Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

List Price: $19.99 Details

Save: $10.95 (55%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, September 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25. Order within 13 hrs 11 mins

Select delivery location

Only 3 left in stock - order soon

$$9.04 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$3.99 delivery September 14 - 18. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by HPB-Ruby

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$21.90
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: MyPrepbooks

Added

Not added

$18.42
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: LadyLakeBooks

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Howdunit Paperback – November 20, 2000

by John Boertlein (Author)

4.4 18 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Paperback

"Please retry"

$9.04

$5.00

Paperback
$9.04

7 Used from $5.00 11 New from $9.04

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$9.04","priceAmount":9.04,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"04","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"eSCivf6MHwFn%2FmRcCde96Yyrhwh77Ejybs9FhaGYLg2Mw1b%2FPnx1rym%2BuQXYAPg5o6RK06B2sPY1VmAJjfjP2GY0DmYvICQbjn7ajSQazm6RAAy0HwpnscSLPY1A1slGULOGvurzVXo%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$5.00","priceAmount":5.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"5","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"eSCivf6MHwFn%2FmRcCde96Yyrhwh77EjyI4QUrwZsQ6K9TLqVMqsfIsWOY5UlX3KrYa4BKh9GAoQeK3iQ3Cvy4E3VhtzfpBfajT343uK0%2FSNF1qHh0SihKUnYattmX6vAHdRfkaVwCWtdFRvHbnu2yNf0iYDOAcmooebMKNNp%2B%2B9Ml1srMI%2B7AKlW%2FgX%2Fyt%2Bl","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Includes the best of the Howdunit crime series as well as 13 new chapters on key topics such as street gangs, the drug trade, terrorism, and forensics.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date

November 20, 2000
Dimensions

6 x 0.85 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1582975280
ISBN-13

978-1582975283
See all details

Frequently bought together

$9.04

Get it as soon as Thursday, Sep 14

Only 3 left in stock - order soon.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Amateur Detectives: A Writer's Guide to How Private Citizens Solve Criminal Cases (Howdunit)

$18.32

Get it as soon as Saturday, Sep 16

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Sold by FindAnyBook and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.

+

Missing Persons: A Writer's Guide to Finding the Lost, the Abducted and the Escaped (Howdunit Series)

$13.71

Get it as soon as Thursday, Sep 14

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Sold by Siegred's Books and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

Lowest Pricein this set of productsThis item:
John Boertlein
18
Paperback
$9.04
Most purchased | Highest ratedin this set of products
Serita Deborah Stevens
144
Paperback
$18.00
Elaine Raco Chase
37
Paperback
$18.32

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Publishing Group (November 20, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1582975280
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1582975283
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.85 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,658,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,052 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
- #13,094 in Criminology (Books)
- #32,290 in True Crime (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 18 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

18 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Brenda Thatcher

Soo helpful

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a necessary book for anyone who has the slightest inclination to include a criminal act in their novels. Simply because doing so assumes there will be someone to catch the offenders. We need to know how how that takes place, in something more than TVland

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Debra Bellink

Want to commit a crime? find out how you'll be caught! purchased @amazon.com

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2011

Verified Purchase

'Howdunit' is the consumate crime writers dictionary.
It is incredibly usefull whether you write from your criminals point of view, or the view of law enforcement.
Gives all but the story and dialogue. Chock full of ways to committ and, or solve.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Vik Capella

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

I just started reading this book, it seems to be written well and has a lot of information.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Excellent Beginning Resource

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2002

I have been purchasing the entire HowDunnit Series from Writer's Digest. I have been for the mostpart, impressed with how in depth each book is. This a good synposis of the series in one volume. My disappointment came mainly from the section on Autopsies. I wanted there to be more from the book it was exerpted from. Also, I would love to see the book "Police Procedural" come back into print. I would recommend it to anyone who is writing fiction about cops, detectives and forensic professionals.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

S. Crudup

Informative

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2002

"Howdunit" is an exceptional tool for the mystery and suspense writer. The information on investigative procedure, profiling, forensic psychology and so on, will assist the fiction writer with the reference material needed to make his or her story factual. It is imperative for the screenwriter or novelist not to just brilliantly structure a story but to add "realism" in his or her craft. Howdunit has helped me to affix genuineness to my storytelling by presenting the pure facts about crime, law enforcement techniques and the criminal justice system. I personally enjoyed the segment on the con. Howdunit provides a concise glimpse of the con's master art. This makes for good drama within the novel and screenplay. (It will also help you to spot one in real life!) I firmly recommend "Howdunit" and the complete "Howdunit" series for the writer who is serious about producing quality material. Excellent choice of books. Kudos!!

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

FictionAddiction.NET

A Guide for Every Genre Writer

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2001

Does your novel contain a crime? Surveillance? Child molesters? From terrorists to street gangs, "Howdunit: How Crimes Are Committed and Solved" has complete, accurate police techniques and procedures for writers of every genre.
This guide is a master compilation of the Howdunit crime reference series. You'll find 29 chapters, 20 from 14 volumes and nine brand new chapters.
Begin your own fictional investigation into these sample chapters:
* An Overview of Murder
* How the Body is Handled
* The Autopsy
* Crime Tools Guide
* Crime Scene Search
* Interviews and Interrogations
* Profiling the Criminal
* Prostitution
* Tailing
Instead of spending all of your time interviewing police officials, simply add this book to your reference library. Everything you need to add realism to your novel is contained in one volume.
Passing on this book would simply be a crime.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

Barbara E. Pugh, Ph.D.

Everything you want to know about crime... and more!

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2001

Howdonit is one of a series of books for the serious mystery writer. The book outlines mayhem, police investigation procedures, and anything a budding - or experienced - mystery writer may need to know to make a story authentic. There is nothing worse than reading, or worse yet, writing, a story which has a clever plot, good characterization, but is faulty as far as procedure goes. With this book as a guide your stories will do justice to your writing abilities and your ability to research your topic.
Barbara E. Pugh, Ph.D.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Andrew Zimmerman Jones

Fabulous Resource for Crime Writers

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2001

I recently wrote a story involving a police detective, and got numerous comments from my writer's group that there were factual errors about how he went about solving the case. Having read this book, I found almost all of those problems and was able to make the story much more realistic. The chapters on Forensice Psychology, Criminal Profiling, and "Bizarre Murders" provide much more than the "just the facts" approach I was expecting from the book. I highly recommend it to anyone who considers having a crime, a criminal, or a cop in one of their stories.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Interesting, but basic.

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2001

While Howdunit provides good, accurate information on police procedure, including chapters on forensics, weapons and the tangled legal system, its information is, at the best, very basic. As an avid reader of mysteries and thrillers, as well as an occasional writer, I found that I was already familiar with the vast majority of entries. I would recommend this title for the first-time writer of crime fiction, especially those whose reading tastes runs to different genres, but if you've already cut your teeth on authors like Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Dennis Lehane or others, save your money.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful