The Crime Writer's Casebook by Stephen Wade & Stuart Gibbon

The Crime Writer's Casebook
(Full title - a Straightforward Guide to the Crime Writers Casebook: a Reference Guide to Police Procedural Now and Then)
By Stephen Wade & Stuart Gibbon
Published by Straightforward Publishing (10 December 2017)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

For anyone interested in writing or reading crime, whether historical or modern day, this book is an essential reference companion.
In addition to detailed information on police and criminal procedures, the book features true crime case studies from two leading experts in their field.

My verdict
The Crime Writer's Casebook is a brilliant easy-to-read guide to police procedure, whether you're writing crime fiction or just have an interest in the topic. It covers contemporary and historical crimes, giving the book a broad appeal.

The book is perfect for someone like me who knows nothing about police procedure and investigations, but I can also see it being a useful manual for more experienced crime writers. Even if I need more detail for a work in progress, this provides me with the perfect starting point and includes the correct language to use if I'm looking for further help and advice.

The Crime Writer's Casebook is filled with real life case studies, past and present, putting the factual content into practice. This is a fascinating, well-written and well-planned book with so much packed into its 250 or so pages. Chapters include The Murder Investigation, Murder or Manslaughter, Forensic Pathology. DNA and Missing Persons. I love the A-Z of Legal Terms, Phonetic Alphabet and Murder Investigation Team Structure in the reference guide at the end.

This is a bookshelf essential for any crime author, published or otherwise. There's so much more to discover inside, other than everything I've already mentioned. I've marked up plenty of topics to explore further, and I expect to be dipping in and out of this book time and time again.