Westside Private Investigators Flourish

THEY say cheaters never prosper but the industry set up to catch out those who stray is doing just that.
Sales of spy equipment are reportedly up and one private investigator has found the field so successful - and so colourful - she has written a book about it.

Next month, the westside-based Tiffany Bond, founder of Detection Group. will launch Confessions of a Female Private Investigator, a fictionalised account of her work exposing infidelity and betrayal.
The 35-year-old former police officer, who once caught her now ex-husband cheating, said she found it to be common practice in the western suburbs.

``We’ve got everyone from housewives, business men, cleaners to chief executive officers,’’ she said.

``If this book makes someone think twice about betrayal, or supports them in leaving a relationship, or encourages them to seek help then I have achieved what I set out to do.
Read more here.

Both Men and Women Can Be PIs

If Nancy Drew had grown up, had children and moved to Round Rock, her life would probably resemble Anji Fussell's life.

The former Victoria resident owns her own private investigation business called She Spies Private Eye.

Read more here.

PI Turned Novelist has Great Stories from Being on the Job

Born in California, Castle came to Massachusetts in the summer of 1983 to visit her grandmother while her parents were going through a divorce. She decided to stay and finish high school in New England. At the age of 15, Castle joined an after-school police explorer group for teens and was hooked.

"I learned a lot about what police officers do," said Castle. "I wanted to be a cop."

After high school she earned her associate's degree in criminal justice at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, juggling numerous jobs during the two years.

Castle worked for a retired police officer as a private investigator, primarily following married men to confirm their infidelity, while she held down an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Worcester City Hospital as a security guard, where she did everything from moving bodies in the morgue to restraining belligerent patients.

"When I finished at 7 a.m. I would go home, change my clothes, and go to class," said Castle. "On a good day, I'd get four hours of sleep."

After college, in the late 1980s, Castle joined another private investigation firm, where one of her assignments took her to a local manufacturer, where she was asked to investigate complaints about the human resources director and suspicions that assembly line employees were involved with drugs.

"When I would go into these companies, I would have to get a [legitimate] job," said Castle. She spent six months working a wave solder machine, making circuit boards, and socializing with employees after work at a local pub. Castle said one employee would smuggle a flask of liquor to work and another sold cocaine.

"Understand that I have never done drugs, so not only did I have to befriend [the dealers] and buy drugs, I had to act like I knew what I was talking about," said Castle.