Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes: Top 10 Posts in 2018

As we wrap up 2018, below are our readers’ 10 favorite posts this year. Thank you to everyone who’s dropped by this year as well as preceding years—next year will mark Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes’ ten-year anniversary!

Ranking is #1 through #10, with #1 having the most reader views in 2018:

#10 Private Investigators and Murder Cases This was a 2012 guest post by Colleen Collins at crime fiction book reviewer Elizabeth A. White’s blog (renamed Editing by Elizabeth as she now specializes as a story editor).

#9 Investigating Crime Scenes: Police vs. Private Investigators This 2015 post discusses different facets of crime scene investigations, from deception to subjects to cold vs. live crime scenes.

Copyright Lisa Cejka 2018

#8 Female Private Eyes Walked These Mean Streets, Too Some people, including John Semley, who wrote the article “The Death of the Private Eye for the New York Times, seem to think only men have been shamuses in fiction. No, women were dicks, too, going back to 1864 with Mrs. Paschal, commonly viewed as the first female private detective in literature.

#7 National and International Private Investigator Day: History of the Private Eye History of the PI, from Eugene Francois Vidocq, recognized as the first private eye in 1833, to current-day private detectives.

#6 National Cyber Security Awareness Month: A Ransomware True Story and Security Tips A true story about cyber-criminals who hacked into, and took over, a writer’s computer, as well as tips and related articles on cyber security.

#5 Answering a Writer’s Question: Can a Private Investigator Get Romantically Involved with a Client? Seems Sam Spade got amorous with most of the femme fatales who crossed his path. Although there aren’t always legal restrictions, there are often ethical ones to consider in the real world of PIs.

#4: A Tribute to James Garner’s Iconic Private Eye Jim Rockford I originally wrote this post in 2014 after hearing of James Garner’s passing, then updated it the following year. Who didn’t love the cool, droll, anti-hero Jim Rockford, a PI who’d rather go fishing then be sleuthing cases.

James Garner as PI Rockford (R) in photo still from THE ROCKFORD FILES (image is in public domain)

#3: How to Conduct a Trash Hit: A Private Investigator’s Dumpster Secrets: This has been one of our readers’ favorite posts over the years. At our PI agency, we’ve conducted dozens of trash hits. Foraging through trash is like an archeological dig—ya get down and dirty, but what’s uncovered can break a case clean open.

#2 Private vs. Public Investigators: What’s the Difference? Ever since we kicked off Guns, Gams,and Gumshoes in 2009, this post has been readers’ #1, most-read post, every single year…until this year when it got bumped to #2 for…

#1: From Pup to Courthouse Therapy Dog, Part 1 Readers’ favorite post this year was based on our Rottweiler pup, Traveller, who’s on a journey (along with her owners) to one day being a courtroom therapy dog. Article discusses differences between service dogs and therapy dogs; the training and work of a courtroom therapy dog; the story of Rosie, the first courthouse therapy dog in New York; and related links to therapy dog training and certification.

Thank you, readers, for being part of Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes. Here’s to a healthy, happy 2019 for all of us!

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Do not copy or distribute any content without written permission of the author. Images in the public domain are captioned as such; all other images are either copyrighted or licensed by the author, who does not have the legal authority to share with others.

 

Shamus Awards 2019: Private Eye Writers of America Accepting Submissions

PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

FOR 2019 SHAMUS AWARDS

For Works First Published in the U.S. in 2018

Following are the categories for the Private Eye Writers of America 2019 Shamus Awards for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2018. The awards will be presented in the fall of 2019.

DEADLINE: Submissions must be postmarked by March 31, 2019. No extensions can be given.

Shamus Committees will forward their final lists to the Shamus Awards Chair by May 31, 2019.

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 do 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 (for example, protagonists in cozy mysteries).

Independently published books (Indies) may be submitted to the Best Original Paperback PI 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.

For judging committee addresses and questions, please e-mail PWA judging chair Gay Toltl Kinman at gaykinman@gaykinman.com. If you’re unsure which category to submit your work, email Gay Tolti Kinman before submitting.

BEST HARDCOVER PI NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction published in hardcover in 2018 that is not the author’s first published P.I. novel.

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction, in hardcover or paperback, first published in 2018 that is the author’s first published novel featuring a private investigator as a main character.

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK PI NOVEL: A book-length work of fiction first published as a paperback original in 2018 that is not the author’s first P.I. novel. Paperback reprints of previously published novels are NOT eligible.

BEST PI 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 2018, are not eligible.

