Detective By Arthur Hailey (published in 1997) - the story of a police detective

Arthur Hailey was born in Lutton, Bedford-shire, England and served in the Royal Air Force during world war II. He emigrated to Canada and got his first break through as a writer through his book Flight in to Danger. After this he never looked back with his novels like Wheels, Airport, Hotel and Final Diagnosis becoming best sellers. He moved to the Bahamas to continue his writing career until his death on November, 2004.
Detective is the story of the police department and its police officers. It is the story of beliefs and the attitudes which shape the destinies of the crime investigators and the problems they face to bring a case to the close.
Malcolm Ainslie is a detective in the Miami police department who has a dark past which is tormenting him. He is called to solve the crime committed by a serial killer, nick named Animal who gets the name because of the barbaric way he murders his victims. He murders his victims and leaves clues from the chapters in the book of revelations in the Bible. Ultimately the Animal is apprehended and is sentenced to death. When he is languishing in prison he makes a call to Malcolm Ainslie, to record his final confession. The Animal tells him that he is guilty of all the murders, except one, that of the Mayor and his Wife. Malcolm does not believe him as the knows Animal to be a liar.



But he still studies the case and comes to the startling conclusion that the Animal was indeed telling the truth. The clues retrieved from the murder site of the mayor and his Wife does not follow the chapters in the Book of Revelations and thus Malcolm is convinced that a copy cat killer is on the loose.
The book is basically based on Malcolm's past and his guilt. He being an ex-priest does not believe in God. He is a PhD in theology and got in to priesthood to please his mother after his brother is shot dead. He is married but his marriage is in jeopardy, and is tempted to have an affair. He is ensnared by a cool and calculative Cynthia and has to assess his feelings about his wife, Karen and his son. In-spite of the fact that engaging in this mystery would break his marriage he goes on to unravel the truth. Ultimately he unravels the mystery and is reunited with his wife and son.
Detective, is a typical Arthur Hailey potboiler where in depth research has gone in to its writing. Hailey gives information about how the crime scene investigation is carried out, especially the finger printing system and also explains the DNA analysis. Did you know that 315 in detective lingo means emergency situation with the officer in trouble or BOLO means “be on the lookout”? These are the nuggets given out by Hailey that makes the book a compulsive read.
On the other hand long discourse on religion, theology, gory crime scenes and especially how a death sentence is carried out in my opinion was a little overboard. But overall Hailey makes a good case for the Police detectives who work hard in-spite of hardships, interference and low pay to keep the town safe.