5 comments about How To Make $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator.

1. ... As an experienced private investigator with many years in the field and having survived the years of "growing" to become successful, I have to say that Mr. Pankau's book, together with his seminars, have been a great help. In our small PI community Mr. Pankau is an icon. He is in the top 5% of all private investigators in the world. This book was not written for someone who has been in the field for years and years but for the many new starters who hopefully can learn from the introductory texts Mr. Pankau has published. For the amateurs who love to watch Dan Tanner reruns and after reading a book on private investigation want to make it big in the profession, it is not a book to read. Gazza and some of the others may need to give it a little time to grow as investigators to understand the broad guidance that is actually represented in the book.



2. I have read Mr. Pankua's book, "How To Make A $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator". I have found it to be an excellent resource of information on marketing, promoting, and operating an investigative agency. Mr. Pankua has been there and done it. He speaks from experience and I for one am grateful that he has chosen to share his wealth of knowledge and experience on this subject. I would highly recommend this book to anyone starting up or operating a private investigative business.



3. This book has it all and it has it simple.
   It even allows you to contact the writer for help and that is necessary for me since i am working in this field here in iceland.
   In the back it has forms and contracts wich no other book i have seen has



4. As a licensed private investigator and college instructor of private investigation courses, I have the utmost respect for the late Mr. Edmund J. Pankau, CLI, CPP, DABFE and his contributions to the private investigation profession, and was saddened to learn of his recent passing. Mr. Pankau has written some books of value regarding private investigation, and this one is of some (emphasis added) value.
   
   If you are new to the profession and looking to explore the different investigative services (specialties) offered within the profession... If you are looking for general information to assist in founding a private investigation firm... If you are looking for some general ideas about marketing private investigation services... Then this book should be helpful.
   
   If you are expecting to read this book and make "$100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator", you're going to be very disappointed. If you are experienced in this profession or experienced at running a business (including general marketing strategies), then this book might not suit your needs. For the price however, if this book gives you just one new effective marketing strategy (as it did for me), then the small price of this book could prove to be a great investment.
   
   If you are looking for details regarding private investigation techniques/procedures, you will not find them here. If you are looking to enter the profession and are desperately seeking a title to quench your thirst for knowledge, then I would highly recommend (emphasis added) "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Private Investigation" by Steven Kerry Brown (ISBN: 0028643992). Brown's work is a must-have for anyone entering or attempting to enter the private investigation profession.
   
   As always, check with your local library or bookstore to see if you can read/review this or any title before deciding to make a purchase. This method has effectively allowed me to make the most of my investigative library budget.
   
   I hope you found this review helpful. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me via email at (...)



5. This book is extremely outdated. It was outdated in 1993 when it was printed. The forms in the back of the book look like Genealogy forms. If you need a contract for service hire a attorney don't use his contract for service.
   
   I have been a private detective for the last 20 years.
   
   Building your library section of this book was a just paper use. Outdated phone books? Why? Microfilm? I am not looking for my family history.
   
   Some of the stories are funny. They seem like big fish stories.
   
   He did not touch on the fact that in some states you need to be licensed by the state. You also need experience with working for a private detective agency to obtain the licensing. Some states even require you to take a test.
   
   It seems that Mr. Pankau made most of his money writing books.

5 comments about The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001.

1. This book is very thoroughly researched! It reads a bit like a detective investigation and is every bit as gripping, using published sources (newspaper, interviews, testimony) to draw the reader beyond the official explanation of 9/11.
   
   Suffice to say, Nafeez's conclusions are even more shocking than the thought of a terrorist net outwitting the CIA, FBI and military of the world's only superpower.



2. Great resource for the whole 9/11 situation. Good history, good resourcing, great for your library to see other connnections to the 'new pearl harbor'.



3. Its a fact that more than 60% of americans are uneducated people who cannot reason very well, they make very good followers. People such as
   ===============
   Manuel Alvarez
   je "concerned-citizen"
   Critical reader (
   Nelson "The Bad One"
   ===============
   Such people would never open their minds. I meet many such crazy extremist christians like the people above many times. Explaining them anything is impossible beacuse these people DO NOT have brain in them. They are pure robots who cannot think or reason on their own, they are hard wired and believe only what they have been hard wired to believe. If a guy who happens to be muslim tells that 2 + 2 is 4 they wouldnt believe him. But if their priest tells them 2 + 2 is 10 they would believe that. They were lucky to be born in states, where such mentally retarted people are well taken care of.



4. 
   This is one reviewer who needs no convincing that our two most recent presidents (one an egg-sucking Democrat and the other an egg-sucking Republican) are accessories after the fact to murder (at the very least). OK? I'm already on-board - bought my ticket, checked my luggage, waited in the infinite security check queue, found my seat, buckled my seatbelt, restored my tray into the locked upright position, pulled out the sticky in-flight magazine from the pouch of the seat in front of me: Ready for takeoff. This is one true American patriot who has already removed the rose-colored executioner's sack from his head and done his homework. I know the score (and we're getting shutout!)
   
