Maximum Security – the inside story of Australia’s tough gaols
Published by: Pan Macmillan Australia
Author: James Morton
November 2011, S/B; Aus$34.99
ISBN: 9781742610375
The First Detective – the life and revolutionary times of Vidocq, criminal, spy and private eye
Published by: Overlook Press
Author: James Morton
November 2011, H/B; $27.95
ISBN: 9781590206386
In addition to being one of the most prolific writers on crime and criminal punishment in the UK, James Morton is also one of the wittiest and most urbane. A former criminal law solicitor, he practised in London during the height of 1960s gangland warfare as typified, symbolised and often lionised by the activities of Ronnie and Reggie Kray. He then spent many years at the helm of the UK’s weekly legal magazine, the New Law Journal, and under his editorship the publication was never more readable and entertaining, nor has it been since his departure.
Now raconteur Morton is taking his talents to the ‘new’ worlds of America and Australia, but in very different contexts. Mr Morton has had a string of bestsellers Down Under – such as Gangland Australia -- and his latest effort arguably cuts to the heart of the country’s ignoble origins as a British penal colony.
However, the author is not interested in belabouring those old stories – used so often by the English to patronise Australians – but instead focuses on 20th-century history, during most of which time the country has been responsible for its own destiny and penal policy.
Maximum Security – the title comes from the toughest classification in the Australian prison system – looks at the infamous criminals, gang wars, riots, corruption, great escapes, bashings and murders for which these hard-men gaols have become notorious.
On the face of its cover, The First Detective is a completely different matter. Firstly the book was originally published in the UK in 2004, but it is just now getting a run out in America. Secondly, in contrast to the rough-and-tumble world of hard-bitten Aussie crims, this book is an entertaining tale of the life and times of the quasi-sophisticated 18th-19th-century French fraudster, Eugene-Francois Vidocq.
Having started life as a criminal and prison escapee, Vidocq’s career path took many turns – from police officer who employed criminal gangs as his subordinates, to the inventor of forensic techniques that are still used today. If ever there were a story crying out for a Hollywood treatment, Vidocq’s caviller march through European society is surely it – as Mr Morton would probably be the first to agree.
Published by: Pan Macmillan Australia
Author: James Morton
November 2011, S/B; Aus$34.99
ISBN: 9781742610375
The First Detective – the life and revolutionary times of Vidocq, criminal, spy and private eye
Published by: Overlook Press
Author: James Morton
November 2011, H/B; $27.95
ISBN: 9781590206386
In addition to being one of the most prolific writers on crime and criminal punishment in the UK, James Morton is also one of the wittiest and most urbane. A former criminal law solicitor, he practised in London during the height of 1960s gangland warfare as typified, symbolised and often lionised by the activities of Ronnie and Reggie Kray. He then spent many years at the helm of the UK’s weekly legal magazine, the New Law Journal, and under his editorship the publication was never more readable and entertaining, nor has it been since his departure.
Now raconteur Morton is taking his talents to the ‘new’ worlds of America and Australia, but in very different contexts. Mr Morton has had a string of bestsellers Down Under – such as Gangland Australia -- and his latest effort arguably cuts to the heart of the country’s ignoble origins as a British penal colony.
However, the author is not interested in belabouring those old stories – used so often by the English to patronise Australians – but instead focuses on 20th-century history, during most of which time the country has been responsible for its own destiny and penal policy.
Maximum Security – the title comes from the toughest classification in the Australian prison system – looks at the infamous criminals, gang wars, riots, corruption, great escapes, bashings and murders for which these hard-men gaols have become notorious.
On the face of its cover, The First Detective is a completely different matter. Firstly the book was originally published in the UK in 2004, but it is just now getting a run out in America. Secondly, in contrast to the rough-and-tumble world of hard-bitten Aussie crims, this book is an entertaining tale of the life and times of the quasi-sophisticated 18th-19th-century French fraudster, Eugene-Francois Vidocq.
Having started life as a criminal and prison escapee, Vidocq’s career path took many turns – from police officer who employed criminal gangs as his subordinates, to the inventor of forensic techniques that are still used today. If ever there were a story crying out for a Hollywood treatment, Vidocq’s caviller march through European society is surely it – as Mr Morton would probably be the first to agree.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
