Q 01/05

Which Truman Capote 'non-fiction novel' reconstructs the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas?

A) The Stranger Beside Me

B) In Cold Blood

C) Helter Skelter

D) Mindhunter

Answer · why

B) In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood took Capote six years; his childhood friend Harper Lee went with him to Kansas and helped interview townspeople and investigators, filli...

Q 02/05

In police work, what is a 'cold case'?

A) An unsolved crime no longer under active investigation

B) A solved crime whose file is closed

C) A prosecution dropped just before trial

D) A conviction awaiting an appeal ruling

Answer · why

A) An unsolved crime no longer under active investigation

An unsolved crime no longer under active investigation, usually a murder or other serious felony; the file stays open, so a new witness or fresh foren...

Q 03/05

Which Latin phrase do investigators use for a criminal's characteristic way of committing crimes?

A) Ad hoc

B) Modus operandi

C) Prima facie

D) Corpus delicti

Answer · why

B) Modus operandi

Modus operandi, shortened to M.O., means 'mode of operating'; it covers how an offender commits a crime, avoids detection and gets away, so matching M...

Q 04/05

Which discipline uses insects to aid legal investigations, particularly in estimating time of death?

A) Forensic botany

B) Forensic geology

C) Forensic entomology

D) Forensic odontology

Answer · why

C) Forensic entomology

Forensic entomology reads insects as a clock: blowflies are among the first to reach a body, and the growth stage of their maggots shows roughly how l...

Q 05/05

What is the post-death stiffening of muscles used to estimate time of death called?

A) Rigor mortis

B) Livor mortis

C) Algor mortis

D) Pallor mortis

Answer · why

A) Rigor mortis

Rigor mortis, Latin for 'stiffness of death', sets in a few hours after death and fades again within days as the muscles relax, which is why its progr...