   But you know there's a problem when the preacher can't even deliver his sermon without losing the interest of his own choir members! If this was a war on boredom, Nafeez M. Ahmed's book, THE WAR ON FREEDOM, would have been the first casualty. (Dude, I was already a "believer", but if you couldn't even keep me awake, how did you expect to fire up the congregants with this somnambulistic sermon?)
   
   How did Ahmed put me to sleep? Let me count the ways: First of all, once you've made a point and driven it home, stop beating that poor, dead horse! It ain't ever gonna whinny again, so drop that whip. The horse is dead already; can it and feed it to the dogs! I don't need to hear the same information over and over and over again.
   
   Secondly, when one is quoting another source, it's always advantageous to find the pertinent point in the quotation, lift it out and let the rest go free. You don't need to arrest the whole mob of words if only a dozen or two are the prime suspects. Geez Louise! Ahmed has huge blocks of quoted passages throughout the book going well beyond the call of duty. I'll bet if we excised all the words of other people in this 384 page book, we'd be left with about 75 pages.
   
   And talk about dry? You thought the Mojave desert was dry? You thought Bob Newhart was dry? You thought James Bond's martini was dry? You thought your wife's baked chicken was dry? Man, I could find more "moisture" in a piece of severely burnt toast! Granted this is a serious subject that needs to be dealt with accordingly, but still.....Ahmed must be the life of a party. You know, a little personality - even if it's only rented - can do wonders for a book. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
   
   I also have problems with a book proposing a search for truth, but which relies so heavily on Socialistic, Left-wing sources. That's not to say that their Liberal bias automatically disqualifies them as a source, but quoting bastions of "truth, justice and the American way" such as Amnesty International, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Economist, Newsweek, and members of the Council on Foreign Relations doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. And sometimes Ahmed repeats statements without digging deeper (e.g., he informs us that Counterpunch newsletter stated that Goldman Sachs in Tokyo sent an internal memo on Sept. 10th advising all employees of a possible terrorist attack and to avoid any American government buildings. Does he provide us with a copy of this memo? No. They said it, so it must be true? Why mention something that you haven't substantiated in any way?)
   
   Then there's some pretty goofy stuff: Ahmed's inclusion of Barnett Rubin's complaint about "Congressional refusal to allocate funds for U.N. dues." (Pull up yer pants, Ahmed; yer Lefty credentials are showing!); his mention of "the vote fraud at Florida" (Whaddaya know? I've finally found someone whose math skills are worse than my own!); he mentions the escalation of widespread anti-globalisation protests illustrating increasing outrage with the Bush administration, and he also chastises the Bush foreign policy agenda for being in conflict with nominal allies on issues such as global warming and an international criminal court. (That's like beating a man for robbing a bank, and then beating him a second time for being a poor robber and leaving some cash in the vault!)
   
   Personally, I believe that "W" should be impeached and then tried in a criminal court. And if there was really any justice in this country, he would be forced to share a prison cell with Bill Clinton until death do them part.
   
   I've given this book 3 Stars because it does include plenty of valid information for the person who can manage to stay awake and sift through the pages. But this story has been told better. Try INSIDE JOB by Jim Marrs if you want "just the facts, ma'am" and without all the dead horse beatings. Or CROSSING THE RUBICON by Michael Ruppert if you want a heavy tome with all the details but without all the napping in between. But for all of those restless nights of tossing and turning, I recommend THE WAR ON INSOMNIA by Nafeez M. Ahmed. Take two chapters and call me in the morning.....if you wake up.



5. Other reviewers have done a superb job of summarizing the details, so apart from absolutely endorsing this book as a five-star level of brilliant, earnest, and helpful research and analysis, I will only observe that it is not fully comprehensive.
   
   Missing from this book is the fact that Dick Cheney knew in advance and organized a nation-wide "war game" to simulate defedning against terrorism, and this allowed Cheney to control the entire US Government. Full details are yet to be unearthed, but on the basis of all my other reading I am certain that the three World Trade Center buildings were dropped by controlled demolitions, that Rudy Guliani was a party to the conspiracy on two counts: recognizing that the Command Center in the World Trade Center would not be available and helping create the "alternative" command center on the piers; and in having hundreds of trucks pre-contracted to destroy and remove all evidence, something that caused the fire fighters to riot and tar Guliani for all time as "scoop and dump" Guliani.
   
