Malicious Intent : A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists and Other Criminals Think (The Howdunit)

Sean P. Mactire

ISBN 10: 0898796482 / ISBN 13: 9780898796483

Published by Writer's Digest Books, 1995

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Malicious Intent : A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists and Other Criminals Think (The Howdunit)
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0898796482
• ISBN 13: 9780898796483
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Writers will learn how to create their own unforgettable villains with the help of this guide to criminal psychology. Mactire, author of Victims of Domestic Violence, explores the fact and fiction of who these people are, why they commit their crimes, how they choose their victims and how people catch them.

Reviews

In the same vein as Keith D. Wilson's Cause of Death (1992) and Anne Wingate's Scene of the Crime (1992), this matter-of-fact book about the criminal mind will be of interest to true-crime aficionados as well as writers. Mactire's "roadmap to the shadow world of the criminal mind" starts off with ancient history (from 1500 B.C.) and moves on to present-day serial and "nonserial" killers and wise guys. The author offers a fascinating discussion on how the creation of a police force changed criminal activity from open assault to cunning and secret operations. He examines the psychology of criminals and the development of profiling (psychological mug shots). In discussing the various types of and motives for crime, Mactire draws examples from the careers of actual criminals. All this fact and history will provide great fodder for writers of fiction and nonfiction. Denise Perry Donavin