The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

In the 1940s, Frances Glessner Lee created the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, tiny dollhouse scenes based on real homicides, accidents, and suicides. The models, made by hand at a scale of one inch to one foot, are incredibly detailed and were used to train detectives in the new art and science of forensics. For The New Yorker, I wrote about how a reclusive, socialite grandmother worth millions became the progenitor of crime scene investigation using the unlikely craft of dollhouses. Read the article here.