No Good Deed:

This book is quite well-written. I didn't see it on TV, but picked it up at a bookstore. Told from a pro-police point of view, the book covers all angles. The only way to improve it would be to have gotten more insight from the families of the victim and killers. The last few chapters giving the author's experience interviewing some of the key players was a good read.

This isn't a flashy story like so many we see in the media, but one of diligence. The murder of David Stevens was puzzling to the police and devastating to the Stevens family, as he had no dark side, no enemies, nothing that would cause him to be murdered so brutally. The only evidence was a set of palm prints on a mirror. The detectives had theories about what happened to David, and ran down every lead, but the only progress they made was ruling out suspects. The Stevens family felt the murder wasn't a priority, it wasn't solved in a timely manner, and they weren't being kept informed. They soon got caught up in a private detective's fantasy-world hypotheses and went public in their criticism of the police. After three years and nothing new happening, a call came in from a woman who claimed to have information on the murder. The story picks up, and we find out the strange and sad tale of David's last hours. If Ny Nourn had not come forward (for whatever her reasons were), the case may never have been solved, although I believe her involvement was more than what she testified to.

Ex-Cop Tom Basinki's writing in No Good Deed is the non-fiction equal to Michael Connelly's fictional cop procedure books. Basinski and Connelly are the best pros around. If you want to know how real cops work No Good Deed tells it like it is. If you want phony story or cute fictional devices go someplace else. If you are a budding mystery writer No Good Deed is a great primer.

David Stevens was a normal, average nice guy, leading a relatively innocuous life in his new home in California. The 38-year-old single man called himself a "California virgin," since he hadn't been with anyone since his move from Nebraska. And yet, a couple of days before Christmas, his body was found in his burning convertible along a road near La Jolla, outside San Diego. He'd been shot twice in the head. The police had virtually nothing to go on -- who in hell, or on earth, would want this poor man dead? The only hint came in two sets of handprints on the mirror above the victim's bed. One set belonged to David; the other set was a tiny pair of hands. Some time before he died, police theorized, he lost his "California virgin" status, but the female prints were not on file. Whatever happened that night, it seemed, the unfortunate man paid for it with his life. The San Diego PD was stumped. Days turned to weeks, to months, to years... then they finally got the break that justice demanded, which led them to an infernal pair of killers. The story of the investigation of the Stevens case has been featured on A & E's Cold Case Files and is the subject of No Good Deed by author Tom Basinski, himself an experienced homicide detective. I read this book, and it impressed me on two levels: one, the prose and structure of the story kept me flipping pages at a clip; two, the dogged, dreary, and often thankless investigative work by the homicide squad led to a resolution in a case that, by all accounts, should have remained cold. I'd recommend the book for anyone who enjoys true crime, especially the police procedurals.