The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating, by Steven Kerry Brown (Alpha, 384 pages, $18.95 softcover)

Brown, an experienced professional PI, urges that this book really could guide the reader into a career. But its greatest charm -- and I suspect its main utility -- is as a truly entertaining, briskly presented, rundown on how the business is conducted. Or at least how it is done by Brown. One of the 24 topical chapters: "Moving Surveillance: How best to perform one-man and two-man moving surveillances, anticipating your subject's next move, communication between units, and dealing with stoplights." The others involve public-records checking, access to ostensibly confidential information, electronic devices and their use, tracing missing or elusive persons. Any armchair gumshoe will find the details entertaining -- sometimes debatable, often provocative.