Search results for "surveillance"

On This Mother’s Day: Children Who Want to be Junior Private Eyes

On May 12, 2013 By

I’m a stepmom to five children.  Of those, only one hounded me relentlessly to join me on an investigation, specifically on a surveillance.

I always told her no, which sparked conversations like this:

“Why not?” she’d ask.

“Because surveillances are not for children.”

“But I’m almost thirteen.”

“I rest my case.”

“But [...]

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Our Private Investigations’ Equipment: From Bags of the Stuff to a Smartphone

On May 5, 2013 By

When we started our private investigations agency back in 2003-2004, we invested a chunk of money in equipment upfront.  We were starting on a shoestring budget (like many PIs) , so we took great care to think about what equipment we absolutely, critically needed.  Our first question to ourselves was…

What Kind of [...]

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Favorite Women Private Eyes on TV #1: Nora Charles

On December 2, 2012 By

The Thin Man TV Series

Most people know about The Thin Man novel and movie series, but did you also know there was a TV series by the same name?  The Thin Man TV series ran from September 20, 1957 to August 28, 1959 on NBC via MGM-TV, MGM’s attempt to get into television.

The [...]

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The First U.S. Female Private Eye: Kate Warne

On December 1, 2012 By

The First Official Female Private Eye

Kate Warne is viewed by many to be the first female private detective in the U.S.  Perhaps a better way to say it is, she’s the first official female private detective, as she was the initial woman hired by the established Pinkerton National Detective Agency, the nationally recognized private [...]

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Working Undercover: A Private Investigator’s Disguises

On October 31, 2012 By

This being Halloween, the day many people like to wear costumes, I thought it’d be interesting to discuss some of the disguises I’ve used over the years in the course of conducting investigations.

Let’s start with the most basic disguise.

The Simplest and Best Disguise?

Answer: A baseball cap and sunglasses.  Studies on eye-witness [...]

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Is It Dangerous to Be a Female Private Investigator?

On October 13, 2012 By

I get asked this question a lot. I suppose people read and see fictional private eyes doing all kinds of dangerous, risk-taking actions in books and film so they assume that’s how it is in real life, too.  My general response is that, like many things in life, it’s wise to practice common sense [...]

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Top Three Mistakes Writers Make When Depicting Private Eyes

On August 23, 2012 By

Besides working as a private investigator, I love reading the private eye genre.  And there’s plenty of wonderful writers out there crafting compelling stories featuring private eye protagonists.  I should know–in the last two years I’ve been honored to be a judge for the Private Eye Writers of America, and in this capacity [...]

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Fifty Shades of Gray: Becoming a PI in My Fifties

On August 18, 2012 By

I never got to experience a mid-life crisis.

I experienced, however, a career crisis when I was 52 years old.  Before that, I was writing full time for several series lines at Harlequin (and I’d had a novel published at another publishing house).  My boyfriend (now my husband) was conducting legal research for a law [...]

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Surveillances Hollywood Style: From Sam Spade to Philip Marlowe

On July 20, 2012 By

Hooray for Hollywood

Gotta love Hollywood and its take on reality.  Sometimes my PI-husband and I watch a movie starring a fictional private eye and we laugh at the implausibility of a situation.  To be fair, some movies get PIs right, but sometimes they set up a scenario that’s more dramatic than realistic and we [...]

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Surveillance: Going Undercover on a Golf Course

On July 17, 2012 By

“I Want You to Find Out If Two of My Employees Are Having an Affair”

We had an interesting case last summer. An executive contacted us because he was concerned two of his company’s key employees were “fooling around.”  He was worried their affair might be getting in the way of their work responsibilities, [...]

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