More than 10,000 murder mystery aficionados have signed up to be a forensic investigator at the heart of a Val McDermid thriller.
The online course which was launched by Dundee University last month tasks users around the world with finding a killer in an interactive story by the best-selling author.
The six-week course which is entitled Identifying The Dead: forensic science and human identification aims to teach participants the art of forensics.
The background story for the course has been written by crime author McDermid and includes a body found on a hill in the centre of Dundee, a mystery as to its identity and police looking for the help of a forensic investigator.
The development of the course, which is run by the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (Cahid), was so real that residents believed there had actually been a murder on the Law when filming took place in May.
“We are delighted to have 10,000 people already signed up to the course just weeks after launching it,” said Dr Helen Meadows, project director for the course at Dundee University.
“At Cahid we work on this kind of investigation all the time, helping police in criminal investigations and identifying individuals in all manner of different circumstances.
“We know from the queries we get from the public, and also from the huge audiences for programmes like CSI and the sales of crime writers like Val, that there is a huge interest in how this works. What we are doing with this course is giving everyone a chance to find out for themselves how we do it.
“This course will give a real insight into the work we do.
“It is also set at a level where people don’t require any prior specialist knowledge and it is suitable for anyone from 12 to 112.”
The course will start in September and will be accessed entirely online. The story by McDermid that underpins the course will also be available to download but only when the course is completed.
Participants can take an exam at the end of a course for a fee, although this part is entirely optional.