National and International Private Investigator Day: History of the Private Eye

Eugene Francois Vidocq, b. July 24, 1775

National and International Private Investigator Day is July 24, also the birthdate of Eugene Francois Vidocq, recognized as the first private eye.

Vidocq Introduced Criminal Investigation Techniques

In 1833 Eugene Francois Vidocq, a French ex-criminal, founded one of the first private detective agencies, Le bureau des renseignments (Office of Intelligence) where he oversaw the work of other detectives, many ex-criminals such as himself. He is credited with having introduced record-keeping, criminology, and ballistics to criminal investigation.  He also created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper with his printing company. Apparently, he had an altruistic bent as he claimed he never informed on anyone who had stolen for real need.

With Vidocq, the private investigator was born.  As the industry evolved, clients often hired PIs to act in law enforcement capacities, especially in matters for which they were not equipped or willing to do. This led to PI agencies sometimes performing like private militia and assisting companies in labor disputes.

Pinkerton National Detective Agency

Allan Pinkerton

Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on August 25, 1819, and emigrated to the United States in 1842, where he founded a barrel-making shop in Dundee, forty miles outside Chicago. As an abolitionist, he set up his shop to also be a station for slaves escaping via the “underground railroad” for freedom in the northern states. After his work helping bust up a counterfeit ring, the Cook County sheriff offered Pinkerton a job as an investigator in Chicago. Within a few years, he accumulated more arrests for burglaries and murders than any of the other police officers within the department. He also gained a reputation for being fearless, having an iron-clad integrity and the ability to quickly read people.

Pinkertons’ Ops’ Ethics

In 1850, Allan Pinkerton established the Pinkerton National Detective Agency at 151 Fifth Avenue in the heart of Chicago. In an era with many law enforcement personnel openly associating with criminals sharing their illegal profits, Pinkerton stood out by promising that his agents would not only produce results, but always act with the highest ethics. He promised to:

• Accept no bribes
• Never compromise with criminals;
• Partner with local law enforcement agencies, when necessary
• Refuse divorce cases or cases that initiated scandals of clients
• Turn down reward money (his agents were paid well)
• Never raise fees without the client’s pre-knowledge, and
• Apprise clients on an ongoing basis.

It’s remarkable how many of the above ethical standards are mirrored in many PIs’ standards today (such as regularly apprising clients, partnering with law enforcement, and raising fees only with clients’ knowledge).  It’s also amusing to read how Pinkerton’s men refused divorce cases considering today many PIs specialize in marital investigations.

A Master at Marketing

Besides being an outstanding investigator, Pinkerton was also a master promoter of his agency. He made sure news of his investigators’ successes at catching murderers and thieves became newspaper stories. He also crafted a logo, an eye surrounded with the words “We Never Sleep,” the motto of his agency, and posted it in magazines, circulars, newspapers, billboards, and even wanted posters.

In 1856, Pinkerton hired Kate Warne as his first female investigator, which was highly unusual at the time. According to the Pinkerton website, police departments did not hire women to join their ranks until 1891, nor did they get promoted to be investigators until 1903.

Kate Warne: First Female U.S. Private Eye

There is little biographical information known about Kate Warne, although some sources claim she was born in 1833 in New York, and was a widow with no children. Allan Pinkerton described her as a slender, brown-haired woman who, in 1856, responded to an ad for detectives at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Pinkerton presumed she was there to inquire about a clerical job. Later, he said that she demanded to be a private detective, and that he eventually hired her for that role on August 23, 1856. By 1860, Pinkerton had hired several more women to be detectives, calling them his “Female Detective Bureau” which was supervised by Warne.

Dead Ends While Researching Warne

Possible sketch of Kate Warne

Lynn H. Levy, owner and president of L.H. Levy Investigations, Inc., in Baltimore is currently writing a book about ten female investigators, including Kate Warne. In her research, Levy dug through 72 boxes in the Pinkerton archives at the Library of Congress, but due to a fire at the Pinkerton offices years before (likely the result of the Chicago fire in 1871), there was very little information about the agency in the 1850s.

In her further research on Kate Warne, Levy said, “I read every book published about Pinkerton, and there was enough information to get a full chapter about Kate. I found a few drawings of her and some photos that they believed were of her, but we don’t really know. She was born in New York and I’ve been trying to find out anything I can from sources there. They’re not even sure that was her last name. Up until she walked into Pinkerton’s office, there’s very little written about her.”

 Warne’s Most Famous Case

In 1861, Kate Warne helped foil an assassination attempt on President-elect Abraham Lincoln on his travels to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration. According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s article “Saving Mr. Lincoln,” Warne accompanied Pinkerton and four other operatives from his agency to Baltimore where Pinkerton had heard a plot to assassinate Lincoln would take place. According to other sources, she both helped to coordinate the operatives as well as to devise a strategy for getting Lincoln safely from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. Some attribute her work as a predecessor to the Secret Service.

Warne and Pinkerton’s Relationship

Pinkerton’s brother Robert wasn’t happy with Kate Warne’s agency expenses as he believed they included funds his brother diverted for gifts and travels with Kate as his mistress. Pinkerton never confirmed such a relationship. Nor is there any documentation written by Kate, not even a letter, to offer any of her insights about her life.

In 1868, Kate fell ill, and Pinkerton stayed by her side, nursing her, until she died. Some say she suffered from pneumonia and that her death was sudden, other sources say it was a lengthy, painful illness that is unknown.

Pinkerton had her buried in his family plot at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, with a spot reserved next to her for him when he died. In his will decades later, he dictated that Kate’s plot was never to be sold. They remain buried next to each other to this day.

Current-Day Private Investigators

By the 1920s, due to the expanding middle class in America, the private investigator became better known to the average citizen. Since then, the PI industry has continued to grow as it fills the needs of the public (who retain PIs to work on cases like infidelity, fraud, and criminal defense investigations). Licensing requirements, with criteria a PI must meet, have also been regulated in most states in the U.S.

Additionally, professional organizations (regional, national, and international) combined with good business practices have cast the PI career in a more respected light versus its outdated, fictional reputation as the wrinkled trench coat, fallen-from-grace Sam Spade figure found in books and film.

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All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Any use of the content requires specific, written authority. 

International Women’s Day: Honoring Female Investigators

International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s. On this day, thousands of events occur around the world to celebrate women and their accomplishments.

For International Women’s Day, I’m honoring female PIs through articles written about them to radio shows hosted by them. This post isn’t meant to be all-inclusive by any means, just a cross-section of outstanding female investigators, including their fictional counterparts.

Radio Shows: New and Old

Below are two radio shows, one hosted by a contemporary female PI, the other about an old-time radio female private eye.

PI’s Declassified

California PI Francie Kohler hosts this weekly Internet radio show where she interviews private investigators and other professionals in associated fields. The show airs every Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific Time: PI’s Declassified.

Old-Time Radio: Candy Matson Yukon 2-8209

This old-time radio show kicked off in 1949. Every show opened with a ringing telephone with a female answering, “Candy Matson, YU 2-8209,” after which the theme song “Candy” played.

According to the Internet Archive, Old Time Radio (OTR) researchers view this radio show as the best of the female private eyes. It ran until 1951. Listen to single episodes here: Candy Matson YUkon 2-8209.

Articles About Real-Life Female Private Investigators

Q&A: Norma Tillman–Right and Wrong (Pursuit Magazine)

3 Amazing Female Detectives You’ve Never Heard of (Fishwrap)

This Private Investigator is One of the Few Jersey Women Working as Sleuths (NJ.com)

Articles About Fictional Female Private Eyes

There are many entertaining female “eyes” in literature, going back to the mid 1800s. Below are a few articles:

Female Private Eyes in Fiction: From Lady Detectives to Hard-Boiled Dames (by Guns, Gams & Gumshoes’s Colleen for Festivale magazine)

Sara Paretsky Interview: “I start each VI Warshawski book convinced I can’t do it” (interview with Sara Paretsky in The Guardian. By the way, Paretsky does do it, and beautifully, every time she starts a new VI Warshawski novel.