   The other missing aspect that has been fleshed out since the author wrote the book is that of the Pentagon being hit by a missile rather than an aircraft. There is emerging evidence that the World Trade Center was hit by military aircraft remotely piloted and painted to look like civilian aircraft. I cannot state that as a fact. I can state that it has not been properly investgated. On the Pentagon, I am certain that it was hit by a missile, not an aircraft, in part because there were NO airplane parts and no video of an airplane and no engine tracks and no luggage, bodies, or even a single aircraft seat; and in part because the USAF MajGen responsible for all Soviet imagery interpretation is on the record, on YouTube, saying it was a missile. I agree. Incidentally, the missile did not just hit an "unoccupied" part of the Pentagon--it also destroyed the computer holding the evidence on where the missing 2.3 trillion dollars went, missing funds that Rumsfeld was being grilled on by Congresswoman McInney on 10 September.
   
   Bottom line: this book is an authoritative part of People's case against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Rudy Guliani, and others of like ilk, who conspired against We the People and mass-murdered Americans to fabricate Congressional compliance and public apathy on their occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. The lies they told have not stood the test of time; in Afghanistan we allowed Bin Laden to escape, and in Iraq we have inspired a massive insurgency given force by the hundreds of billions being spent on permanent military and intelligence and ostensibly dipomatic facilites.
   
   The US taxpayer should be outraged. This author helps us all understand that the half trillion dollars spent "in our name," the thousands of US killed (tens of thousands of others), the 75,000 amputees (hundreds of thousands of others) have all been a looting festival.
   
   God willing, this period will be seen at the last hurrah of the military-industrial "rule by secrecy" era. Books like this would not have been possible 20 years ago, even ten years ago. Now they set the stage for a general strike and the removal from office of all those who have betrayed the public trust.
   
   Other recommended books:
   Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids
   Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
   The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America
   9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition
   War Is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by America's Most Decorated General, Two Other Anti=Interventionist Tracts, and Photographs from the Horror of It
   The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
   The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
   The Terror Timeline: Year by Year, Day by Day, Minute by Minute: A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11--and America's Response
   Enemies By Design

5 comments about Mob Lawyer: Including the Inside Account of Who Killed Jimmy Hoffa and JFK.

1. A Straight-Forward and seemingly reliable Mob-insider's account by one of the LCN's top lawyers. Ragano is no name dropper, nor is he full of it. He was a top Lawyer for both Hoffa and Santo Trafficante from the late 50s through the 80s.

   The books explores the life of Tampa lawyer Ragano and his close relationship to Santo Trafficante. This is one of the few, if not only books, that examines the life of this shadowy, but important mobster who by his own and others' admission, was involved in planned or real assassinations of Castro and JFK.

   Ragano's account of his dealings with Hoffa and Trafficante and his association with a who's-who of Organized Crime personalities- Carlos Marcello, Luchesse, Gooodfellow's mobsters Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke, Sinatra, Alan Dorfman (who milked the Central States Pesnion fund for all it was worth) and others -- is told without nonsenes and in a fully credible way.

   Ragano is not a conspiracy nut, nor does he come across as one who makes up stories. Neither was Trafficante. So that is why when Ragano reveals what was told him by Trafficante about Hoffa's and JFK's murders, accounts which jive with other and most prevelant thoughts about those killings, I think he can be taken at his word. Clearly, it should come as no suprise that the Mafia was involved in those murders. And while not much is added to details of JFK's assassination, the death of Hoffa is clearly related, including the names of the triggermen and who ordered the hit.

   Unlike some mob-insider accounts I have read, where the subject's integrity is of little worth and the story sometimes hard to swallow, 'Mob Lawyer' is both profound, soul searching and entertaining.




2. I was overwhelmed by the reviews, both positive and negative. The book only reveals some of the highlights of my
   father's career. It captures the essence of what really transpired between Hoffa, Trafficante, and Marcello. He was in an unusual position to be able to represent all three of these men at once. According to my father, it was "tantamount to being counsel for General Motors." The book explores the uneasiness of trying to represent your clients zealously, yet ethically. In the end, though, he crossed the line of objectivity: Your never socialize with your clients, he would warn. When he was fighting Bobby Kennedy ("The General") in court, all too often he would refer to it as: "Their enemies became my enemies." The book reveals the inter-workings of a truly brilliant criminal defense attorney. It also shows how insightful these mafia chieftains were to the american public being exposed to drugs, particularly cocaine. This is later demostrated in John Gotti's interactions with the mob. I am very proud of him and I think he would be very proud of me, although I concentrate my practice in family law, where the clients are less difficult.



3. I read the book years ago and in my opinion the most compelling "insider" account of mafia mores...It is true that most true crime mafia tales are written by or with the help of mob members, hence the dubious veracity of some facts.(I was reminded of this book, as I just finished For the sins of my Father, written poignantly by Al Demeo, the son of a murderous mobster. We get to see another avenue in this certain world of horror.)
   Mob Lawyer provides this same kind of insight, as Ragano was invited in to the mob world for a function, but he was not involved in the criminal activities.Extremely insightful.



