Murder Served Cold

Even if you don't normally buy hardback books, you might want to put The Murder Room on your list. Or buy it, read it gently and then give it to someone you love for a Christmas present. (What, you've never done that?) This book about the founding of the Vidocq Society and the work they do reads like a piece of historical fiction and the characters are wonderful. (Richard Walter, one of the world's greatest profilers, is a sardonic atheist whose encounter with a pedophile priest opens the book, has a great sense of sound-bite. Asked how sure he is that he's closing in on a killer he says, "If I were the killer, I wouldn't buy any green bananas.")

Read the excerpt from Esquire to whet your appetite.