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Click on cover to go to Amazon page

“As an experienced private detective and a skilled storyteller, Colleen Collins is the perfect person to offer a glimpse into the lives of real female P.I.s”
~ Kim Green, managing editor of Pursuit Magazine: The Magazine of Professional Investigators

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All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Any use of the content requires specific, written authority.

PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEES 2021

For works published in 2020. (The lists below are in alphabetical order by author.)

Best Original Private Eye Paperback

Farewell Las Vegas by Grant Bywaters / Wild Rose Press

All Kinds of Ugly by Ralph Dennis / Brash Books

Brittle Karma by Richard Helms / Black Arch Books

Remember My Face by John Lantigua / Arte Publico

Damaged Goods by Debbi Mack / Renegade Press

Best Private Eye Short Story 

“A Dreamboat Gambol” by O’Neil De Noux in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

“Mustang Sally” by John M. Floyd in Black Cat Mystery Magazine

“Setting the Pick” by April Kelly in Mystery Weekly Magazine

“Show and Zeller” by Gordon Linnzer in Black Cat Mystery Magazine

“Nashua River Floater” by Tom MacDonald in Coast to Coast Noir

 Best Private Eye Novel

What You Don’t See by Tracy Clark / Kensington

Do No Harm by Max Allan Collins / Tor Forge

Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle / Oceanview

House on Fire by Joseph Finder / Dutton

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall / Tor Forge

Best First Private Eye Novel

Squatter’s Rights by Kevin R. Doyle / Camel Press

Derailed by Mary Keliikoa / Epicenter Press

I Know Where You Sleep by Alan Orloff / Down & Out Books

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey / Soho

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden / Ecco

With many thanks to the judges:  Colleen Collins, O’Neil DeNoux, Dennis Palumbo, April Kelly, Chad Williams, Clive E. Rosengren, Mary Keliikoa, David Thompson, Matt Coyle, Andrew McAleer, Ron Katz, Kevin Burton Smith

Gay Toltl Kinman, Chair, Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards

Ransomware and You

After the recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, it’s a good time to quickly review what to do should you get hacked and ways to safeguard your devices. After all, cybercriminals don’t just go for the “big corporations,” but sometimes everyday people, too.

Cyber-Criminals Locked A Writer’s Computer Hard Drive

One Click and the Cyber-Criminals Gained Control of Her Computer Hard Drive

Several years back, a writer-friend was nearing the end of writing a novel when, out of the blue, cyber-criminals blocked access to all the files on her hard drive. A horrible situation as her book was due in several weeks and she could no longer access any of her book files.

The cyber-criminals demanded a ransom if she wanted access to her files again. Hoping her computer-tech shop could find a way to get her files back, she took in her computer for analysis. Unfortunately, they could do nothing, only verify that her hard drive had been locked by “ransomware.”

Ransom Kept Increasing

Meanwhile, every day the cyber-criminals increased the ransom. With a heavy heart, she finally paid the ransom ($5 thousand), and access to her files was returned. She immediately bought a new computer, a different brand, and her tech-computer shop helped set up her files along with cyber-security software.

How Did It Happen?

Cyber-criminals gained access to her computer after she clicked on a single link in an email she thought was sent by a close friend (the return email address had her friend’s full name, so she assumed it was from that person).

A reminder to all of us to exercise caution about opening links in an email or any other electronic communication. Personally, we never open links in any emails, e-messages, etc., until after we’ve verified with that sender (by a phone call, etc.) that they really sent that link.

