John Dee

According to Law: A Detective's Memoir John Dee

Since he was ten years old, he wanted to join the police service more than anything. But those in authority, as well as friends, said it was a bad idea and having left school with insufficient qualifications, his chances of a police career didn't look promising.

His one hope was to pass the national entrance exam. If only it had been that simple. As well as having an issue with self-confidence plus an ever-present threat of sight loss in one eye, the odds were overwhelmingly against him.

According to Law, the final three words of the Police Oath of office, is the tale of how a 1950s schoolboy with a seemingly hopeless ambition, later progressed through personal discipline to achieve his goal of becoming a policeman and subsequently an experienced detective.

His take on investigations into drug dealing, professional burglaries, armed robbery and ultimately state terrorism, provides a fascinating insight into three decades of crime and policing from the late sixties through to the early noughties. John's story is sometimes moving, often hilarious, always entertaining.