NOTHING TO LOSE: The new “Jack Reacher” novel

January 23rd, 2008

The new book is coming out on the 24th of March 2008 in the uk. What’s it about, i hear you ask?

“Two small towns in the middle of nowhere: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can’t find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge, and an order to move on.

They’re picking on the wrong guy.

Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except bloody-minded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide?

With just one ally ”a mysterious woman cop from Hope” and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: who has the edge “a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose?”

I can’t wait to read it.

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Chasing Solicitors and Detectives Agencies for Debts

January 7th, 2008

Well it’s the new year and I’m spending the whole day chasing solicitors and other PI’s for money that they owe me. Some of these debts are very old. One solicitor has owed me for the last six months and its only for a smallish amount. Everyone has the same excuse, “I haven’t been paid by my Client yet” and I understand the issues here but at the same time it’s not really my problem whether their client has paid them or not.

A colleague from a well known process services agency emailed me a small paragraph that appears to work with Solicitors, “We respectfully remind clients that any legal practice who refuses to pay until they are in credit from their client / Legal Aid Commission shall be in breach of “Practice Rule 1(d) referred to in the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors 1999 (8th Edition)” governed by the Law Society.”

I don’t really know what will work with my esteemed colleagues in the PI world but be warned, I will no longer be a soft touch and have retained a Debt Collection Agency, CRED-X to deal with outstanding invoices.

It’s a sad fact these days that you sometimes have to chase people for money that they owe you but I didn’t think that this problem would hit me worse with my own colleagues in the PI field.

Well that’s my rant over.

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Jorge Salgado-Reyes – Private Investigator

January 6th, 2008

Magnum – P.I., Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes, Simon Templar, Crocket, Vincent.

Of the fictional PI’s that I’ve watched in my (sometimes) misspent youth, the character that has had the greatest impact on me was Rick Deckard from the Hollywood movie BladeRunner. Especially the part were he is looking in a newspaper for a job and the voice over says “They don’t advertise for killers in the newspaper. That was my profession. Ex-cop. Ex-blade runner. Ex-killer.”

The impression that most people have of PI’s is very much what they see in the American movies. AS we all know, the reality is a whole lot different. For starters I don’t drive around in a white Ferrari and I don’t carry a gun or any other weapon.

The investigations are, for the most part routine and tend to consist of lots of process serving, tracing down people who are lost (for one reason or another) and spying on people’s partners.

For me the most exciting types of investigations are the commercial and retail frauds where I get to gather evidence about employees and once gathered i get to interview them. It is satisfying to obtain a confession as a culmination of several months work.

So remember the next time you meet me, don’t expect me to show up to the meeting in a white Ferrari wearing a mac.

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Prohibited Steps Order on a Friday night

January 5th, 2008

There I was getting ready for a nice Friday night when the telephone rings at five to five in the afternoon. A barrister, no less on the other end of the phone. Wants to know if it’s possible to serve a court order on the hurry tonight, before 9pm?

“yes” I tell him, “no problem” one of my Process Servers will do it.

So at 8pm I am in the middle of the east end knocking on someone’s door and would you believe it, there’s no one home. I’ll have to go back tomorrow!

But why are these Court Orders always obtained on a Friday afternoon and why do they always have to be served on the hurry? What’s wrong with Tuesday or Wednesday?

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