduction to an exciting field of study.
~Reading for Pleasure
Nickell ably exploits tests of evidence, reasoning, forensic science, literary analysis, and historiography, making difficult concepts clear with apt example. [He] deftly promotes the difficult art of discovering reality in mystery.
~Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Long before those history detectives hit PBS & Co., there was Joe Nickell.
~Rockland (ME) Courier-Gazette
Into a relatively few pages not only has Nickell managed to pack the philosophy, strategy, and tactics of scholarly research and scientific investigation, but he also walks the reader, in step-by-step fashion, through nine separate and diverse historical mysteries he has confronted and solved.
~Skeptical Inquirer
Nickell takes a practical no-nonsense approach to a series of historical mysteries, surveying the evidence and working out whether there is a case to be made for the strange conclusions that people have often reached.
~Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory