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Summary: Good
Review: its good and thourough.i recommed it,it has a lot
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Summary: SMART MONEY BUYS THIS BOOK
Review: Old detectives, like old magicians, rarely reveal their best tricks and techniques. I spent twenty-five years as a corporate security director and licensed private investigator and, dispite the fact that I am now retired, I would never have opened the door as wide as Steven Kerry Brown has for the readers of THE COMPLETE'S IDIOT'S GUIDE TO PRIVATE INVESTIGATING.The information detailed in this book, with regards to sources and methods, would require semesters in college classes or years of experience to aquire. College classes are expensive and mistakes made on the street can cause bad things to happen. This book is not only a good primer for people entering the private investigative field, it is a good desk reference for lawyers, insurance adjusters, and corporate security directors who frequently employ the services of a private investigator. Mystery readers will find this book illuminating. Mystery writers need to buy a copy now! Licensed private investigators should keep a copy of this book with dictionary and thesaurus.
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Summary: Informative. Fascinating. Fun.
Review: Private Investigating by Steven Kerry Brown is a great resource for anyone wanting to be a Private Investigator, hire a private investigator or do their own investigating. The book is peppered with vignettes from Brown's expansive investigative career. What a life! By sharing his personal experiences as an FBI agent and private investigator, he has let the reader into a world few can imagine or experience. He is certainly the one to write this book. From practical information on understanding caller ID and what to do if your home is burglarized to more complicated techniques of interrogation and surveillance, this book has it all. I found the chapters on locating missing persons especially useful. Don't waste time or spend a cent trying to find someone until you exhaust the free search tools outlined in this book. Just the resources he lists are more than worth the price of the book. It's a great read and an essential reference tool.
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Summary: How to Sleuth
Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating is a first rate primer for anyone interested in a PI career. Written by a former special agent of the FBI, who has been a working private investigator for the last eighteen years, this book is a down to earth "nuts and bolts" approach to the art. Steven Brown deals with all aspects of the craft, from the basic tools of the trade to advanced techniques incorporating the latest advances in technology. This book should be required reading for any student of criminology in pursuit of a degree in law enforcement. As a reference tome, it belongs in the library of every active mystery writer. It's written in a flowing, easy to read style, and is packed with details that could only come from a top professional in the field. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating is far and away the best text in this genre I have yet found.
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Summary: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating
Review: The following book review was released by the L.A. Times-Washington Post Service on November 24, 2002: Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating Author: Steven Kerry Brown Data: Alpha, 384 pps. [$$$] soft-cover Review by Michael Pakenham Brown, an experienced professional PI with offices in Ponte Vedra Beach and St. Augustine, urges that this book really could guide the reader into a career. But its greatest charm - and I suspect its main utility - is as a truly entertaining, briskly presented, rundown on how the business is conducted. Or at least how it is done by Brown. One of the 24 topical chapters: "Moving Surveillance: How best to perform one-man and two-man moving surveillances, anticipating your subject's next move, communication between units, and dealing with stoplights." The others involve public-records checking, access to ostensibly confidential information, electronic devices and their use, tracing missing or elusive persons. Any armchair gumshoe will find the details entertaining - sometimes debatable, often provocative. L.A. Times-Washington Post Service
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Summary: Remember, Everything You Are Told Smells Like A Motive
Review: The internet's rapid evolution has left alot of this book behind. Good luck finding any free stuff.
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Summary: Fantastic Book
Review: This book walks the newbie as well as seasoned pros through the investigation process. Has alot of info for everyone and the authors stories about his case's are great.
