Talk about murder! Inaccurate information about weapons can kill your story before a potential publisher has even finished reading your manuscript. Today’s readers of mysteries, thrillers, Westerns, true crime, police procedurals, and romantic suspense are better informed about weapons than ever before. If you think you can slip one past these readers, you’re wrong. Dead wrong. You don’t have to be a gun buff to need this book. If you care enough about your readers and your craft to strive for accuracy, then this book is your comprehensive source for information on: • The characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of hundreds of weapons • Which weapons were available during each period of history, including their wars • Weapons favored by various types of criminals and terrorists • Weapons used by law enforcement • Weapons used for hunting You’ll also find a glossary of weapon-related terms and a series of appendices including: • A selective chronology of firearms development • Comparative handgun identification information • Comparative trajectories of rifle cartridges In the past, this kind of information was attainable only through hours of digging. Now it’s available at your fingertips in one handy guide. Make sure your story is accurate—refer to Armed & Dangerous! “Clear, well-written and hugely useful--I rate it a 10 with a bullet! Whether you write crime fiction or just need a few realistic details about a gun for any type of book, this is an indispensable guide. ” —Susan Burnham “aids in avoiding those embarrassing historical and descriptive gaffes regarding firearms and explosives. ” —School Library Journal “If you're one of those scribes who believes that killing machines are better left on the printed page, this [book] will prove invaluable in giving your Glocks, dum-dum rounds, and spookily-named Hotchkiss guns the unmistakable ring of authority. ” —Amazon. com review Amazon. com Review "... you will simply have to make your peace with guns. Case closed. " No, these are not the words of an NRA apologist attacking some common-sense legislation, rather they're found in the introduction of Michael Newton's authoritative guidebook on guns, bombs, and all manner of things that go "boom"--and alter events in stories. If you're one of those scribes who believes that killing machines are better left on the printed page, this entry in Writer's Digest's Howdunit series will prove invaluable in giving your Glocks, dum-dum rounds, and spookily-named Hotchkiss guns the unmistakable ring of authority. Bang bang. From School Library Journal YA-- For budding writers, particularly those who have ambitions in the mys- tery genre, these two books will be useful starting points. Armed and Dangerous aids in avoiding those embarassing historical and descriptive gaffes regarding firearms and explosives. It will be a frustration, however, for writers who need information on a specific gun and its associated effects, although the appendixes on ballistics information and rifle trajectories are some help. Deadly Doses , on the other hand, is a paradise for domestic, impulsive criminals and manipulative writers. The index leads quickly to a specific poison and the entry gives all its names, toxicity, the forms in which it is found, information on how to administer it, the effects and symptoms, reaction time, and some notes. Two quibbles are the lack of a distinctive typeset to indicate the beginnings of entries (they all tend to run together) and a lack of cross-references in the index. Using the wonderful appendixes will allow writers to match plot restrictions in "Methods of Administration," "Form," "Symptoms," "Time in Which They React," or "Toxicity. " It's enough to give anyone that Agatha Christie urge. --Cathy Chauvette, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.