4. A outstanding naration of Frank Ragano's life and career, and of the nature of one Santo Trafficante Jr..A perfect example of getting too comfy with the wrong crowd. A tale about how connections can give you incredible power or crush and reduce you to nothing. I couldn't put this book down. This book will have you rooting for an underdog lawyer at first. By the middle of the book you'll seriously question his morals and judgement. But by the end of the book you'll began to understand how vulnerable we all are to power . Hell, being honest I probably would've fallen into Santo's trap as well. He seemed honorable. But Frank Ragano, being Sicilian, should have known better. Cuba, Bay of Pigs, JFK, and Hoffa........need I say more?



5. This is an important title if one can believe organized crime figures. Did the Mafia plan Casto's murder? Or, did it BS the federal government? There's some pretty good arguments for Castro wanting to get even with Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs fiasco. And, with Kennedy's initial statements that he would free Cuba. Highly recommended for Mafia fans as well as JFK assassination students.

5 comments about I Was a Killer for the Hells Angels: The Story of Serge Quesnal.

1. I thought this book would give a better insight into the world of the HA, but I came away disappointed. Quesnel's story is interesting and controversial, but I don't think his story reveals enough details.



2. Not a very good or entertaining book. More of a ramblimg egomaniac's diary. The book did not contain much detail on the events and jumped around way too much. He tries to make himself into a heavy and when it got hot he turned.



3. Very poor insight into the Red and White which is why I bought the book.Comes across as a wannabe who could'nt cut it when the going got tough.



4. A rat is a rat......is a rat. I guess this guy and others like him (see Henry Hill and Sammy the Bull) feel if they can make some money getting average citizens to read about their exploits maybe they can justify (to themselves) their betrayal of their friends and brothers. You'd be wise to save your money and not make these kinds any richer...especially one like this who is short on details when it comes to his association with the Angels. In my opinion he only used their name to help sell the book. Don't bother. Read Sonny's instead.



5. Not such a hot book. I would read other books on the subject.

5 comments about Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit.

1. Although the book was a very interesting read, most of the cases highlighted in it had not been solved by the time the book went to press, leaving me wondering what happened.



2. My husband picked this book up from a bargain table at Borders. I was skeptical, looking at the cover, but it's one of the best true crime books I've read. Throughout the accounts of each murder investigation, Miles Corwin peppers you with intriguing information about the detectives, the victims, the suspects, various LA neighborhoods and LA history. It's riveting, to say the least, and you don't want it to end.



3. It's not an awful book, but it gets tiresome after a while. And it gets tiresome because all of the cases are successful cases that get solved quickly. So the book fails the drama test.
   
   Corwin oughta know that boredom is inevitable when your book's subjects go from one success to the next, to the next. Its like reading the biography of someone born beautiful, smart, rich, talented, and lucky. They get picked Prom Queen and quarterback, and their moms loves them more.



4. What was interesting was that most of the murders were committed by immigrants or illegal aliens. The First Chapter was the Russian sex trade in LA. They were all illegal and the woman who was murdered was selling other women. When she made her pot of gold she was going back to Russia.
   everyone comes here for money and they murder for it too.
   Another man came here and imported Brides from his own country , while he was a crook. This is called Chain immigration of course.
   I learned a lot about how easy it is for immigrants to come here.I would say that none of them made any attempt to intergrate into the dominant culture,they stayed in their own segregrated world( by choice) and murdered those close to them.
   This is what diversity is and I recommend that people go to Numbersusa dot com and find out how to limit immigration



5. I live in L.A., and I originally bought this book as research material for an article I wanted to write. Expecting something either too dry or sensational, I wound up falling in love with Corwin's vivid, immersive writing style. It was a really pleasant surprise. He knows how to draw the reader into the world of homicide investigation, conveying the tedium of investigation without losing the excitement of the pursuit. He peels back layers of compelling detail on cases that were well-published by the press, revealing a flawed yet fascinating process of tracking down our most dangerous criminals. I felt like I was right there with him and the RH detectives he follows for the year. I couldn't get enough. And the way he portrays the detectives of RH who work tirelessly on these high-profile cases was truly endearing. (Maybe his portrayal was too sympathetic. Who knows?)
   
   I had a few maddening moments reading about the case for Robert Blake's wife with the perspective we have now. With little effort -- the case spoke for itself -- Corwin conveyed a powerful message about the influence of the media on our collective prejudices, as well as how helpless investigators can be when dealing with uncooperative witnesses. The book finished on this case, leaving me with not just a profound understanding of the homicide investigation process, but how our city has handicapped some of its most valuable law enforcement personnel.
   
   I wish Corwin would return to RHS and do this again. I'd not only buy that book, but I'd buy copies for my friends!

1 comments about Spy Book, 2nd Edition.

1. SPY BOOK, with 2500 entries packed into one big paperback, is an exceptionally handy reference tool, but still far from a complete encyclopedia of espionage. For example, a photo display on page 513 shows Soviet postage stamps honoring the intelligence officers Stanislav Vaupshasov, Rudolf Abel, Konon Molody, Richard Sorge and Ivan Kudrya, plus British agent Kim Philby. If you look for an entry on each of these men, you will find it--except for Kudrya. At the place where he should appear you will see: Kryuchkov, Vladimir... Kuczynski, Dr. Jürgen... Kuczynski, Robert René... Kuczynski, Ursula... Kuehn, Dr. Bernard... Kuklinski, Col. Ryszard... A rather full listing within such a small range of the alphabet, but still no cigar. Turn the page, and you'll discover no listing for Leonid Kvasnikov, head of the Soviet "technical department" (atomic espionage) in the US during WWII--a rather serious omission.
   
   A quick check for other names that come to mind reveals that most are represented, but Dmitry Bystrolyotov, Pavel Fitin, Vera Goutchkoff (Guchkova) and Jan Valtin (Richard Krebs) are missing. Each scholar of espionage who comes to the book will probably add a half dozen names to this list. There is an entry on Vasili Mitrokhin, the KGB archivist who brought thousands of copied documents out to the West in 1992, but no entry for Melita Norwood, the chief British spy he exposed. (Her story broke in 1999; Mitrokin, incidentally, is given the first name "Nikitish," which was his patronymic.) There is an entry on Los Alamos, but no separate entries for the Manhattan Project, Tube Alloys or General Leslie Groves, who was not a spy but did head America's most secret wartime project. Most entries fail to conclude with a citation of the literature on the subject. The bibliography and list of VENONA codenames at the back are fairly random selections, not the last word.
   
   The edition I consulted is the second from 2004, and it is mostly up to date, but some information is hoary. The VENONA project, much studied and publicized after the National Security Agency released its documents to the public in 1995-1996, is represented with a full entry, but many figures involved in it (such as Fitin) are given short shrift. Theodore Hall, exposed in 1996 as the Soviet agent MLAD, receives a suitable entry; but Morris and Leontina Cohen are described only with outdated material from the 1960s (as the Krogers). Anatoly Yatskov, control officer of Lona Cohen when she carried Hall's drawing of the plutonium bomb from Albuquerque to New York, is not described in this role (nor is she), but appears only as Anatoli Yakovlev, the pseudonym he used in the USA, and as the control officer of Harry Gold--information from the time of the Rosenbergs' trial.
   
   Despite such lacks, the book is good to have when you need to grab some basic facts in a hurry, as when in the heat of writing. It appears to be strongest in US intelligence. For example, I found the entry on William Donovan very full and illuminating. There are many interesting photographs and some box-charts of organizational structures, plus lists of CIA and KGB directors, and explanations of tradecraft terms. The layout is attractive and conveys a sense of enthusiasm. All in all, it does a better job than previous spy encyclopedias, and so is well worth having. But too many spies get away.

5 comments about Lethal Guardian.

1. Lethal Guardian was an exceptionally well researched and satisfying read. Buzz Clinton was an imperfect man trying to get on the right track in life, who married Kim Carpenter, a young woman who had a vindictive and manipulative family. She brought with her a young daughter whom Buzz wanted to adopt and raise as his own. The Carpenters resented Buzz and fought hard to get legal custody of the daughter. Buzz never backed down, and though the Carpenters did what they could to mar Buzz's character, the legal system found Buzz and Kim to be competent parents. In an effort to remove his new family from the hatefulness and manipulation of Kim's parents and sister, Buzz was preparing to move to Arizona. This didn't sit well with Kim's sister, Beth Ann, who had started her own campaign to get rid of Buzz. Beth Ann used her feminine wiles with both her boyfriend and her boss and anyone else she thought might be useful. Her boss, Haiman Clein, completely smitten with Beth Ann, was a lawyer who not only represented a drug dealer, but was also a heavy cocaine user himself. Beth Ann was able to convince Haiman to find someone to kill Buzz. Hard to believe, but the story gets even better and more complicated. I won't go further into the tale, but Phelps does an excellent job of sorting out all the details and people mixed up in Beth Ann's web. In the end, I felt like everyone got what they deserved. My one question is about what happened with Kim and her children. The Clinton's did all they could to accommodate her and their grandchildren after Buzz's death, but I wasn't clear on what Kim chose to do with her life. I applaud the Clinton's for their strength throughout the long ordeal that finally put those involved in Buzz's murder away.



2. "Minority opinions" are tricky but this reviewer believes one has to call `em as he sees `em, even if out of step with his friends in the amazon community. LG is a serious, studied tale of a custody dispute between 2 families that goes awry. Terribly awry. Someone meets his/her demise! The Clinton and Carpenter clans are the adversaries and a child names Rebecca is the focal point. LG is set in the area around New London, CT-not a typical true crime locale. Author Phelps weaves an interesting plot with some bizarre true life bad guys, though none qualify as "hardened criminals". In fact, two are decidedly white collar types. This reviewer tries to avoid divulging resolutions but most readers should be relatively satisfied and unshocked by the conclusion. LGs principal weakness, it says here, is its' length. There is too much detail! For example, Beth Carpenter's trip to England and Ireland could have been truncated. A stern editor with a sharp blue pencil should have shed some weight from the text. (Do such editors exist anymore or have they all been laid off?). Many may believe that LGs heft was needed to draw out the characters. As my friend Tundra has already noted, the Ann Rule rule is in effect! Skip those tempting centerfold photos because they divulge everything. For that matter, one should also ignore the front and back covers. There are "hints" thereon! The foregoing aside, true crime aficionados should still enjoy LG. Folks living in eastern Connecticut should pounce; they could easily add a star or two to the admittedly strict rating above.



3. Author M. William Phelps writes the mouth-dropping, mind-boggling tale of the Carpenters and the Clintons, described perfectly within as modern "Hatfields and McCoys." This well written story is the twisted actions of two attorneys, most specifically Beth Ann Carpenter, who would do anything for love and custody of Beth Ann's niece, Rebecca, respectively. And to accomplish their goals, they seek out low life criminals who will do anything for money to fund their criminal lifestyles.
   
   I found this book to be one of the best true crime stories I have read. It has everything an avid true crime reader loves including dirty little secrets, sordid affairs and kinky sex, devoted parents, and thrill of the chase.
   
   Five stars to this top author and his exceptional true crime book!



4. Leathal Guardian blew my mind. It amazed me that the case was solved at all. Phelps does a great job of digging into the character's past and making it all make some kind of sense. His empathy for the victims shines like a beacon in his writing making him a star in the True Crime venue.
   Kari Butler



5. LETHAL GUARDIAN (LG) covers the murder for hire of Buzz Clinton by an assortment of low lifes including a pair of thug/misfits, a drug addicted and sexually perverted lawyer, and Clinton's sister in law, Beth Ann Carpenter, who is also a lawyer. I feel about LG much as I did about another M. William Phelps book, PERFECT POISON.
   
   Phelps is a good writer and an exhaustive researcher. This is no cut and paste, casually written, slop job as are many true crime attempts. Phelps has obviously spent a long time in the research and writing of LG and has turned out a creditable and entertaining book.
   
   I have not rated this book 5 stars, however, because, as with PERECT POISON, I have some problems with the writing. I feel that the best true crime is written as reportorially as possible. Phelps does this to a large degree, but there are still too many "signposts", with Phelps indicating if not directly telling the reader what to think. His style is a little too chatty for my taste. This is, however, not criticism so much as observation. It is simply a matter of taste, and Phelps' is clearly different from mine in this regard. And it IS his book.
   
   Secondly, as I have stated, Phelps is a serious and dedicated researcher. But LG is too long, by maybe 50 or so pages. This may be due in part to what I believe is Phelps' problem in deciding what information to omit.
   
   Finally, Phelps engages in repitition - not a lot, but a little - and unnecessary verbiage - not a lot, but a little - which ultimately become somewhat irritating. I noticed this particularly in the last 100 pages or so where it felt as if Phelps started rushing as though he had become slightly tired of writing LG and wanted to hurry up and finish it.
   To provide some examples, several times during the trial phase of the book, Phelps provides us with testimony and then reminds us that it "it was up to the jury to decide" its worth. Well, yeah.
   As another example, throughout the book, and more than once, Phelps has provided the reader with important and detailed information about the personal weaknesses of the main characters. As such, it wouldn't seem to be necessary in the trial phase to repeat the numerous reasons that these people would be less than stellar witnesses. It has already been made abundantly clear.
   And as a final example from page 428: "If the jury was in need of latching onto a particular witness and drawing sympathy from that person, Tricia Gaul was that person - and Kane and McShane knew it." Well OF COURSE they knew it. They have already been described as fine and experienced lawyers who could be presumed to know what they were doing. A little less of this would, in my opinion, improve Phelps' style, increasing its intelligence.
   
   Still Phelps is a good writer and none of my disagreements are at all deal breakers. LG is fast paced and always interesting. Phelps handles both the trial and police investigation parts well. Lesser or unconcerned writers will often quote trial transcript directly, substituting verbatim copying for research, and will routinely discuss the minutiae of police investigation, probably because it is easily obtained, to the point of tedium. Phelps does not, and has no need to, do so.
   
   LETHAL GUARDIAN is very good true crime. I'm glad I read it and I think most fans of the genre will enjoy it.

5 comments about Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains.

1. While the author's intent may have been to inform the public about "horrific" practices in the corpse trade, the book is long and drawn out, lacking the promised punch. A few abuses and some questionable practices are reported, and are certainly distasteful, but little is done to demonstrate that this is a widespread issue. There is no attempt to address valid medical needs for research. In fact, the medical profession is nearly vilified for needing anatomy lessons.
   
   The author had options to make this more meaningful, but in trying to go for sensationalism lost the opportunity to educate readers. There are a few unscrupulous characters in every profession. I don't condone their actions, but it is silly to compare this work to Upton Sinclair or Eric Schlosser. About halfway through, it becomes a real challenge to continue to the end. This might have been an interesting magazine article, but there is unsufficient material (or evidence) to qualify this as an expose. Perhaps it is best considered as the author's personal quest to deal with the loss of a friend, as she mentions initially.



2. A human head might bring in seven or eight hundred dollars, a spine at least as much again. Shoulders, knees, bones, brains, various viscera--pretty much every part of a dead body can be sold off if the corpse is fresh enough. The demand for material is high: medical schools and medical device companies and surgical skills workshops need bodies or body parts for dissection, and willed body programs don't produce enough corpses to go around. That's why, shocking though it is, there is apparently a robust underground trade in human remains--in the U.S., in the present day.
   
   Annie Cheney explores the gruesome subculture of modern-day body snatchers in her book Body Brokers, which grew out of an award-winning article she wrote on the subject for Harper's. She discusses in detail how bodies en route to their final resting places can be harvested for parts--by pathologists' assistants, for example, or corrupt funeral directors, or crematorium operators. She discusses also the various markets for body parts, including institutions that need bodies for instructional dissection as well as factories that transform human tissue into products--"injectable bone paste" and the sorts of things you might find in Home Depot, screws and dowels and wedges, except that they're made out of human bone. ("It's all precision tooled....") Cheney also provides a chapter on the "Resurrection Men" of the 19th century, men who, like their modern-day counterparts, did the dirty work of supplying corpses for a price. But the Resurrectionists usually had to dig up fresh graves to get their material.
   
   One comes away from Cheney's book impressed at the apparent extent to which this gruesome business is going on, and impressed also with how many people seem to be able to sleep comfortably at night when they've got a refrigerator full of heads in the next room. It's interesting to note also how efficient the business is: when possible, bodies are dismembered and their parts sold off individually.
   
   "The three of them went on in this way, methodically moving from body to body, part to part. Tyler removed Ronald King's elbows--one slice on the forearm and two swift strokes forward with his saw until the bones snapped in two. Then his hands and knees. One slice on his calf and his thigh, a few cuts of his saw, and the leg came right off. Then his head. Tyler plucked out King's brain like a smooth boiled egg from its shell."
   
   This makes perfect financial sense, of course. Why supply a class full of gynecologists with perfect corpses, for example, when the students can just as well practice on limbless, headless torsos?
   
   "Over the next couple of days, Brown hung around in the conference room, watching the gynecologists as they probed the vaginas of the dead women. When a torso needed adjusting, he noticed, the doctors called on Tyler to help. Tyler gingerly moved the chilly flesh into the right position, raising or lowering it so that the doctors could get a good view. When the dead ladies began to smell, Tyler spritzed them with deodorizer. At the end of the day, he packed them into Igloo coolers. The next morning he brought them out again."
   
   As you can see, Cheney's book is deliciously gruesome in parts.
   
   Body Brokers is readable and seems very well researched. The author documents her sources in the book's notes and bibliography. My only difficulty with it is that, although it's quite short--the narrative ends, a little too abruptly, after 193 pages--it is difficult to keep the names of the various characters and companies straight. (Cheney provides a list of characters at the beginning of the book, but it's still a bit confusing.) Otherwise, Body Brokers is an interesting and certainly an eye-opening read. It could make some people change their minds about leaving their bodies to science.
   
   -- Debra Hamel



3. This treatment of a serious topic does a tremendous disservice to all those patients, families and health professionals that recognize the vital need for donated organs and tissues for therapy and medical research. This will appeal to those who regularly obtain all their medical information from Grey's Anatomy.
   
   The author sensationalizes the fringe, to the detriment of the exceptional work being performed by scientists and medical researchers who are trying to move the field forward. Yes, the scandals exist. But, no group is more committed to addressing these issues quickly and decisively than those who work in the field of biomedical research.
   