2019 SHAMUS Awards Committees

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY COMMITTEE

Terence Faherty, Chair

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL COMMITTEE

Colleen Collins, Chair

BEST P.I. NOVEL COMMITTEE

Thomas Donahue, Chair

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL P.I. NOVEL

Brad Parks, Chair

Please do not copy or otherwise distribute any images in this posting as the author does not have legal authority to share these images with others.

Two Memorable Christmas Cases, Funny to Heartfelt

As Christmas approaches, we remember two of our favorite investigation stories that occurred during the holidays, from the funny to the heartfelt.

Story #1: Serving Divorce Papers to a Happy Jailer

Several years ago, an angry soon-to-be-ex-wife told her attorney that she wanted divorce papers served on her soon-to-be-ex-husband on Christmas Day. No other day would do. Not Christmas Eve, not the day after Christmas. Had to be Christmas Day. The divorce papers were to be her Christmas gift to the husband whom she had recently learned was keeping a girlfriend on the side.

The attorney contacted us and asked if we’d be willing to fulfill her Christmas wish. After hearing the story, we said yes. The husband was a deputy in a local jail, and was scheduled to work on Christmas Day.

That day, we drove to the jail, politely asked for him, and after he confirmed his identity, we served him the papers.

He read the first page, looked up at us, grinned, then exclaimed, “This might be the best Christmas gift I’ve ever had!”

Story #2: A Young Father Facing Months in Jail

One long-ago Christmas Eve, one of the Writing PIs, at the time working as a defense lawyer, went to court for the initial appearance of a young father accused of a restraining order violation on his ex-wife. Without a lower bond, he could lose his job, his home, and miss opportunities to spend time with his sons. The young father was facing up to six months in jail if found guilty on all counts.

The lawyer-half of Writing PIs pointed out to the judge that, at worst, the young man was guilty of contacting his ex-wife so he could obtain a much-needed antibiotic medicine for the youngest son who had a bad ear infection. The judge saw through the ex-wife’s hysterics and false accusations, and set bail at a Christmas Eve bargain of $50 cash.

We were asleep on the night before Christmas when awoken by the beeping of one of our cell phones. The young man had texted that he’d been released from jail and would be spending Christmas with his sons.

We didn’t mind being woken up—it was a terrific way to start Christmas Day.

Happy holidays, Writing PIs

It’s just another ho-ho-hum lawyers’ Christmas party…until one of them is murdered.

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

Safety Tips for St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, a day devoted to green beer and lots of partying. It’s great to get together with friends and have fun, but not so great to get arrested for breaking a law while intoxicated.

Top Three Reasons For Getting Arrested

1. Drinking and Driving: Here’s a sobering fact: between 2009 and 2013, 276 people died on St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. due to drunken driving accidents (information from TSM, Traffic Safety Marketing). Another sobering statistic: From 2008 through 2012, half of the men killed in crashes on St. Patrick’s Day were drinking and driving (info from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Simple way around this: Don’t Drink and Drive. Go partying with a friend who is the designated driver or travel by taxi.
2. Public Intoxication: Although each state has its own definition of public intoxication, below are a few shared elements of the crime:
   – Being visibly drunk or under the influence of drugs while in a public place.
   – Appearing to be intoxicated in a public place (that’s right, appearances alone can get you arrested).
3. Urinating in Public: This includes urinating between parked cars, on walls, even lawns. If you gotta go, go before you go outside.

A Few More Safety Tips

A little common sense can ensure you and others have a safe, fun St. Patrick’s Day celebration:

• Plan How You’re Getting Home Ahead of Time. Be it by taxi, designated driver, public transportation, or one of the numerous sober-drive-home services offered in different cities.
• If You’re Traveling with a Designated Driver, Leave Your Car Keys at Home.
• If You See a Drunk Driver on the Road, Call the Police. This could save many people’s lives.
• If You See Someone Who’s Drunk Getting Ready to Drive: Gently take away their keys and help them find a safe way home. Better yet, call a taxi and pay for it upfront.

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day, Writing PIs

Five Holiday Safety Tips

As the holidays approach, our work load invariably picks up as more criminal cases come into the office. Sometimes on a festive evening, such as New Year’s Eve, we’ll look at each other and say, “Wonder what’s happening tonight that brings in work over the next few weeks or months?” Notice we don’t say “Wonder if something will happen…”

Five Safety Tips

Below are a few safety tips to keep you and yours from hiring attorneys or private investigators over the next few weeks.