Six Tips to Safeguard Your Computer

1. Maintain updated computer software & apps. Setting up automatic updates is ideal because if you or your webmaster randomly log in to update software/apps, there could be bugs present prior to the update, and bugs = vulnerabilities.
2. Download from official sites only. There’s a lot of free stuff available for download on the Internet, but you can end up downloading a lot of problems along with that freebie app, program, whatever. Therefore, download from official sites only. It’s also a good idea to be conservative in the number of downloads, too.
3. Create unique passwords with upper & lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. I know, you’ve probably heard this password warning a gazillion times, but making passwords easy to guess, or using the same password across multiple sites, invites a cyber-criminal to pay a visit. Some people say you shouldn’t use a password manager as some are fraudulent. I don’t use a password manager, nor do I have any idea which ones might be corrupted, so I’ll leave that topic for you to further research.
4. Cover your computer camera. Seems hackers have taken over people’s computer cameras without their knowledge (with no light indicators alerting the users, either). I can see the reasoning behind this — for example, you’re speaking to someone on your phone about a confidential business manner while you’re at your computer, that dialogue could be captured by cyber-criminals. Even if the audio isn’t captured, the computer user is so close to the camera, lip-reading could be easy. Covering the camera with a piece of tape is easy to do. Then remove the tape when you want to use the camera.
5. Use encryption software. CNET has an Encryption page with articles about many different facets of encryption, from router settings, to how to use Skype’s end-to-end encryption feature, and more: CNET Encryption
6. Backups. Regularly back up your files (especially those book files, writers!), and store them offline. (Thanks, @Mededitor)

Additional Resources

Stay Safe Online: Tips for keeping a clean computer, protecting your personal files and more.

Homeland Security: Events, tips, and related links for National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

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All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Please do not copy/distribute any images – these are licensed by the author, who does not have legal authority to share with others. 

When Writing a Whodunit, Think of Dear Old MOM (Motive, Opportunity and Means)

A writer friend of mine once landed a book contract where the publisher asked for a “complex crime” at the core of the story. My friend contacted me, worried. “I’ve never written a crime! Can you give me any advice?” “Sure,” I said. “Think MOM. Motive, Opportunity and Means.”

In US criminal law, MOM encapsulates three sides of a crime necessary to convince a jury of guilt in a criminal proceeding. Did the defendant have a motive to commit the crime? Did the defendant have an opportunity, or chance, to accomplish the deed? Did the defendant also have the ability (means)?

Let’s look at some ways a fictional sleuth might use MOM in a story:

Conduct witness interviews. There’s the direct questions a sleuth might ask, and which we often hear in movies, such as “Where were you at nine o’clock on the night of April 12, Miss Smith?” (opportunity). But also think about your sleuth asking questions that delve into a suspect’s character (motive), history of violence or peacefulness (means/motive or lack of means/motive), or knowledge about using a certain type of weapon (means). A sleuth might also interview other people who’ve seen that suspect use the same type of weapon or conduct certain violent acts.

Examine the murder weapon. Let’s say your sleuth wants to prove the killer was someone other than the person charged with the crime. Your sleuth might looks for clues that show lack of means on the murder weapon (such as bloody hand imprints that are larger than the defendant’s or a strand of hair stuck in blood that’s a different color than the defendant’s).

Recreate the homicide event. Your sleuth might reconstruct the event at the scene of the crime to prove a person had access to a weapon (means) as well as opportunity. For example, the reconstruction might show how easily a suspect could have reached for the murder weapon. Or, conversely, that the suspect wasn’t tall enough to reach the weapon, strong enough to lift it, or maybe even literate enough to have read the instructions on how to use the weapon. As a lawyer, Abraham Lincoln once reconstructed a crime scene to prove that a witness couldn’t possibly have seen what she claimed to have seen because there wasn’t ample lighting to clearly see at the time the incident occurred.

Find an alternate suspect. Your sleuth might research other people who had motive, opportunity, and means to commit a crime. For example, the sleuth might analyze someone’s character for motive (such as his/her history of outbursts toward the victim), look for clues tying another person to the murder weapon (for example, his/her knowledge of how to use that weapon), or establish someone had opportunity (by analyzing a person’s timeline).

A last point to keep in mind: a court cannot convict based solely on motive, opportunity and means. A lawyer must provide convincing proof of all three. Obtaining this proof is, of course, what your sleuth (a detective, private investigator, amateur sleuth) has been doggedly investigating, with the help of MOM, throughout the course of your story.

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Any use of the written content requires specific, written authority by the author.

PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

2021 SHAMUS AWARDS

For Works First Published in the U.S. in 2020

Following are the categories for the Private Eye Writers of America 2021 Shamus Awards for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2020. 

DEADLINE: Submissions must be postmarked by March 31, 2021. No extensions can be given.

