The biggest (and best) section of this book talks about state and federal weapon regulations. It talks about concealed fire arms as well. It was very interesting to read the different laws per state, and especially interesting to read about my own state. I really have learned a lot about the gun regulations. This section really makes up for the slow beginning of the book.

A chapter that can summarize the first intention of the book is the one called "Resume of an amateur detective" (Chapter 3). However, it is very superficial and it won't provide any more information about creating your own amateur sleuth than you may be able to find elsewhere or come up with from your own writer's imagination, AFTER you have done the required and fruitful reading. There is also a chapter with lots of internet resources but, unless they are very general (such as the Library of Congress or the White House), it becomes invariably outdated (this also applies for the chapter on laws of the United States which change, at least, every year). I think nowadays most writers would be capable of using a search engine and find whatever it is they are looking for on the internet and more.

In addition, the book has a distracting number of typos and spelling errors; for example, the authors--or editors--can't seem to decide whether Frederic Brown's first name should have a "k" at the end or not, so they spell it both ways at various points in the book.

IMHO, the book's best use is as a reading guide to amateur detective novels--but check it out of the library if you want to use it for that.