Sam Spade goes corporate.

This article reports that one of the fast-growing services in today's service economy is that of the private detectives. At least 40,000 private detectives are at work in the U.S. today, up 25% from an estimated 32,000 six years ago. Their sales reached close to $4 billion in 1982, according to a recent National Institute of Justice study. Todd Taylor, one of the authors of the study, estimates revenues grew 10% to 15% in both 1983 and 1984. Targets like Phillips Petroleum Co. as well as some raiders regularly use private investigators. They fork out a quarter-million to a half-million dollars for reports that include detailed biographies on their opposition, exhaustive financial data and whiffs of possible wrongdoing.