Good heavens – spare a moment, well, a great many moments to turn the pages of this book … No one got cracked over the head for no reason: Dispatches from a Crime Reporter by Martin Brunt. 

Trespass into the world of crime from the journalist’s eye view. Come with Martin Brunt into a world we might glimpse in newspapers, or watch in snippets on TV. Here, you can  take time to turn a page or two, or three, or, oh come on, let’s stop shilly shallying , you will want to  go the whole hog – all 333 pages. It is fascinating, a world of which we know nothing, not really, which leaves us thinking:  Good grief, heaven’s above. Surely not. Ah, I see. Crikey …

Martin Brunt, who was chief reporter at the Sunday Mirror before moving to Sky in 1989, reveals shocking and harrowing crime he’s covered over the past thirty years, and in doing so introduces us to the life of a crime reporter, and discusses the obsession of the public with crime. Add to this the nature of the relationship between the press and the police, not  forgetting the input of that strange phenomenon  social media, which appears, through witnesses, to inform not just the public, but the crime reporter. One suspects it might also mislead…

Brunt grapples not just with actual crime but with the question: what sort of crime grips the nation, and why is it that others do not? He also considers the damage done to those like Cliff Richard who are mistakenly suspected of sex abuse – such a feast for those eager to chew the cud, cast aspersions, and let’s face it gloat – and others to despair over the salacious acceptance of suspicion as guilt.  Whatever the reason, it ruins lives and careers.

So many questions, revelations, that it’s a must read for all those interested in crime from many angles.

This book is accessible, informative, fascinating and thought provoking.

No One Got Cracked Over The Head For No Reason – Dispatches from a crime reporter by Martin Brunt. HB and e-Book.  Biteback Publishers. Available on Amazon.