Shamus Committees will forward their final lists to the Shamus Awards Chair by May 31, 2021.

ELIGIBILITY: Eligible works must feature as a main character a person paid for investigative work but not employed for that work by a unit of government. These include traditionally licensed private investigators, lawyers and reporters who conduct their own investigations, and others who function as hired private agents. These do not include law enforcement officers, other government employees, or amateur, uncompensated sleuths.

Independently published books (Indies) may be submitted to the Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel category.

SUBMISSIONS; Please send one copy of each eligible work to ALL members of the appropriate committee. Do not submit a book to more than one committee.

There is no application fee and no submission form, as a simple cover letter will suffice. If you have any questions, please e-mail Gay Toltl Kinman at gaykinman@gaykinman.com before submitting.

BEST HARDCOVER P.I. NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction published in hardcover in 2020 that is not the author’s first published P.I. novel.

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction, in hardcover or paperback, first published in 2020 and that is the author’s first published novel featuring a private investigator as a main character. 

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction first published as a paperback original in 2020 that is not the author’s first P.I. novel. Paperback reprints of previously published novels are not eligible. 

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY: A work of fiction of 20,000 words or fewer.  Stories first published in an earlier year and reprinted in a magazine, anthology or collection in 2020 are not eligible.

2021 SHAMUS Awards Committees

BEST HARDCOVER P.I. NOVEL COMMITTEE

Chair: Colleen Collins, 2255 Sheridan Blvd., Unit C #293, Edgewater  CO  80214

2          O’Neil DeNoux, 428 West 25^th Avenue, Covington   LA 70433

3          Dennis Palumbo, 15300 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 402, Sherman Oaks  CA 91403

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL COMMITTEE

Chair: April Kelly, POB 5, Ooltewah  TN 37363

2          James D. F. Hannah, 3821 Nanz Avenue, apt. 4, Louisville  KY 40207

3          Clive E. Rosengren, 2030 Brookhurst St., apt. 3, Medford   OR 97504

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

Chair: Mary Keliikoa, 759 South 74^th Place, Ridgefield  WA 98642

2          David Thompson, 17402 Wild Rose Lane, Huntington Beach  CA 92649

3          Matt Coyle, 3939 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego  CA 92117

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY COMMITTEE

Chair:  Andrew S. McAleer, 121 Follen Road, Lexington  MA 02421

2          Ron Katz, 2085 Cowper St., Palo Alto  CA 94301

3          Kevin Burton Smith, 3053 Rancho Vista #116, Palmdale  CA 93551

Looking Under the Alibi: The Work of a Legal Investigator

Investigations are about gathering facts to form a cohesive and well-reasoned picture of a given situation. Legal investigations are also about gathering facts for a given situation with the addition that these facts will be presented in a court of law.

The legal investigator applies evidence/fact gathering through exacting requirements, called rules of evidence, which must be met for their admissibility for the judge and jury to see and hear.

V.I. Warshawski: A Fictional Legal Investigator

I view V. I. Warshawski, a private investigator character created by writer Sara Paretsky, to be a legal investigator. V.I. attended law school and worked for several years as a public defender, which attests to her understanding and passion for the law. She became a licensed PI in 1982. For fans of the V.I. Warshawski books, you know she works independently as well as on retainer for some attorneys (not uncommon for real-life legal investigators, too).

A Legal Investigator’s Job

Some legal investigators work in-house at a law firm. Others might work in a public defender or district attorney’s office.  And some work as independent contractors, under the umbrella of their own investigations agency.

A legal investigator’s tasks might include:

• Locating and interviewing witnesses
• Drafting witness interview reports for attorneys
• Reconstructing scenes of crimes
• Helping prepare civil and criminal arguments and defenses
• Serving legal documents
• Testifying in court
• Conducting legal research (for example, drafting pleadings incorporating investigative data, devising defense strategies and supporting subsequent legal proceedings)
• Preparing legal documents that provide factual support for pleadings, briefs, and appeals
• Preparing affidavits
• Electronically filing pleadings.

A legal investigator’s training and skills often include:

• Good people skills, sincere interest in people
• Understanding people’s rights to privacy, city ordinances, statutory laws
• A passion for righting wrongs.