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Summary: Not Bad Read
Review: This is a great book with lots of tips, I only disagree with Mr. Brown on one point and that is his handling of private investigators and guns. If he doesn't think a PI should carry then he should just come right out and say it, not try and think up silly reasons why you shouldn't. He tries to make the idea of carrying concealed sound like you're just bound to kill the first innocent bystander that crosses your path. Or that you're just bound to be killed with your own gun. With 42(?) states recognizing concealed carry as legal by private citizens we don't see this happening at all but we do see a massive reduction in crimes against persons in these states. On the other hand, states (and cities) without concealed carry (some even deny their citizens the right to even OWN) have escalating murder and crimes against persons statistics. Mr. Brown points how many hundred highly trained police officers are killed or injured with their own guns or the guns of perpetrators yearly but he neglects to note that thousands more save their own lives because they are carrying and would likely be dead if they hadn't been. He lays out a fictitious scenario wherein you, the gun toting PI, kill an innocent bank manager, but the scenario is so outrageous as to be preposterous and highly unlikely if even plausible. He has the bank manager running from the bank with a gun, carrying a money bag and looking over his shoulder. He bumps into you, knocks you down and continues running. If I was chasing a robbery suspect with a gun in hand and a money bag that the robber had dropped I certainly would not be looking behind me, I would be looking in the direction the robber went. Otherwise, why am I running at all? And if the robber came your way (the PI) why didn't you see him running by if he had so many money bags he was dropping them running away? The whole thing is silly. Then he places you in legal jeopardy because you responded with deadly force in this ludicrous scenario. Mr. Brown then proceeds to ask 3 questions which he calls the "Gun Conundrum". He ask if the PI is proficient in the use of deadly force? Then he declares that no PI is proficient (in his opinion) enough after a short course in concealed carry to say yes to that question. This is simple BS. Concealed carry is not to make you a more proficient killer. How much training do most street thugs have and do you not end up just as dead? Proficiency in the use of deadly force is not the question, you can be proficient in killing without taking a class at all! Next question, is the PI prepared to take the life of another person? Careful now, if you answer yes too quickly you shouldn't be carrying at all (this according to Mr. Brown)! In my limited experience the only time you can ever answer this question honestly is if you have faced the situation and had to make that split second decision. No one knows for sure until they are put in that position. Oh, they may boast what they would do but they don't really know until the moment of truth. So, the question is pointless. Third question, can the PI make that split second decision to use deadly force when the need arises. Another pointless question unless you have been there because you just won't know for sure until it happens. And when it happens, you WILL make the decision in a split second or you will hesitate and die thinking about it. I'm not under rating proper training, it can make all the difference. So we get down to the basic question, should you carry? Should you not carry? Only you can make that decision. And it shouldn't be made on the basis of scare tactics, implausible scenarios, or pointless questions. Use sound judgement and you decide for yourself. Otherwise the manual is a great guide and I highly recommend it, believe it or not.
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Summary: Thanks for writing this book!!!!!!!
Review: This is just an email thanking you for your work in the "Complete Idiot's Guide". I have wanted to be a PI since I was 18. I tried to get on with all the Agencies in my area and no one would give me a chance. I am now 27 and realize I can do it own my own. I have purchased and read over 50 books (most from Ralph Thomas and brb) but your one book is what opened my mind to the possibilities of being a PI. The information in this book is amazing. I read a little every night. I read the entire book twice in one week and now I'm on the third or fourth. This book has better information than all other books combined.
I just wanted to say thanks. You have done something no one else would ever do with me. You gave me the knowledge and passion to pursue the PI field. You sat down with me in my living room and detailed what it was to be a PI and I thank you.
Now, I am going to use this knowledge to break into the field and have all those who wouldnt give me a chance wish they would have hired me. I will be the best. I will write books, I will give others the oppurtunities no one else would give me, and I am well on my way. I have a website, cases, and clients all in a month. I have successfully investigated three tough cases already with one more going down this week. All this after reading your book. It was the one source that gave me the motivation, passion, courage, and knowledge to pursue the PI field. I wish you were close to me.I'm sure you'd give me the oppurtunity...again thanks for the wonderful work on your book. And please, write more books!!
Charles Montgomery
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