Tip #1: When you go shopping, lock your car. It sounds so simple, yet you’d be surprised at the number of people who forget to do this. People get preoccupied with shopping, holiday parties, who’s picking up Great-Aunt Sarah on Christmas Eve…and they forget to lock their car doors. That makes easy pickings for thieves looking through car windows—if they see a package, it can be theirs within seconds. Several years ago, Sergeant Foley of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department claimed that nearly 50 percent of the car break-ins in his area were due to cars being left unlocked.

Tip #2: Park in well-lighted areas. Don’t tempt a thief by parking where there’s little or no lighting.

Unlocked Doors Are Open Invitations to Criminals

Tip #3: Avoid parking on side streets. Vehicles parked on secluded side streets are easy prey for thieves. Also, with increased holiday traffic, and drivers preoccupied with cell phone conversations, passengers, or even eating while driving, your vehicle might be the victim of a hit-and-run.

Tip #4: Drink responsibly.

You Don’t Want to Wear One of These Bracelets This Holidays

Yeah, this sounds like one of those ads, but it is smart advice. Many of our criminal investigation cases involve people drinking too much and doing something stupid that they regret for years to come.

Watch the other guy, too —is someone getting blitzed and out of control at a party? Be proactive and make sure he/she has a sober driver to take them home. Or call a taxi and pay the driver upfront for the person’s ride home, which might be the best holiday gift they get. Also if a party is getting out of control, it’s a good time to leave.

Tip #5: Be aware. Perhaps the best advice is to be aware and use common sense.  Don’t carry so many packages to your vehicle that you can’t quickly reach your cell phone or car keys. Shop in groups rather than alone. If you have a choice to shop during the day or at night, pick daylight hours. Don’t leave items visible in your car that might tempt a thief. Have fun at parties, but drink responsibly and avoid those who aren’t.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!

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A heartfelt, humorous, romantic-mystery story about a down-on-her-luck lawyer, a special agent visited by the past, and an arson dog named Maggie who join forces to rescue the holiday spirit!

“Mistletoe and Murder in Las Vegas” is Colleen Collins at her best. It’s got the charm and humor of the best romantic comedies combined with a genuinely good mystery–an unbeatable combination. I couldn’t put the book down once I started it.” ~Nancy Warren, USA Today Bestselling Author

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman. Do not copy/distribute any content without written permission from the authors. 

What Is Expectation of Privacy?

In a nutshell, expectation of privacy is a zone of protection created by constitutional law against unreasonable searches and seizures.

How Does Expectation of Privacy Affect You?

Most people don’t value their expectation of privacy until a government agent (such as police or health inspectors) intrude onto their property without authorization. Another area in which people don’t always value their expectation of privacy is in their personal computers. The founding fathers wanted people to be secure in their “homes and papers,” but no one has ever doubted that the Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy also applies to individuals’ personal computers and other electronic devices.

PIs and Expectation of Privacy

Below are a few slides from a presentation we gave at a Pikes Peak Writers conference on this topic. The audience wanted an example of how their private eye character might be affected by an expectation of privacy issue in the course of an investigation.

Have a great November, everyone! Writing PIs

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Please do not copy, distribute, or otherwise use any of this article without written permission from the author.

Tips for Your Safeguarding Your Halloween Haunted House

It’s that time of year when people stretch cobwebs on porches, prop plastic gravestones in front yards, string flashing lights everywhere, and my favorite—arrange mechanized life-sized creeping zombies that crawl and moan. These decorations mean it’s also the time of year to ensure safe conditions around your spook house.

Five Safety Tips

1. Keep walkways dry and clear from anything that might trip your visitors. This includes cords and crawling zombies.
2. 

   If the area outside the house is dark, trick-or-treaters might stumble and fall.

   Maintain good lighting for your candy-hunting guests in areas where they walk up to your doorway. Keep in mind that many children are wearing masks that can block their vision, and that children might be running as they approach your front door. Dark-tinted lights and flashing strobes are a recipe for trouble, even if they look fantastic. One idea: Try the “Christmas light style” jack-o-lantern lights on your banisters and stairways to highlight handrails.

3. Use extension cords for electrical items in the yard that are rated for outdoor use to avoid electrical shorts and fires.
4. Secure yard decorations (wooden signs and faux grave markers) from the bold fall wind.
5. Direct traffic at your doorway. Limit the number of trick or treaters coming up to the door to prevent chaos and possible injuries when departing ghouls bump into arriving ghosts. You might try being on the porch during the busiest hours to hand-out candy.

