Crime Scene Investigators

Ten True Tales

by Allan Zullo

Book by Allan Zullo

Genres: Short Stories, Nonfiction, Mystery, Middle Grade, History, True Crime

149 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Allan Zullo is an American non-fiction writer. He is the author or co-author of more than eighty paperbacks for adults and children.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Zullo graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1969 with a degree in journalism. His books include The Baseball Hall of Shame and Baseball Confidential (both co-written with Bruce Nash), A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting (co-written with his wife Kathryn), and the Haunted Kids series. Zullo has also written articles for The National Enquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, Ladies Home Journal, and The Palm Beach Post. His syndicated comic strip "The Ghost Story Club" ran in American newspapers from 1995 to 1998.

Zullo currently lives in Fairview, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Trevor Fletcher]

Personal Response
The book Crime Scene Investigators was a great book. I liked how the author had the story with multiple detectives in different areas in the US.

Plot
The book was about a couple of different detectives throughout the US. The book was about crime scenes all around the US and the detectives worked to find clues to solve each case. One of the cases was about a little kid getting kidnapped. The kid was abducted by a man who tricked him by befriending him on the internet. The kidnapper tricked the kid into meeting him. The book described the techniques the detectives used to solve crimes. Some of the techniques were fingerprinting and DNA testing. It was interesting to read about the different ways the detectives found DNA. One of the stories in the book was about a missing pizza delivery girl. The police found her cell phone in the ditch of the house where she was supposed to deliver pizza. The police talked to the neighbor. The neighbor gave them information about the man who ordered the pizza. When they questioned the man, he confessed to killing her and dumping her body in a field.

Characterization
There was no main character for this book because there were 10 different stories. The main character of the story about the missing pizza delivery girl was the lead detective, Michelle. She worked hard to solve the case and never gave up. Brandi was the pizza delivery girl. She had only worked at the pizza place for a few weeks before she disappeared. She was a good employee.

Settings
The book contained many different settings throughout the country. All of the settings were crime scenes in modern times. I know it was modern times because of the technology used to solve each crime.The setting of the pizza delivery case was at night on a dark country road. The setting of the story about the pizza delivery girl was rural. It is important to this story because when the man attacked her there was nobody around to hear her scream for help.

Thematic Connection
One theme of this book was that a person should always be aware of his or her surroundings. Many of the crime victims put themselves in situations that caused them to be vulnerable to criminals. Another theme was to never give up. The detectives worked against difficult odds to solve the crimes without giving up.

Recommendation
I recommend this book to both males and females who are interested in criminal justice. I recommend this book to anyone older than 14 because some of the words would be a bit of a struggle for younger kids to read. It would not be appropriate for younger kids to read this book because of the graphic content.

[Fabian Duran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because I was reading about how all the investigator's found the criminal just by the clues and stuff like that from the crime scene and it all interested me. I wonder who came up with all the tools to figure out the DNA of a person just from a finger print. I recommend this book if you like mysteries

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Trevor Flease · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response
This book always had me thinking what I would do in this type of situation. I did not want to put the book down because of the suspense of what was going to happen next. I could really connect to the book because of what I want to do for a job in the future. I would like to be the one who brings criminals to justice.

Plot
The police received a call from a pizza delivery service that one of their delivery girls had gone missing. They gave the address of the house she was headed too and went to check it out. When they arrived at the scene they found a cell phone in the ditch that belonged to the girl. The officers tried to use that information to track her down but could not get much out of it. They went to a neighbor's house to find out more. The neighbors gave them helpful hints about a house where the guy who ordered the pizza was living. When they arrived at the the house they found the guy inside but not the girl. He said he took the girl out into a field and killed her so she would not turn him in. He was then put in prison for life.

Characterization
Michelle, the investigator during the case, was trying her hardest to solve the case as soon as possible. In the beginning she tried to do it by herself but realized it was a bigger case, and she needed some more help. Brandi, the pizza delivery girl, started the job a couple weeks before the murder occurred. She was already the best worker for her company. In the end that did not stop the man from killing her.

Impact of Setting
The girl was already setting herself up for trouble, delivering a pizza late at night deep into the country. This story takes place in more of a modern time than the other ones. The technology they use to track down the criminal is way more advanced than in previous stories. The man had been drinking before she arrived and was not all there. He thought that she was being unfriendly to him. She could not scream for help because no one was around. The man then took her in a field and killed her.

Audience/Recommendation
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. It always kept me alert and thinking. I think kids in their teenage years would get the most out of this book. In this instance it shows different strategies I should use if I have this type of job.

[Brandon Bastar]

Personal Response
I liked the book Crime Scene Investigators by Allan Zullo. It was a very interesting book, and it gave good detail in each of its stories.

Plot
The book, Crime Scene Investigators, was a very well written book. This book was very descriptive and showed most of the procedures that the police would go through when investigating a crime scene. They could pull fingerprints off of anything no matter how long ago they were left there. They could pick up somebody's DNA off the craziest things. There were thousands of different ways murderers or thiefs could be found. The book showed me that if there was a crime scene and someone was found dead, that the murderer will for sure be found eventually. There was one crime scene that showed me that they can find DNA off almost anything. They found a cigarette butt in the street in front of the house of the scene, which later led to finding the murderer.

