Homicide Squad

A dead baby in the rubbish bin and dismembered body parts in plastic bags: when your daily business consists of dealing with murder and manslaughter, suffering and fear, despair and hatred, you can't afford to be of a delicate disposition. Instead, you need keen insight into human nature, good intuition, and a broad knowledge ranging from the law to crisis intervention tactics. In the movies this kind of work is the stuff of fast-paced thrillers, but in truth it means perseverance and hard work.

Describing real-life cases, Richard Thiess offers us insights into the work of a police detective, including the psychological aspects: how does the investigator feel when he finally gets a conviction, and how do you tell parents that their daughter has been brutally murdered? Everyday life is at least as gripping as any crime novel, if not more so.