I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 7.
A Writer’s Guide to Senior Investigating Police Officers in the UK by Kevin N Robinson took me just under an hour to read from start to finish. This really isn’t the best way to read it as it’s designed to be “dipped into” as and when required. So it’s a quick read, and it’s a good reference guide to keep handy.
The book basically guides the writer through what it takes to be a senior investigating police officer in the UK (SIO), the training s/he is required to do, and how and when s/he gets involved in a crime. In fact, it’s another book that does exactly what it says on the cover.
I particularly liked the suggestions throughout of how to take your story forward, and I even thought some ideas might in fact be story starters.
From the off the author suggests that writers really need to learn a little more about how a SIO works before including one in their work, but perhaps the author would benefit himself from learning a little about basic grammar and consistency.
The book is riddled with grammatical and spelling mistakes and inconsistencies that even a fair copy editor or proofreader would pick up. This sloppy presentation spoiled the book for me because I kept on getting distracted and reaching for my red editing pen.
My other niggle is that throughout the book the author tells you how you can find out more from such-and-such-a-book (also by him) or later in the book/a later chapter. This is annoying because if the information is important enough to hint at, then it’s important enough to include at the same time without expecting the reader to shell out yet more dosh or time.
Once over both of those gripes, however, it really is a good, useful little book and I shall certainly be keeping it to dip into.
A Writer’s Guide to Senior Investigating Police Officers in the UK by Kevin N Robinson is only available on Kindle for £1.99 (or $2.44).
