Book excerpt: Whether you are a professional licensed investigator or have been tasked by your employer to conduct an internal investigation, Investigations in the Workplace gives you a powerful mechanism for engineering the most successful workplace investigations possible. Corporate investigator Eugene Ferraro, CPP, CFE has drawn upon his twenty-four years of practical experience to craft a book that dispels the myths and troublesome theories promulgated by the uninitiated. He provides the back-story behind the methodology, rationale, and gritty practices that have made his workplace investigations soar. But most importantly, he shares this knowledge with you. The book is designed for easy reading and use. Although every page is filled with useful information, you do not need to read the book cover to cover. The exhaustive table of contents, innumerable references, and expansive index allow you to quickly find the immediate information you need. The Applied Strategies chapter shows you how to conduct a particular type of investigation and the action steps involved. To help capture salient points and simplify the learning process, the text is sprinkled with brief Tips and Traps that provide quick and easy lessons on how to make the best use of the information in a particular section. Few workplace activities invoke so much risk and at the same time, so much opportunity, as workplace investigations. A combination of skill, experience, and luck: successful workplace investigations are complex undertakings. An improperly conducted workplace investigation can be expensive and ruin the careers of everyone who touches it. Exploring modern investigative technique and strategies, this book gives you new solutions you need and provides the keys to master even the most complex workplace investigation.