Former Edinburgh police chief explores city's criminal underworld in new book
Former city cop releases his fourth book, looking at Edinburgh’s criminal past
A former Edinburgh policeman, who tackled crime in the Capital for more than 40 years, has released a new book exploring the city’s criminal underworld.
Tom Wood rose to Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, and spent much of his career in CID investigating some of the city’s most serious crimes.
He has now channelled some of that experience into his latest book, ‘Sex, Spies and Bloody Murder’, a collection of true stories exploring some of the darker and lesser-known episodes from Edinburgh, and the nation’s criminal underworld.
Tom’s first venture into writing came in 2007 with the publication of ‘The World's End Murders – A Thirty-Year Quest for Justice’, a case he originally investigated as a detective.
Tom also wrote the best-selling true crime book 'Ruxton: The First Modern Murder' about the Dr Ruxton murders of 1935. Tom then went on to write 'The Bombing of Edinburgh and Leith 1939-1942’, moving away briefly from his crime-writing.
Speaking about his latest release, he said: “I’m happy with it. It’s different; in the past I have written about single cases, and the bombing of Edinburgh and Leith was a local history book.
“But this is 10 short stories, as I had come across various characters and crimes, some I had investigated in my time with the police, some I hadn’t, but I never got round to writing about them.
“It’s not been out long but I have had a good response, with lots of great feedback.”
Tom retired from the force in 2005 and spent the next 10 years looking at cold cases down south in England, along with starting his writing career which he compared to his time as a detective.
He said: “I enjoy the writing process and the research, it’s roughly the same process as investigating cases as a detective. I had taken on cold cases down south, which gave me new, different skills, which I think have helped me with writing books.
“When I was a detective working on current cases I was under pressure, but with cold cases you can step back, look at the bigger picture maybe, and look at all the critical evidence with fresh eyes.”
Tom has a unique perspective on how Edinburgh's criminal landscape has changed over four decades, from the cases he encountered as a young officer to the most extraordinary investigations of his later career.
The back end of the book looks into the dark history of the sex industry in Edinburgh, because, as Tom puts it, “I wanted to give a voice to the people that worked in the sex trade in and around the city over the years.”
He looks back at the murder of Edinburgh sex worker Sheila Anderson, a case he worked on as a young detective inspector.
His new book also looks at the notorious Caroline Hogg and Susan Maxwell abduction and murder cases, with Tom revealing that he is enjoying delving into his past as a detective in his new life as an author.
He said: “I was involved in those cases and there were aspects of them that were never explained, so I looked into those again as I knew there was a story there to be told.
“This is what I do now because I enjoy doing it. If I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t do it.”