• Armes, J. J., and Frederick Nolan,
  J.J. Armes, Investigator: The World's Most Successful Private Eye., Buy this book
  New York: Macmillan,1976.
  Autobiography of the amazing Texas P.I., Jay J. Armes, who's still going strong.
  
  
• Blye, Irwin, and Ardy Friedberg,
  Secrets of a Private Eye: How To Be Your Own Private Investigator
  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1987.
  How-to guide and advice, mixed in with anecdotes about New York eye, Blye, whose biography Blye, Private Eye (1976) was a seminal book in this genre.
  .
• Brown, Steven Kerry,
  The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating ..Buy this book
  Alpha Books, 2002.
  Written by Steve Brown, a private investigator, and endorsed by peers such as Edmund J. Panka, who wrote the forward, and John Grogan, self-proclaimed "P.I. to the stars," who promises "I will be recommending this book to all my students... (it's) a well-prepared text for all, from beginners through veteran PIs."
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• Burke, James, and Arnold Manweiler
  Confessions of a Private Dick: If It Weren't For the Sex...I'd Have To Get a Job
  Toronto: NC Press, 1984.
  Raunchy, irreverent, crude and rude, Winnipeg, Manitoba private eye Burke takes an anecdotal approach to his life. A refreshing change from the serious tone of some of the other books on this page.
  ..
• Chapman, Duane,
  You Can Run But You Can't Hide .. Buy this book
  New York: Hyperion, 2007.
  TV's bounty hunting "Dog" barks up a storm. Humility is not a problem. Still, if you can get past the constant horn-tooting, this real-life cartoon offers some fascinating -- if self-serving -- insights into the job. And there's no denying that that "the most famous bounty hunter in the world") has had one hell of a ride.Just ask him.
  
  
• Fallis, Greg, and Ruth Greenberg, ed.
  Be Your Own Detective...Buy this book
  New York: M. Evans and Company, 1989; revised second edition1998.
  Interesting, practical, enlightening guidebook. It's recently been updated and expanded. Co-author Fallis also writes private eye short fiction, occasionally featuring series sleuth Joop Wheeler.
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• Greene, Marilyn, and Gary Provost
  Finder: The True Story of a Private Investigator
  New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1988.
  Moving, fascinating autobiography of Greene, whom The Wall Street Journal called "the foremost finder of lost souls." Actually reads better than many novels.
  .
• Maxwell, Colin and Allan Gould
  Child Finder
  Scarborough, Ontario:Prentice-Hall Canada,1989.
  Autobiography of Colin Maxwell, "Canada's most successful tracker of missing children." Appendix includes some good tips on finding and preventing runaways.
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• McDermid, Val
  A Suitable Job for a Woman: Inside the World of Women Private Eyes
  U.K., 1995.
  .
• Pankhurst, William,
  True Detectives: The Real World of Today's P.I.
  New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1989.
  A look at several different real-life eyes.
  .
• Pileggi, Nicholas,
  Blye, Private Eye
  New York: Playboy Press, 1976.
  Seminal work in the real life eye genre, relating the life story of New York gumshoe Irwin Blye, written by Nicholas Pileggi, who went on to future fame and fortune as the author of Wise Guy, which became the basis for the film Good Fellas. Ten years later, Blye himself co-authored a follow-up and how-to guide entitled Secrets of a Private Eye.
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• Sedgewick, John,
  Night Visions: Confessions of Gil Lewis, Private Eye
  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982.
  Well-written look at the exploits of Boston P.I. Gil Lewis.
  .
• Thompson, Josiah,
  Gumshoe: Reflections in a Private Eye
  Boston, Massachusetts, Little Brown and Company, 1988.
  Philosophy professor at Yale and Harvard and lifelong Hammett fan decides to chuck it all and becomes a San Francisco gumshoe. I kid you not.

RELATED LINKS

• True Detectives: Real-Life Eyes Who've Written P.I. Novels