This slim gray volume, “sold for entertainment purposes only,” offers the sort of rarefied entertainment derived from forensic checklists: Don’t forget to swab for semen in the rectum of the corpse as well as the vagina! And while looking through the garbage for bloody underwear may not be a pleasant task, the reader might be consoled by the fact that the murdered victim at least will not offer the emotional resistance so often encountered from the living. Learn the trade secrets of the “Murphy Man” or the “Badger Game”! How much booze can a vice officer consume in the course of his undercover work? Learn how to spot pimps: it’s “fairly simple. Many wear the pimp uniform: long coat and wide-brimmed ‘Superfly’ hat.” All in all, the street-level insights seem to have some basis in reality, but the latter chapters regarding “sex rings” of the telecommunicative sort seem technically clueless and outdated. The author’s suggestions on composing “deviant” letters helpful in busting sexually oriented mail fraud alone are worth the price of the book. RA

Publisher: Breakout
Paperback: 196 pages
Illustrated