The Family Business

More than a series of engaging anecdotes, The Family Business gives readers a glimpse into the real world of the private investigator, and how that profession's stresses can bear on family life. Funny, poignant, and informative, it taps into the bottomless curiosity readers and viewers have about the hidden aspects of life — both criminal and domestic. This memoir tells the story of a multi-generational private investigation agency, founded by Phillip DiNatale, a former Boston police detective who was chosen to be one of four investigators tasked with catching the Boston Strangler. There are revelations of some of the most interesting cases this family team has worked on over the past forty years — from cheating husbands and wives, to rape accusations, the theft of a Stradivarius violin and a Louis the XIV desk, large-scale gray-marketeering, missing children (including the son of an African dictator), wiretapping, and some widely publicized industrial accidents on Boston's "Big Dig." The Family Business offers a look beneath the surface of city life, into the minds of those who break the law — from murderers and rapists, to welfare cheats and petty thieves as well as insight into families troubled by divorce, addiction, and secrets.