THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER
(Random House)— Click any link to order.
THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is the gripping, upside-down detective story of a Texas forensic anthropologist named Sharon Derrick who, determined to close the cases of the notorious 1970s Houston-area serial killer Dean Corll, has painstakingly deployed the latest science to identify victims who had become known as the Lost Boys of Houston. This unforgettable narrative of forensic science, missing persons, and unsolved crimes by award-winning investigative journalist Lise Olsen will be published in April by Random House, an imprint and a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Praise
"The Scientist and the Serial Killer is a sort of forensic thriller..." —The Houston Chronicle.
"The Scientist and the Serial Killer is a masterwork of crime writing..." —S.C. Gwynne, Author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell.
"The Scientist and the Serial Killer is a brilliant work of reporting and writing..." —Mimi Swartz, author of Ticker
"The once forgotten murder victims... both haunting and heartbreaking," —Ellen McGarrahan, author of Two Truths and a Lie
"Lise Olsen is not only a masterful investigative reporter, she's one hell of a storyteller." —Skip Hollandsworth, The Midnight Assassin

Lise Olsen is a senior investigative reporter and editor...
Her latest book, THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER (Random House, April 2025), is a USA Today Bestseller.
THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER was a finalist for the CLUE Awards' True Crime Book of the Year at CrimeCon 2025.
Audio book preview. Listen here
Watch a report on this book on ABC 13: New revelations...
KXAN - Austin: issue of lost identity...
Dateline NBC Podcast: listen
Follow Lise on:
For more information, email the author:
liseolseninvestigates@gmail.com
Or Rachel Parker, Publicity, Random House:
rparker@randomhouse.com.