The author, a former investigator, instructor, and mystery writer, details real crime scenes, describing what investigators look for, how they collect and analyze evidence, and what happens to the crime scene once the initial investigation ends. Includes timetables and charts in addition to procedural rules and regulations and anecdotal illustrations.
Writers can make mysteries and other manuscripts more accurate and realistic by detailing the police officer's job. An investigations professional tells how and when police officers work, what they wear, who they report to, and generally how they go about the business of controlling and investigating crime.
Writers will learn how to create their own unforgettable villains with the help of this guide to criminal psychology. Mactire, author of Victims of Domestic Violence, explores the fact and fiction of who these people are, why they commit their crimes, how they choose their victims and how people catch them.
Writers will see how to create cunning criminals who still leave clues protagonists can follow. The authors explain how law-breakers perform the dirty deeds of murder--from contract killers to seemingly ordinary people--armed robbery, arson, smuggling, white collar crime, prostitution, and more.
Murder One is not written with the verve of some of the other books in Writer's Digest's Howdunit series, but if you need to know what kind of car serial killers prefer to drive (Volkswagens) or what happens to the contents of a human skull when subjected to intense heat (they "boil and explode much like a hard-boiling egg that is left unattended"), this is the place to turn. Mauro V. Corvasce and Joseph R. Paglino, investigators for the Monmouth County, New Jersey, prosecutor's office, provide the inside scoop on murders involving narcotics, gangs, organized crime, families, strangers, crimes of passion, lust, sex, and more.
Fay Faron first discovered her proclivity for detective work when the houseboat she'd just bought sank in Sausalito's Richardson Bay and it behooved her to track down the boat's elusive previous resident. She is the founder of the Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency (seriously!) in San Francisco, and a regular guest on Oprah!. She has written an informative, entertaining, nay, hilarious guide for anyone writing about detectives and missing persons (MPs). Missing Persons tells us who is most likely to become a private investigator (PI), who is likely to go missing (or merely misplaced), and who would want to find them (hint: "the working PI's motto often is 'The client is not always right and often is not even sane.'"). We learn how and why people hide their whereabouts, and how to go about locating them. While 95 percent of a PI's work is done sitting at a desk, says Faron, "sooner or later your detective has to actually get off his duff and go out into the real world and burn up some calories." This is called "gumshoeing," and includes such scintillating activities as surveillance ("newspaper reading, coffee drinking and bladder rending") and dumpster-diving ("although I'd sooner admit to wearing Tan- In-A-Bottle to my high school reunion, I will concede there are lots of treasures to be found in day-to-day debris"). The appendices list PI licensing requirements by state and state laws regarding taping telephone conversations and such, so you don't make a fool of yourself. Faron works in fabulous, unbelievable examples from her 15 years in the business and lines such as this, about one MP who was discovered to be alive, not dead: "Dr. Mort had not, in fact, taken a dirt nap."
What kinds of jobs do investigators perform? What tricks and tactics do they use? How do real investigators differ from those we see in novels and on TV? Two published mystery writers and a PI answer these questions--from the writer's perspective--and tell how to use this information in stories.
"... you will simply have to make your peace with guns. Case closed." No, these are not the words of an NRA apologist attacking some common-sense legislation, rather they're found in the introduction of Michael Newton's authoritative guidebook on guns, bombs, and all manner of things that go "boom"--and alter events in stories. If you're one of those scribes who believes that killing machines are better left on the printed page, this entry in Writer's Digest's Howdunit series will prove invaluable in giving your Glocks, dum-dum rounds, and spookily-named Hotchkiss guns the unmistakable ring of authority. Bang bang.
Thorough, non-technical, well-organized guide for writers who need to know, for example, what poison will turn the victim yellow. Deals with acute poisoning, as opposed to chronic poisoning; most of the poisons described are lethal immediately or in short periods of time (so medical care cannot be sought).
Physician-writer Wilson explains how police distinguish between accident, suicide, and homicide; what a medical examiner is looking for when conducting an autopsy; what a death certificate looks like; and who signs it; what happens when a criminal is sentenced to death.
I've always liked "chilblains"--Shakespeare wrote about 'em, and so did John Gardner in Grendel. Now, this entry from Writer's Digest's popular Howdunit series explains exactly what are chilblains and what they do to the human body--along with numerous other ailments, injuries, and bodily assaults. It's fascinating reading in a mortality-tinged, Richard Selzer-type way. Body Trauma will be a relief for authors who don't want to experience everything they write about.
Something tells us we would be naïve to believe this book would appeal solely to mystery writers. Detective Fay Faron, syndicated newspaper columnist ("Ask Rat Dog") and author of Missing Persons, has written a primer sure to turn any novice (writer, of course) into a scam expert. Rip-Off removes the mystery from such cons as the pigeon drop, Latin lotto, Gypsy-sweetheart scams, guaranteed-prize mailers, charity scams, bait-and-switches, biz-op scams, the Texas twist, identity theft, carny cons, chain letters, psychic hotlines, three-card monte, Ponzi schemes, 809 phone numbers, and gambling stings. Faron's writing advice focuses on identifying the basic traits of perps and pigeons (60 percent of pigeons are seniors, but we're all susceptible), defining the lingo (drag broad, shaky mom, mish roll, etc.), and counseling writers to "tell the story from the point of view of the victim."
