The Girl with the Crooked Nose
The Girl with the Crooked Nose
A Tale of Murder, Obsession and Forensic Artistry
More than thirty murders, nine fugitives, and one obsessed man.
In this thrilling and fascinating account of Frank Bender and his work, readers will be drawn into the cases he has solved - The Girl with Hope, The Man in the Cornfield, The Girl in the Steamer Trunk – as well as the intricacies of his art, the colorful characters he encounters, and the personal cost of his strange obsession.
Through breathtakingly realistic sculptures, Bender reconstructs the faces of the missing and the dead based in part on forensic science, and in part on deep intuition, and uncanny ability to discern not only a missing face but also the personality behind it. In between studio work, he does his own detective work, joining the police, the FBI, and the Texas Marshalls in a way few civilians get to do.
His skills have led to the solving of many murders and other serious crimes, and have given faces to the victims, including in the infamous case of the feminicidios – in which hundreds of murdered women were found outside of Juárez, Mexico.
With a conclusion as shocking as its story is gripping Ted Botha’s The Girl with the Crooked Nose will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
(Post mortem: Frank Bender plays one of the central roles in another nonfiction book called “The Murder Room,” which was published two years after “The Girl with the Crooked Nose,” and focuses on the unusual Vidocq Society, which Frank created with two other men connected to crime-solving. One of the other two men, a criminal profiler named Richard Walter, was discredited as a fraud in a 2023 article in New Yorkmagazine. Frank, who expressed his reservations to me about Walter long before that, was the real deal, a true hero and seeker of justice.)
““A compelling glimpse into a gruesome profession.””
““[A] crackling account of a quirky, maverick forensics artist … Even the most savvy true-crime reader will not be able to resist the author’s insightful storytelling.” ”
““Botha has written an extraordinary and timely book. Partly the portrait of an impassioned man, partly a true-crime story, partly the heartbreaking tale of the murdered women of Juárez, this is also the true story of how, at heart, life’s most important work has nothing to do with making money and everything to do with making a difference.””
““Fans of crime-solving procedurals will love it.””
““Extraordinary … The tales in this book accurately capture the dark motives and complexities of senseless murder, and even the most savvy true-crime reader will not be able to reside the author’s insightful storytelling.””
