Busted! Stories from New Zealand’s leading private investigator

Ron McQuilter, Chair of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Investigators and seasoned PI, has had a new book published that’s now available at a bookstore near you. He writes exclusively about it for NZSM.

When you tell people you are a Private Investigator (‘PI’) the usual response is “Oh so you spy on cheating husbands” then you spend the next few minutes trying to explain the real work performed, though often you can see in the listeners eyes that the stigma remains, because it’s not easy in a brief conversation to cover off the wide range of cases involved.

But with the vast variety of interesting work undertaken, nearly every PI I have spoken to has commented that their friends suggest they should write a book, myself included. And so, a couple of years ago recovering at home in a sling from a shoulder operation, I decided to take up the challenge.

Interestingly, it took only four weeks to write because when I started the stories just flowed. Once I had the draft I sought out a professional editor to kick it around,

Ron McQuilter is Managing Director of Paragon Investigations. A leading figure in the New Zealand private investigation sector over the past 35 years, Ron is a long-serving Chairman of the NZIPI.

because I did not want it to read like a collection of reports. The editor loved it and pitched it to publishers and now you can buy it at Whitcoulls!

So why should a PI write a book?. My sole purpose was to educate the public in what real PIs do, the hard graft involved and the amount of good we do for the community. Sounds corny, but professional PIs are a group of dedicated, trained and licensed individuals, working to a code of professional conduct, out in the business community saving peoples jobs, livelihoods, personal assets and businesses, the list is long.

All the while there’s that public perception or stigma, I think related back to infidelity work, that somehow PIs are only interested in breaching privacy. Recent media and a State Services Commission enquiry did not help our cause.

I chose a variety of 18 cases to write about, encompassing most of the work a professional PI might take on, yes, including an obligatory infidelity case and one where I assisted a prostitute to check up on how her opposition was stealing her clients. If I did not include this work, it could seem like I was running from reality.

There is a lot of humour, like getting peed on in the bushes while on surveillance, and getting conned by a client dressing up as a tree. The common denominator is the sad indictment on society or rather the scumbags that prey on the public and businesses.

One story involved a cold case in which I was on a hiding to nothing from the start – no leads, a missing Kiwi at the other end of the world and a budget of $0. But rather than turn a blind eye, I opted instead to pay it forward and as I am sure all PIs will testify to, the harder and smarter you work the luckier you get.

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the book launch, none bad, which should lift the reputation of New Zealand PI – that’s the plan. I recommend it as a read over Christmas for readers of this magazine especially.

Ron McQuilter lives by his ABCs - Assume nothing, Believe nobody, Check everything. It’s helped him through 37 years working as a private investigator in New Zealand.

See below for more details

An NZSM exclusive giveaway! New Zealand Herald describes it as an “eclectic collection of some of the thousands of cases McQuilter has solved: blackmail, cheating spouses, corporate espionage, thieves, fraudsters and insurance scams.”

In addition to print media coverage, Ron’s been doing the rounds on radio and television, and has been seen mixing it up with the presenters of TV’s The Project.

Thanks to Ron, NZSM has two signed copies of Busted! Stories from New Zealand’s leading private investigator to give away. To be in the running to secure your copy, NZSM invites you to put pen to paper and provide us with a 500 to 1,500-word account of your most interesting investigation or incident as a security professional (whether a PI, security officer, consultant or electronic or cyber security professional).

The winning two entries will each receive a signed copy of the book, and they’ll also get published in NZSM! Deadline for submission is 20 January 2021. That’s plenty of time to create a masterpiece, so get writing over the summer break!

Email your entry to editor@defsec.et.nz.

The book is available in Whitcoulls and Paper Plus stores nationwide.

Title: Busted! Stories from New Zealand’s leading private investigator

Author: Ron McQuilter

Publisher: New Holland Publishers RRP: $34.99