Samantha checks out Pinkerton & Scotland Yard

So, I finally found a good way to read non-fiction - or rather, a way that suits me. Often I get into a topic and want to read several books about that, than I go on to the next. So, themed threads on this group seemed the best way to do this.

So, I just read Simon Said by Sarah Shaber, a mystery that involves a murder that's about 70 years old (at time of writing, 1997). At the time of the murder, 1926, it was written up as a disappearance and the Pinkerton Detective Agency got involved. Couple that with my recent addiction to the new Sherlock series by the BBC, with Scotland Yard in a prominent role, and you've got my latest obsession. Pinkerton Detective Agency & Scotland Yard. (The Americans vs. the Britsh *wink*)

I've found a couple of rather old books about Scotland Yard that look interesting:

From Inside Scotland Yard by Sir Harold Scott and Philippa Pearce (1965)
Triumphs of Scotland Yard by Leonard Gribble (1955)
The True Book About Scotland Yard by Leonard Gribble (1957)

But I'm not sure I can get my hands on them, I'll have to check the Interlibrary Loan System.

My library does have Scotland Yard by Richard Harrison, also rather old with its publishing date of 1950. Newer books about Scotland Yard are in short supply, it seems. Maybe my ILS search will turn up something.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency, well, that's even harder than Scotland Yard. My library doesn't have any books about them. Once again, I hope my search in the ILS will turn something up.

I know I can search LT for books, but any titles that turn up I would have to buy if they are not in the ILS, so that's a last resort.

My ILS search turned up quite a lot regarding Scotland Yard, including some more recent books. I've made a selection of different kind of books, as well as older and more recent ones.

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard: The Inside Story by Stanley Firmin (1948)
The Sharp End by Frank Cater & Tom Tullett (1998)
The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard by Martin Fido (1999)
The Scotland Yard Files by Keith Skinner (2006)
Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard by H. Paul Jeffers (1992)

The Pinkerton Detective Agency is still a problem. I'm going to have to search LJ and then see if any of those books are easily available.

ETA:

I've found three books that sound good, but none of them are in any of the libraries I have access to. I'll have to find out of they are any good before I decide to buy them. Or maybe after I'm through with Scotland Yard I'll find another obsession.

The Eye That Never Sleeps by Frank Morn
The Pinkertons by James D. Horan
Allan Pinkerton: The First Private Eye by James MacKay

1: So, I finally found a good way to read non-fiction - or rather, a way that suits me. Often I get into a topic and want to read several books about that, than I go on to the next. So, themed threads on this group seemed the best way to do this.
Good idea! I've been vaguely thinking of something similar (annual list in the 75ers, themed lists here), so I'll be interested in observing your progress.