Welcome to the world of urban police legend and lore. Homicidal Humor offers a glimpse of life through the eyes of a homicide detective, whose ability to see the funnier side of tragedy has helped keep him sane. These fictional short stories, inspired by real cops and real cases, are set in areas along the Texas Gulf Coast and include historical facts and interesting tidbits about the city of Houston and its police department. All individuals, as well as locations alluded to, are fictitious. You might say the names have been changed to protect the imbeciles. See what fans think about Homicidal Humor: "Funny and enlightening, but the author may have to change his name and leave the state once this publication hits the streets." --The Hon. Judge R. H. Bielstein, Richmond/Fort Bend County, Texas "An old cop's book. Rough and unvarnished. Fast-moving and very entertaining." --Breck Porter, Editor, Galveston County Police News "I usually don't think things are funny unless someone gets killed, maimed, or at least highly inconvenienced. I truly enjoyed this book." --Sgt. M. D. Beale, Houston Robbery (ret.) An excerpt from Homicidal Humor: Both the police and the district attorney's office in Houston understand that "there are some folks out there that just need killing." These shootings are referred to locally by many investigators as either urban renewal or predator control cases. When it comes to urban renewal shootings, Fort Worth and Houston share a similar perspective. The good citizens of Tarrant County support their law enforcement to the hilt. Many rural counties in Texas literally do not have the necessary funds to prosecute cases. Their position (though they will never openly admit it) is that they do not want to pay for an autopsy, much less the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against victims not from their jurisdiction. A capital murder case in Texas can cost taxpayers up to one million dollars from conviction through to the appeals process. An example of such a mindset comes from down near the Mexican border, where one Houston investigator's father was the foreman on a large south Texas gas pipeline project. In that region of Texas sat one particularly huge ranch where illegals frequently crossed to enter Texas from Mexico. This ranch had its own full-time security force, staffed by personnel-most of whom were former Army Rangers-who drove four-wheel drive vehicles to patrol the premises. Many of these security personnel were born on that land. Their roots often went back multiple generations on that particular ranch. Their parents and possibly their great-grandparents may have been buried in the ranch cemetery. During the pipeline construction project, human skeletal remains were discovered on an almost daily basis, and construction would have to stop. The sheriff's department and a justice of the peace were called out. The local authorities would walk around for a bit, kick a few rocks and proclaim the remains to be "old Indian bones." They would then gather up the bones in question and direct the construction operations to continue. One thing continued to strike the construction crew chief as odd, though. It bothered him that some of those old Indians were still wearing remnants of blue jeans and some had gold or silver fillings in their teeth. The sheriff's department in that particular county is highly acclaimed and supported by the local residents. Whenever a homeowner or rancher was forced to shoot someone, the deputies were known to be very community oriented. The County Mounties (as they are called) are so thoughtful that they will literally drag a body to any location you'd like prior to the taking of crime scene photographs. The most human side of life is evident in homicide investigations, and if you don't get personally involved, it can be darned entertaining as well.