Lawyers as Legal Investigators

Sometimes lawyers choose to be legal investigator rather than practice law. That’s certainly true for the PI-character V.I. Warshawski. In real life, I know several former lawyers who now prefer to work as legal investigators, one being my PI partner. Their knowledge of the law is a boon to an investigations business and critical to a legal case; after all, not-guilty verdicts and huge jury awards are won on the street as much as they are won in the courtroom.

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Please do not copy or otherwise use any of the content as it is protected by copyright law.

Private Eye Writers of America: 2020 Shamus Award Nominees

2020 Shamus Award Nominees
(for private eye novels & short stories first published in the U.S. in 2019)

The lists below are in alphabetical order by author. Congratulations to all the nominees!

 

Best Original Private Eye Paperback

The Skin Game by JD Allen / Midnight Ink

Behind the Wall of Sleep by James DF Hannah / author

Paid in Spades by Richard Helms / Clay Stafford Books

Ration of Lies by M. Ruth Myers / author

The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin / Cinco Puntos Press

 

Best Private Eye Short Story

“The Smoking Bandit of Lakeside Terrace” by Chad Baker in EQMM May/June

“Sac-A-Lait Man” by O’Neil De Noux in EQMM Sept/Oct

“The Dunes of Saulkrasti” by William Burton McCormick in EQMM Sept/Oct

“The Fourteenth Floor” by Adam Meyer in Crime Travel anthology from Wildside Press

“Weathering the Storm” by Michael Pool in The Eyes of Texas anthology from Down & Out Books

 

 Best Private Eye Novel

The Tower of Songs by Casey Barrett / Kensington

Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle / Oceanview

The Shallows by Matt Goldman / Forge

Below the Line by Michael Gould / Dutton

Cold Way Home by Julia Keller / Minotaur

With many thanks to the judges:  John Wessel, John Hegenberger, Mark Keliikoa, Stephen Rogers, Michael Pool, Virginia Welker, Matt Coyle, Michael Bracken, Kristen Lepionka, Colleen Collins, Matt Goldman and Alan Orloff

Gay Toltl Kinman, Chair, Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards

Guns Gams and Gumshoes: Top 10 Investigative Posts 2009 – 2019

Looking Back on a Decade

We thought we’d do a spin on our annual Top 10 posts and select the top 10 posts from the last ten years. Which is fitting as we kicked off the Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes blog in June 2009, making it a decade old in 2019.

So how are those ten years reflected in our readers’ favorite posts? Interestingly enough, the #1 most popular post in 2009 is still the most popular post in 2019.

Let’s start at number 10 and work our way up…

Top 10 Posts of the Last 10 Years

#10: Female Private Eyes Walked Those Mean Streets, Too

From Colleen: I was surprised to read a 2014 article “The Death of the Private Eye,” by John Semley in the New York Times and see references to only men being shamuses in hardboiled fiction. Hey, there were lady dicks, too.

#9 Employment Background Checks: Know What’s on Yours BEFORE the Interview

One of several employment background articles Colleen wrote in 2011 about employment background checks for a media company.

#8 Private Investigators and Murder Cases

Written in 2012 for Elizabeth A. White’s blog “Editing by Elizabeth.” White is a former lawyer and current book reviewer/freelance editor specializing in crime fiction.

#7 Marketing the Private Investigations Business

This article is a blast from the past, one of the first we wrote after kicking off this blog in 2009. Much of it still rings true, while significant marketing venues, such as social media, are missing (was “social media” even a term in 2009?).

#6 Investigating Crime Scenes: Police vs. Private Investigators

Because one of the Writing PIs, Shaun, had been a criminal lawyer for nearly two decades with experience litigating many felony cases, including several high-profile homicides, our early clients were seasoned criminal lawyers who respected his knowledge and insights into criminal law and investigations. One gave us our very first case: investigating a crime scene (a bar) where a homicide had occurred. This was the first of numerous cold crime scenes we investigated over the years.

#5 A Tribute to James Garner’s Iconic Private Eye Jim Rockford

This one pops up as a readers’ favorite year after year. Who didn’t love “The Rockford Files”?

