Publisher Books Of Zimbabwe Publishing Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. P.O. Box 1994, Bulawayo. Publishers Of Rhodesians Reprints And New Zimbabwean Literary Works First Published in Great Britain 1980 By George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0 245 53609 4 Copyright John Thompson 1980 Hardback: ISBN 0 86920 237 S Paperback: ISBN 0 86920 236 7 Printed In Zimbabwe by Maroon Printers (Pvt.) Ltd., Bulawayo From Type Set by Ronset Ltd., Darwen, United Kingdom Category Crime Language English
In 1963 Dr Thompson became the first Director of the British South Africa Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Salisbury, a position he held until retiring in 1977. During those years he dealt with some 12 000 cases of which about half were of murder while the others ranged from counterfeiting money, and forgeries of postage stamps, to embezzlement and smuggling of emeralds.
Inevitably his pursuit of crime has been distinguished by an African dimension characterised by tribal disagreements, marital infidelities, ritual murders and witchcraft. He is outspoken where he sees witchcraft as an evil influence, for example where it spreads tropical disease. But he understands the heritage of the tribesman, acknowledges his morality, and observes his frailty with humour, fairness and objectivity.
Using modern toxicology; spectral, microscopic and chemical analyses; together with a number of his own contributed solutions to the science of pathology, he successfully advanced the fight of criminal investigation in Rhodesia, earning for himself a place in the country’s gallery of Men of Our Time.