This review of some contentious criminal cases in Australia over the last thirty years purports to demonstrate how the processes of the criminal law may, if mishandled, produce an unsafe conviction. The author has made her own investigations into most of the cases. She outlines her own discoveries and compares these to the findings of the police and the courts.

Unfortunately, these private enquiries add nothing of substance to the facts already on the public record. Nor has the author accurately represented the evidence admitted at the various trials and inquests that she reviews. Instead of a comprehensive analysis and reasoned assessment of each case, the author presents a selection of the relevant facts garnished with generalisations and unsupported assertions: ‘in some circles, getting ahead in the police seemed to be a matter of “keeping your arse covered”’; a police task squad is said to have been ‘given an open chequebook’ to try to ‘nail’ a suspect.