The Investigator's Mind

What separates a good investigator from a great one? It isn't a trick, a technique, or the ability to pressure someone into talking. It's judgment.

Drawing on more than twenty years with the New York City Police Department, culminating in his role as a Detective Squad Commander, George N. Astras takes readers inside the mindset behind effective investigations and interviews.

The Investigator's Mind is a practical, experience-driven guide to asking better questions, recognizing assumptions, evaluating statements against evidence, and following the facts-even when they lead somewhere unexpected.

Through real-world lessons and investigative principles, readers will learn how to approach interviews with victims, witnesses, suspects, children, professionals, and people in crisis; recognize potential indicators of deception without relying on myths or shortcuts; test confessions against independent evidence; and review investigations with patience, fairness, and discipline.

Written for law enforcement officers, detectives, private investigators, security professionals, criminal justice students, supervisors, and anyone fascinated by the investigative process, The Investigator's Mind emphasizes one principle above all:

A good investigator asks questions. A better investigator listens.