Enjoy a safe, fun Halloween!

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Please do not copy, distribute, or otherwise use any of this article without written permission from the author.

5 Tips for Having a DUI-Free Halloween

The origins of Halloween go back to the Celts who marked the day as the end of harvest season and beginning of winter. The day itself was thought of as a bridge to the world of the dead.

Today Halloween is a fun day filled with candy, costumes, and parties. And not just for kids, but for grown-ups, too. For the latter, here’s a few suggestions to have a good time without getting a DUI (drinking under the influence).

Five Tips For Not Being Haunted By A DUI On Halloween

Tip #1: Don’t Over-Imbibe. Your blood alcohol level is a major factor in determining if you will be charged and convicted of driving under the influence (DUI). Although there are variables in how people’s bodies metabolize, or burn off, alcohol, here’s a general rule of thumb: For every ounce of alcohol consumed, wait 90-120 minutes before drinking another ounce.

Each of the following drinks contains approximately an ounce of alcohol:

• 12-oz. can of beer
• 1.25-oz. shot of hard liquor
• 6-oz. glass of wine.

Tip #2: Don’t Wear a Mask While Driving. Officers must have reasons for pulling over drivers they suspect might have been drinking. One reason is if the driver is wearing a mask—an officer might say it obscured your vision while driving, and then the officer might assess if you have been drinking.

Tip #3: Eating fatty, spicy food to trick a breathalyzer test is an urban legend. Some people think consuming greasy, spicy foods (think a big plate of enchiladas smothered in cheese, chilis and onions) will help them beat a breathalyzer test as the food lowers the alcohol content in their system. Well, such foods might mask the odor of alcohol on one’s breath, but they do absolutely nothing to lower the alcohol content.

Tip #4: Plan for Sober Driving Options. Best idea of all is to plan ahead for how to travel safely—here are a few ideas:

• Designate who is the sober driver for the evening if you’re out with a group of people.
• Call a taxi.
• Pre-program numbers into your phone for safe ride options in your city, such as Curb (formerly TaxiMagic) or Lyft.

Tip #5: Don’t Pull a Reese Witherspoon. If you’re a passenger in a car that’s been pulled over, remember what happened to Reese Witherspoon who, as the drunk passenger in a car, got loud and crazy with the cop. Next thing the famous movie star knew, she was starring in her very own mug shot. Law officers can cite others in a vehicle for interference or obstruction.

Follow these tips and enjoy a safe, fun Halloween!

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Please do not copy, distribute, or otherwise use any of this material without written permission from the author.

Senate Resolution May Eventually Allow ISPs to Sell Sensitive Customer Data

Browsing History and Your Privacy

March 23, 2017: Today the Senate passed a resolution that would overturn an FCC rule that requires internet service providers (ISPs) to get customers’ permission before ISPs sell sensitive consumer data, such as browsing histories. You can read more in the LA Times article Senate votes to kill privacy rules meant to protect people’s sensitive data from their Internet providers.

Mystery writers often joke that if the government ever looked at their browsing histories for stories, the writer would look like he/she wanted to murder someone through his/her searches on poisoning, bombing, knifing, strangling, and on and on…

But it’s not so funny that a Minnesota judge recently approved a warrant to retrieve people’s Google searches on variations of a victim’s name over a 5-week timeframe. Google was to provide the court each searcher’s name, email address, account information, and IP address. Think about that. What if you had Googled a name of a second cousin, a potential employer, even the name of a character in a book, and what you typed just happened to be similar to that victim’s name? Your name and personal information would be provided to the court as a possible suspect.

But, there’s no need to panic. Instead…

Be Proactive with Your Internet Privacy

The Senate’s resolution hasn’t gone to legislation yet, of course. So this is an opportunity to think about ways to protect your internet privacy and browsing history. For example, are you using a private search engine? Good. If not, consider using a private search engine like DuckDuckGo or StartPage.

Articles on Internet Privacy

Some private search engines, such as StartPage, also encourage users to take additional steps to limit cookies as a second line of defense. I wrote about how to set up Do Not Track options, add-ons, extensions, and more in my article Tips for Keeping the Cookie Monster Out of Your Browser.

Below are more articles that offer tips for protecting your internet privacy:

How to Browse the Internet Anonymously by Natasha Stokes (Techlicious)

One setting to protect your privacy on your iPhone or iPad by Mark Jones (Komando.com)

Computer security tips for whistleblowers and sources (The Guardian)

Have a good week, Writing PIs

 All rights reserved by Colleen Collins. Any use of the content requires specific, written authority. All images are licensed by the author, who does not have legal authority to share with others so please do not copy or distribute those images, thank you.

