Straight from the Pig’s Mouth: The Life and Crimes of a Kiwi Detective

A warts-and-all, often laugh-out-loud funny memoir of policing in New Zealand.

‘This book takes you into the life of a New Zealand police detective. I tell it how it was and spare few details so that you too can see the world through one policeman’s eyes. The stories contained in this book range from the humorous, strange and bizarre to extreme violence and murders. This is the lot of a Kiwi policeman and was the life I lived for 31 years.’

From his fledgling days as a constable to being a detective sergeant on high-profile cases, retired Christchurch policeman Al Lester has many a story to tell as he reflects on a career on the wafer-thin blue line.

Al’s a man who took policing seriously, always doing his level best to keep criminals in check and turn chaos into order. He never lost sight, however, of how to see the lighter side of the job, enjoying a laugh when the occasion arose, and often at his own expense.

Welcome to the world of a Kiwi cop.

(No actual pigs were harmed in the making of this book.)