#4 National and International Private Investigator Day: History of the Private Eye

From Eugene Francois Vidocq to Allan Pinkerton to Kate Warne, credited with being the first female PI in the U.S.

#3 The Witness Who Came in From the Cold

A case we worked the old-fashioned way, on foot, as the key witness was terrified for her identity to be traced digitally.

#2 How to Conduct a Trash Hit: A Private Investigator’s Dumpster Secrets

The down-and-dirty world of trash hits. This post is continually in the top two or three of readers’ favorite articles every year.

#1 Private vs. Public Investigators: What’s the Difference?

This post has been number 1 every single year! It’s a question we address at the beginning of our workshops, too, as it can be confusing what constitutes a detective being “private” vs. “public.” 

 

That wraps up the top 10 posts of the decade! Thank you, readers, for dropping by Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes over the years. We wish all of you a prosperous, happy 2020!

Interview with Steven Kerry Brown, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating”

December 29, 2019

Saddened to learn today that Steven Kerry Brown passed away on Christmas day. I knew his name and reputation before I met him, first over the phone when he called to hire us for a case in Colorado. Later, we met in person at a writers conference. Over the years we’d occasionally chat about fiction writing as both of us were crafting private eye novels.

Below is a piece I wrote about Steven around 2013 when he was battling cancer, followed by a two-part interview I did with him in 2009.

Steven Kerry Brown

Steven Kerry Brown is a former FBI special agent and supervisory special agent, founder and president of Millennial Investigative Agency in Florida, novelist, author of magazine articles and nonfiction books, blogger, and has spent two years as captain of a sixty-foot ketch running sailing charters in the Bahamas.

He’s appeared on such television programs as Hard Copy and 60 Minutes, and is the author of one of the best books on private investigations around (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating — its third edition was released March 2013). He is also the author of 5 Things Women Need to Know About the Men They Date, released in April 2013.

The Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating

The first time I met Steven was back in 2004 when he called our agency and retained our services for an investigative task in Colorado. The prior year I had attended an intensive, 16-week on-site investigative course that used the The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating in its course material. I had read that book front to back, then back to front, scribbled notes in the margins, re-read — and then re-read again — numerous sections to ensure my grasp of a topic. Steven writes in a clear, straightforward manner, and sprinkles factual material with his own personal experiences.

That same year, I took another course on process service.  One day, the instructor played a Q&A game with the class — the prize for the most correct answers was a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating. 

So a year later, when the author called out of the blue and requested our P.I. services, I was honored.

Writing the Private Eye Novel

Years later, Steven’s and my paths crossed again, but this time as novelists. We both have written private-eye genre novels, and have chatted off and on about agents, publishers, even WordPress. He co-authors the blog Handcuffed to the Ocean with several other writers, one being James N. Frey, a novelist and author of one of the better books on fiction writing, How to Write a Damn Good Novel.

Undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant

Over the past few years, I’ve grown to admire Steven even more for his gutsy perseverance as he’s undergone a bone marrow transplant. Below is the beginning of a post he wrote last June:

I’m sitting here at 11 pm eating out of a carton of Edy’s Double Fudge Brownie ice cream. Got to love life. On Saturday June 15 I passed the one year mark since some nice guy over in Germany donated his bone marrow stem cells to me. I haven’t checked the statistics this year but when I agreed to enter the BMT Clinic at Shands Cancer Institute in Gainesville, Florida the mortality rate for bone marrow transplant patients was fairly high. 

Many of Steven’s friends and colleagues in the P.I. industry have contributed to his Bone Marrow Transplant Fund to help with the $500,000 in expenses for this procedure. Recently, there have been complications, which Steven wrote about in September 2013 — below is the beginning of that post:

I really thought I would have my immune system back by now. Most of the BMT transplant patients I’ve met received their shots by the end of the first year. But, now I’m convinced that I may never get it back. I’ve had a few set backs these last few weeks. I encountered a big flare up of GVHD that took over my entire torso. The doctors put me back on prednisone and other immune suppressant medication. I told the doctors I’d rather have the GVHD than the prednisone. But they said this flare up was life threatening, so I really didn’t have a choice.

