When Mark Stobbe isn't teaching sociology for Lakeland College's university transfer department, he's writing and publishing about politics, crimes and the sociology of Harry Potter.

Most recently, Stobbe released his fifth book No-Body Homicides: The Evolution of Investigation and Prosecution on May 6. In the book, Stobbe examines how police and prosecutors have become more successful in obtaining convictions for homicide when the remains of the victim are unavailable as evidence.

“I looked at 750 prosecutions across the United States, Canada and Britain, where they tried to prosecute somebody but didn't get a conviction. I also looked at the types of cases that result in homicides, that result in no-body cases and how the police prove that,” says Stobbe.

No-Body Homicides explores six case types, including intimate partner homicides, child homicides, and gang-related crimes. The book will appeal to police and prosecutors to draw on the accumulated experience of hundreds of prosecutions. For students, it provides fascinating insights into the process of investigating and prosecuting homicides - as well as a glimpse into the motivations and practices of killers, according to the book's synopsis.

Stobbe adds it took him about a year to research the book's subject matter, six months to write it and then spent eight months in production.

During the two-year COVID-19 lockdown, Stobbe also wrote: The Mr. Big Sting: The Cases, The Killers and The Controversial Confessions. He also authored The Dead Sociologists Society: Social Theory and the Harry Potter Narratives, released in November 2022.

Curious in nature, Stobbe credits a few reasons for the momentum behind the number of his published work.

“I probably spent more time on the Statistics Canada database sites than anybody I know. It's a weird fixation. I like to research. Then there's no point in learning much about something if you don't share that knowledge. There's satisfaction in producing something. I hope my books encourage police and prosecutors to pursue these kinds of investigations rather than just giving up and saying we can't prosecute because there's no body,” he says.

When Stobbe isn't sharing his prowess through his books, he's continued to do so in the classroom. Stobbe has been teaching at Lakeland since fall 2022. Previously, he taught at Okanagan College in Penticton, B.C. He also has 25 years of experience in communications, planning and strategy for government and political organizations and five years of experience running the Saskatchewan Craft Council.

“At the age of 55, I was starting to get bored. I was going to meetings, and then I thought about my life and what I've learned. I have a wide range of experience, so I thought I could do a bit of intergenerational knowledge transfer. To do that, I had to go back to school.”

Stobbe earned his masters and PhD in sociology and criminology at the University of Saskatchewan.

“I'm enjoying the interaction with Lakeland students. It's mainly young people, and I'm having a blast teaching. It's a great place to work. With that, I'm not planning my next book anytime soon,” he says.

Photo: The cover of No-Body Homicides The Evolution of Investigation and Prosecution by Mark Stobbe.