   The theme is familiar and frankly, becoming old. If the topic interests you, as it should all of us reading these reviews, I'd direct you to Black Market by Michele Goodwin. Although not flattering, at least it's an honest representation of the field by an acknowledged expert with outstanding credentials. Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts
   
   For a real treat, rent a video of Coma and ponder how medical science has outpaced even Robin Cook.



4. I hadn't read much of the book before I thought that this book went into what Mary Roach's Stiff did not go into - exactly where cadavers come from. And this is exactly what the book is about - it is not about how useful and valuable cadavers are to medicine (read "Stiff" if that's what you're looking for) and it is not telling people NOT to donate their bodies. This book simply illuminates how/where a fair percentage of bodies and parts come to be part of medical science - she is not saying that this is where ALL of the bodies and parts come from. She is merely letting us know that a lot of people who donate their bodies are mislead - if not blatantly lied to - about how their bodies are used; they are especially misled when their donated bodies are capable of turning a nice profit where it was thought no profit would be made. Because people are so concerned about their bodies after death, this is a very valid piece of journalism. It also lets people know that there is a possibility their bodies could very well be harvested without their loved one's knowledge or consent.
   
   While this book was very informative I felt it read more like a crime novel or a true crime book (depends on the author in comparison). This book was more true crime readable than expose readable. I wouldn't call it a brilliant sample muck-racking but it was a pretty well thought out attempt that included plenty of primary sources.



5. "When you donate your body, you've given up the right to choose how it will be used" and "Leaving your loved ones with a funeral home may expose them to unscrupulous body parts dealers". That basically sums up the book.
   
   The first 1/3 of the book is an interesting (and disturbing) foray into the US body parts trade and the legal and illegal aspects of it. Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't build upon the first part and is simply backstory for how the investigations were done. Interesting, but not particularly exciting.
   
   This would be much more suited to an article, rather than a book.
   
   Verdict: Borrow it from the library (Remember what that is?)

1 comments about Corporate and Governmental Deviance: Problems of Organizational Behavior in C Society.

1. I had only bought this book for a course in university but we only had to do the first five chapters. I had to go on with it though. The cases are all extremely well written and did an amazing job of showing me how insane the corporate world can be. It's a great book if you're looking for something to change your perspectives on the ethics of todays business society and the major differences between "white collar" and traditional crimes.

4 comments about Deadly Relations.

1. This true crime book focuses on a prominent New Orleans nuclear family. The father, Leonard Fagot, was a handsome former marine and war hero, who became a wealthy attorney. Father to four beautiful girls, he made sure that they wanted for nothing in the dream house that he and his wife built. Unfortunately, as the girls grew up, their father seemed to change, exhibiting more and more of his less stellar personality traits. He became totally domineering and erratic in his behavior.
   
   When he made a troubled local teenager his girlfriend, practically keeping her under his wife's nose, the marriage disintegrated, and he began a personal downward spiral. His maniacal personality would see him insure the lives of his sons-in-law. When one of them died a seemingly accidental death, it was suspect, but when a second one bit the dust, it was definitely murder. Coupled with the fact that Leonard Fagot would also maim himself, losing a hand and an eye in order to get the insurance money, the reader may infer that he was certainly a disturbed individual.
   
   Told as a first person narrative by two of his daughters, the book suffers from an inability to distinguish between the voices of the two daughters. Moreover, it offers little analysis as to why this man would totally unravel towards the end of his life and undo a lifetime of work. Was it drugs, money, madness or all of the above that drove Leonard Fagot to do the unspeakable things that he did? Even after reading the book, the reader is left unsure. The daughters who wrote this book, one of whom testified against the father at his trial, are virtually unlikable, as is the rest of the family, rendering them unsympathetic in their tragedy.
   
   The book contains eight pages of black and white photographs and is moderately interesting at best. Only true crime enthusiasts will get a modicum of enjoyment from reading this mediocre book.



2. This is the book that was made into a movie starring Robert Uhrich and Gwyneth Paltrow! The book is even better! ENJOY!



3. Very interesting story that I don't remember hearing about when it happened. Very well written, by two non-professional writers. My heart went out to this family. It must be terrible to love someone and see his life unravel right before your eyes. Especially when the consequences of the unraveling are violent and deadly. This man tore his loving family apart. This was a story of drug addiction that lead to mental illness, or maybe the mental illness was fueled by his drug addiction. It was very sad.



4. I have seen the movie based on this book many times, and I loved it. Once I found out there was a book, I jumped on eBay and bought a copy. I am so glad I did! This is a great book, and I'll admit, it was a little difficult to NOT picture Robert Urich as the dad, or Gwyneth Paltrow as Carol.
   
   My attention was held the whole time I was reading it, and I really didn't want to put it down. I highly recommend to anyone who can find a copy to buy it, it really is that good!!! Leonard Fagot went over the top in his obsessions with those life insurance schemes of his,...