Despite what he’s going through, his humor shines through—check out this poem to his doctors (posted on his September 2013 blog):

I wrote a little poem for the doctors about GVHD.

GVHD

Itch, itch, Itch,

Like a son of a 

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

By the way, this post includes photos of his symptoms (he does this to help others who might be contemplating a bone marrow transplant). Be forewarned—these photos are graphic.

At the end of this post, Steven writes:

Thanks for the well wishes and the donations. I promise as soon as I can I’ll get back to investigating the Haleigh Cummings case. I do have more posts on that coming up soon.

Amazes me that while dealing with his health challenges over the last year+ he has also self-published one nonfiction book and revised another. Puts the notion of “writer’s block” to shame.

Now to the 2009 interview with P.I.-author Steven Kerry Brown…

Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes: Good morning, Steven, and welcome to Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes. First, we have to say that The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating  is one of our favorite resource books. As we haven’t seen this second edition, we imagine you’ve updated it with more technology and tools–saying that, what is one of the more useful technological techniques you’ve recently started using in your investigative work?

Steven: There are three really useful techniques that are relatively new that I use a lot.  Two of them I describe in detail in my book. The first is the GPS tracking device. Below is a photo with the unit in a waterproof Pelican case and a 50 pound pull magnet and a long life lithium-ion battery pack. (Not much larger than a man’s hand.)

(Photo no longer available)

I set this unit (I have two of them) to report in every 10 minutes. I change the batteries out once a week. I also have the capability of clicking on “tracking now” on the unit’s website and receive a real-time location of where the unit is. So you or your client can sit in front of their computer and see where the unit is at any given time.  Of course, the primary use of this is in family law cases. Even though Florida is a “no fault” divorce state (meaning that proof of adultery doesn’t have a real impact on property settlement), still the client needs to know the facts of their situation before they can make an informed decision. Hence, using the GPS to track the spouse.

We follow-up the use of the GPS with a little judicious surveillance. Even though the GPS will tell us where the spouse is, it won’t tell us who he/she is with, so a few photos of the spouse and the other party will usually do the trick. And don’t be fooled by clichés. There are not more men than women committing adultery. We find it splits about 50-50.

The second technique I like a lot is Spoofing Caller ID. Now you have to be careful with this as it is now illegal in some states, like Florida, if you spoof a caller ID with the intent to deceive. How does it work and how do I use it? You can do a web search on Spoofing Caller ID and find lots of folks who will sell you spoofing time. I use Spoofcard.com  For $5.00 you get 25 minutes of spoofing time. Basically spoofing caller ID means that you can use this service to call a target number and the incoming caller ID will display any number you want it to show. The technology behind it is the spoofing company uses Voice Over IP (VOIP) to make the call and in doing so can send whatever Caller ID data you want sent. (You can find full details in the CIG to PI pages 184-188)

How do you use caller ID spoofing? Well, you might for instance, want to see if a certain person is at a particular residence. Before the law changed in Florida, I called a witness to a case that I needed to talk to. He wouldn’t answer my calls so I spoofed my number to look like his mother’s phone was calling him. He answered the call.

The third technique I like only works on cell phone numbers. You can use this service and it will bypass the phone and go directly to the cell phone’s voice mail. That way you can hear the message on the voice mail and sometimes figure out who the phone belongs to without them ever knowing you called the phone. It’s not perfect and your number might show up as a missed call on their phone. The service is called Slydial and their number is 267-759-3425. It’s free, give it a try. A database only available to PIs called Skip Smasher, has a much improved version of this service which will not leave your number on the target’s phone as a missed call and it will record the voice mail message for you. I love it and use it often. Kudos to SkipSmasher.com.

(Note from WritingPIs: Because of Steven’s recommendation, we began using Skip Smasher, too. Still use it to this day. It’s owned and operated by Robert Scott, a licensed private investigator.)

End of interview, Part 1.  In Part 2, Steven discusses the recession and private eyes, crafting non-fiction vs. fiction, and how much real-world PI dirt he puts into a fictional-world PI story.

Link to his book:

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating, Third Edition