"Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis" by Brent Turvey

Overall, the book comes across as a (relatively expensive) student-friendly textbook (and indeed the book itself probably came - at least partly - out of a Turvey’s desire to provide a textbook for students taking his own course in offender profiling). This book will not turn the reader into an instant profiler, but it arguably does provide more information on how profiles can be constructed from crime scene evidence than most other publications. For academics and students alike the book also benefits from having a good index and glossary. Turvey succeeds in bringing together a range of information relating to profiling in a useful, accessible and readable way. He has also included interesting chapters on topics not usually seen in the offender profiling literature. The chapter on criminal behaviour on the internet stands out in this regard. Ultimately though, this is not the definitive book on profiling and neither - it must be said - is it the best of the books currently available (though it arguably is the best if you’re just interested in the American situation). That said, it does have much to commend it and future writers on the subject would be well advised to study closely its many good features.