The Real Manhunter Casebook

by Colin Sutton

The Real Manhunter Casebook is the captivating accompaniment to hit Sky Crime TV series The Real Manhunter, chronicling 12 of the most complex cases that former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton worked on throughout his career.

Colin Sutton is widely acknowledged as the most eminent Metropolitan Police detective of the last thirty years. His career was diverse, from a uniformed inspector to murder squad detective and eventually Detective Chief Inspector and it was the latter role that brought him to the public attention when he led the teams that caught serial killer Levi Bellfield and ‘Night Stalker’ Delroy Grant, cases which inspired the hit ITV dramas Manhunt, starring Martin Clunes.

In this book, Sutton gives readers a glimpse into the life of a top tier police detective and revisits some of the other cases he led throughout his career, all against a backdrop of his own life. He goes into great detail about the investigations, starting from the moment the call came in right through to bringing the cases to trial, and all whilst having to deal with the pressures of being at the top.

This is his story, these are his cases.

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2025

Reviews

[H Buddery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Colin Sutton anyway, so I knew I was never going to be disappointed in this book. I appreciated the short chapters that cover an entire case that cleverly provide a great insight into the incident and following investigation and prosecution, without being overly detailed, which could be too much for some readers. Unfortunately the editing wasn't great so there were quite a lot of repetition but this didn't spoil the read, I just looked over it.

I can't wait to read his other two books about Levi Belfield and Delroy Grant.

We saw Colin Sutton's live show last year, The Making of a Murderer 2 and if you find true crime interesting, you absolutely should book tickets if you get the chance.

[Alan Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book simply because I’ve read his others and have met Colin and talked with him. A nice guy without a side to him.
In my opinion if you want to read about Colin at his best read his other two books about his biggest cases. This felt like the last part of a 3 part deal for me. Interesting but not the quality of the others

[Jill Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

First… I didn’t realize that this was a tv series. I just thought it looked interesting. And it was.
Not sensationalized, no criminals I’d ever heard of… just some good stories about good police work and some thoughts about the tragedies that are perpetrated on normal people. Very sensitively done.
I’d like to see the shows.

[Rik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more 3 stars but i'm a fan so 4 stars is my bias. If you've seen the series then there's nothing new here but essentially Sutton takes several of his lesser known cases and gives them a chapter each to summarize them in a reasonable amount of detail considering how short the book is. That's it, plain and simple. Passed a slow day at work.

[Ste Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book however I listened to the audiobook and the narration is quite poor.