This is such a successful introductory text that when I tried to find my copies of the earlier editions, they were missing, presumed lost to keen borrowers over the years. The first edition was the first British textbook for this new speciality. Textbooks and curricula between them try to define the scope of a subject, although in fact they follow the development of practice. This text covers services (one chapter), legal aspects, illegal behaviour and report writing (six), mental disorder (four), women and juveniles (one), risk (one) and ethics (one). The chapters on report writing and risk are particularly good introductions. Forensic psychiatrists actually spend most time treating patients, and a greater emphasis on the therapeutic uses of security, multi-disciplinary team work and leadership, treatment planning, and community work in the inner-city would reflect this. There is a limit, however, to how much a textbook can be expected to cover when research in these essential areas of practice is so rare.

This latest edition can safely be recommended to all pre-membership trainees and to any members of a forensic multi-discipinary team. Consultants in all psychiatric specialities will also find it a useful quick guide.