Characterization
The narrator was the main character in the book. Each chapter was a different story. In one story, there was a girl named Sarah who was murdered by her crazy ex boyfriend and was dumped into the river where they lived.
Matt was Sarah’s crazy ex boyfriend who murdered her. He was not very smart and left hundreds of clues that led the crime scene back to him.


Setting
The setting of this book took place in many different places because each chapter was a different story. In Sarah’s story, it took place around 2 A.M. on a cold, summer night in New York City where they found her body.

Recommendations
I would recommend this book for someone who is looking for a easy interesting book to read. I would recommend this book for boys and girls ages 10 and up, mostly because of the information this book has in it.

[Haley Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was very good

[Vania Lizeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, I put to the book 5 stars because it deserves them, the book has 10 tales about real crime scenes but it changes the names of the real persons that were in the crime scenes idk why did tehy did that but i think that is because of the person's personal life. I also liked how the investigators found the criminal because of a very phew clues, it was amazing how they can found criminals or murders by just seeing a pipe, a ring, a rope, etc...

The book made me think what I would do and what would i not do if i was in the situation of a criminal or murder, hahaha. It is very interesting and I was very focused in every detail when a criminal or murder left something or an object in the crime scene. And I was very amazed with the machines that are invented nowdays, like, how can people make a DNA test, or how can people know from the age to the gender by Just Seeing it's TEETH!

[Aiden Bruns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the book “10 True Tales Crime Scene Investigators” The book starts with a story called “The Case of the Three-Time Loser’’ which is about a detective named Paula Hammond trying to find the culprit of a murder of a husband named Joseph. Which we found out it was Godby. Then there is a story called “The Case of the Floating Corpse” which is about, you guessed it, a floating corpse. We later find out the culprit was Ben Helton. There is finally the final story, “The Case of the Body in The Barrel.” Which is about a barrel that was found filled with bones. We found out that the name was Lori Anderson of the bones and the culprit was Tom Anderson. My favorite story in this book would be the body in the barrel. I would recommend this book because it gives a lot of people a feeling of suspense when reading this and it gives a lot of entertaining mysteries.

[Nichole]

This would be better as a "inspired by true stories." It does make clear in the introduction that they've changed names and created dialogue... but since all names are changed, you can't even look it up to learn more or see how accurate/ inaccurate the portrayals are and that just bothers me.

Also, the dialogue was so stilted and unnatural. I didn't feel like I needed to read the rest to get a feel for it and be able to suggest it to the students who will, in fact, love it. No need to stick around. Too many other great books out there.

[KendallGoosen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Informational. Book is to graphic for elementary Students.

[Kian Moe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of dark... but interesting!

[Jojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writer, the stories were beautifuly written. The stories were to the point, and sadly with no twist. This author has made me a crime enthusiast.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for teens interested in criminal cases and forensics.

[Bri Weas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was too gruesome to be a kid's book.

[Anay Chavez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but not the best

[Lucy Kabotoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. All of the cases were very interesting, and the writing was good. As a crime junkie this was good

[Lucas Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is quite sad that all of these are real, but on the bright side the criminals got caught. If you like true crime or anything about murders I recommend this book to you.

[American Mensa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allan Zullo’s 10 True Tales: Crime Scene Investigations is essentially a brief overview of different murders and gives a breakdown of the language utilized during actual investigations. Each chapter is a new case told with the lead investigator as the main character. I didn’t particularly like reading this since this book is meant for a younger audience, maybe kids between ages 7-12 (it’s a medium level chapter book, but the content is a little more mature). It’s definitely a book for a crime scene enthusiast and it’s simply written to suit younger readers. The details are not horrifically intense, but rather mention just enough to give the overall vibe of the crime committed. For me, it was a little too explanatory about the terminology and not enough about the criminals, the investigators, and the deceased- but for a young novice entering the world of mystery and thrillers, I think it would be a good read.
Review by Siddharth T., age 15, North Jersey Mensa

[Jessica Kinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of 10 fact filled stories of crimes, murders, kidnappings, and break ins. My personal favorite was "The case of the missing pizza delivery girl". Why? Because it shows how the murderer was felling. Read 10 true tales to find lots of cool and true tales!!!!

[Claire Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quarter Read: 4
Genre: Nonfiction

[Robert Killebrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok...enjoyed some stories and hated others.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. 10 stories about forensic science helping police detectives to solve crimes, mostly murders.

I needed to read a juvenile nonfiction for my real life Cabin Fever Library Challenge.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that I was checking out to see if it was okay to add to my third grade classroom bookshelf. I think some of the details were a bit too gory for my little ones, but perhaps for 5th grade. It depicts how detectives, with the support of lab analysis are able to prove who committed 10 different murders or robberies. It is non-fiction(ish), as the first chapter admits some of the cases are compilations of multiple cases portrayed as one rather than an actual case.

[Bobbie]

My son loved this book and wants more books like it.