Private Investigator on 'Game of Thrones' & human nature

What makes Tyrion blush? Becnel knows
Courtesy HBO

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Philip A. Becnel IV, a private investigator and Managing Partner at Dinolt, Becnel & Wells Investigative Group LLC. He is the President of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia and author of two influential investigative books: Principles of Investigative Documentation and Private Investigator Entry Level (02E). The latter is the only textbook for the entry-level course required for all private investigators in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He joined us to write about what political-fantasy show Game of Thrones -- which has its third season premiere on HBO, March 31, 9 p.m. ET -- can tell us about human nature.

I was interviewing this woman about how her husband, whom I suspected she poisoned, liked to wear diapers during sex, but all I could think about was how badly I wished I was home reading A Game of Thrones. I’m a private investigator who spends most of his time interviewing people about sundry legal issues ranging from multi-million dollar fraud schemes to incredibly sordid sexual escapades to mass murders. I’ve interviewed enough rich, smarmy criminals in tailored suits to fill King’s Landing, and once I interviewed a transgendered prostitute with no arms who would have made Tyrion Lannister blush. I interrogated the suspected poisoner for hours, but even though I delved into the details of her private life as far as I could go, she never confessed to the killing or showed a hint of emotion. Her bizarre and inaccurate statements, however, led the family of the victim, my clients, to pursue a civil lawsuit. I closed my investigation and moved on to my next case.