True Detective Stories

An Interesting Collection of True Stories of Crime and Detection

I rate this one four stars. The writing is straight forward and the author never needs to embellish the tale as the facts speak for themselves. Written over a century ago, the stories themselves are essentially timeless, being the true tales of that tireless band of detectives known as the Pinkertons and their methods of solving crime. Most of the stories told don't rely on chance or circumstance, instead, a tireless search for the criminal, and the necessity of using various methods to trap or capture the culprits gets the job done. What sticks out in my mind is that the essential tools of the detective haven't changed; scrupulously researching every aspect of the crime and the crime scene, the endless leg work of following suspects and researching their backgrounds, and that most important element of all, the detective's knowledge of human behavior and their instinctive ability to ferret out the truth. Time and again the instincts of the detectives on the case, along with their intimate knowledge of the criminal world, are the tools that prove to be most valuable. Anyone with an interest in true crime stories should read this book.