D.P. Lyle, MD, is an American crime novelist, forensic consultant for television and fiction, and one of the most-cited references writers turn to for getting medical and forensic detail right. Born and raised in Alabama, he attended medical school in Texas and has practiced cardiology in Orange County, California, for more than thirty years. The forensic consulting and the writing career grew up alongside the cardiology practice.
His Writer's Digest book Howdunit: Forensics is the standard recommendation for crime writers who want to understand evidence handling, autopsy procedure, time of death, fingerprints, fibers, ballistics, and the science behind crime scene reconstruction. Forensics for Dummies (Wiley, 2004) covers the same ground for a broader audience and won the 2005 Macavity Award for Best Nonfiction. His question-and-answer books, drawn from years of fielding writers' questions on his blog, include Murder and Mayhem (2003), Forensics and Fiction (2007), and More Forensics and Fiction. ABA Fundamentals: Understanding Forensic Science is his contribution to the American Bar Association reference series.
Lyle's fiction runs to multiple thriller series. The Samantha Cody books (Devil's Playground, Double Blind, Original Sin) feature a former cop turned investigator. The Dub Walker series (Stress Fracture, Hot Lights Cold Steel, Run to Ground) follows a Huntsville-based forensic consultant. The Jake Longly series (Deep Six, A-List, Sunshine State) takes a lighter Florida noir angle. He has also written the Cain/Harper series, beginning with Skin in the Game, and the Royal Pains media tie-in novels based on the USA Network television series. His work has been nominated for two Edgar Awards, the Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, and Silver Falchion, and twice for USA Today Best Book.
Lyle has consulted on television series including Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Cold Case, House, Women's Murder Club, and The Glades. He co-hosts the Crime and Science Radio program with crime novelist Jan Burke, where they walk through the science behind specific cases and fiction questions. His writers' forensics blog at dplylemd.com has been answering medical and forensic questions for crime writers for more than two decades.