The Witness Who Came in from the Cold

(Image courtesy of Ryan McGuire)

We worked this case as an investigative team, with our results helping a defense lawyer to obtain a dismissal for his client. Also, we worked this case the old-fashioned way, on foot, as a key witness was afraid for her identity to be traced digitally (email, phone, etc.).

Late One Summer Night…

…a resident in a home near a park called 911 after hearing sounds of yelling and fighting (the caller couldn’t see the park itself as the view was obstructed by other homes). When police arrived at the park, they found three local gang members with knife wounds, lying on the ground. The gang members said two rival gang members from another city had stabbed them. One ran away, whereabouts unknown. The other had flagged down a car for a ride (they gave the license plate and description of that car.) Police found no weapons on the three gang members—it was later learned that others in their gang had gathered all the weapons and left before the police arrived.

Charge: Felony 3, First-Degree Assault

Police found the described car parked at a home in the neighborhood. The driver admitted he’d given a ride to a young man (whom we’ll call “E”), who had flagged him down and asked for a lift to a friend’s home. The police went to that address and found E, who matched the description given by the stabbed gang members.

With no witnesses to confirm E’s claim of self-defense, police arrested him (image licensed by Colleen Collins)

Although E claimed self-defense, saying the rival gang had harassed, punched, and threatened him with their weaponry, the police charged him with the stabbings, a felony 3, first-degree assault.

Following the code of gang members, E refused to give any information about his fellow gang member who’d run away (later we learned this gang member had returned to his car and driven back to the neighboring city that night).

Goal: Find a Witness

E hired a defense lawyer (for whom we worked as defense investigators at the time). The lawyer informed the court and opposing counsel that our client was claiming self-defense.

Because E refused to identify his fellow gang member, the case lacked an independent corroborating witness. Based on the 911 call, people in the neighborhood had obviously heard the fighting, but no one had yet come forward to say that E had fought in self-defense.

As investigators we could have driven to the neighboring city and tried to root out this gang-member-witness—yeah, that would have been an easy, fruitful enterprise (not).

Bottom line: we had one weapon, the old “neighborhood canvas” or knock and talk.

Fear of Gang Retaliation

Problem was, people didn’t want to talk. An elderly man confided that people were afraid to talk out of fear of gang retaliation.

Next, we printed posters asking anyone who had seen an incident on [date] and [park name] to call [phone number], and the conversation would remain confidential. Whenever we’ve posted flyers like this, we use a dedicated, virtual phone number (meaning we set up a unique number that can’t be traced, and rings through to one of our office phones).

Then we walked up and down the sidewalks of this east Denver gang-infested, lower middle-class neighborhood, sticking our posters on street light poles, the fence around the park, and other such public spots (didn’t leave any on people’s doors as we didn’t want any third parties later assuming so-and-so, who had had a flyer on their door, was probably the snitch).

The Clock Was Ticking

Days later, we began to panic. E had to decide on a 5- to 12-year prison-only plea offer in the coming week, and no one had called us.

One late afternoon, we got a call from a coffee shop phone number in a different part of the city. The caller identified herself as a mother who lived near the park, but refused to give her name, or any digital means of contacting her (email address, cell phone number, etc.) as she was afraid of being traced. She said she’d seen local gang members threatening and taunting E, who at first had run from them, but after being cornered, fought back in self-defense. She wanted to do the right thing and “help that young man.”

A Secret Night Meeting

The witness met us in the park shadows (image courtesy of Ryan McGuire)

She agreed to meet us in the park, at night, and point out where the young men had fought. We arrived at the park one weekday night and waited. An older woman walked toward us from a corner of the park.

In the shadows, she pointed out where she’d seen E running from the others, and where E had ended up with his back to a fence. We gave her our lawyer’s card and asked her to call him, and that the lawyer would protect her identity by sealing her statement in the court file.

D.A. Reviews Investigative Report

With a reliable, independent witness supporting E’s story, the defense lawyer took our interview and case report to the prosecution, who agreed to dismiss the charges against E.

All rights reserved by Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman, and any use of the content requires specific, written authority. Please do not copy/distribute mages licensed by Colleen Collins as she does not have the authority to share with others. All other images are in the public domain, with the caveat by the photographer, Ryan McGuire, to please credit them with his name.