Tim Grant is the UK's only Professor of Forensic Linguistics, at Aston University, providing academic research and expert investigative assistance to UK and overseas police forces as well as providing evidence for both prosecution and defence and in civil cases. He is a former President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists. Nicci MacLeod is a Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at Northumbria University. She has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, and provided expert reports to several police forces as well as to solicitors and private clients in criminal and civil cases.

'Language and Online Identities is a very readable book crammed with newly researched, important and often disturbing material of a kind not publicly available before and all well illustrated with fascinating examples.' Malcolm Coulthard, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

• 1. Introduction; 2. Data and methods; 3. Experimental results; 4. Training identity assumption; 5. Resources and constraints in abuse identity performance; 6. Contexts for linguistic investigative advice; 7. Implications and future directions.

Tim Grant is the UK's only Professor of Forensic Linguistics, at Aston University, providing academic research and expert investigative assistance to UK and overseas police forces as well as providing evidence for both prosecution and defence and in civil cases. He is a former President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists. Nicci MacLeod is a Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at Northumbria University. She has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, and provided expert reports to several police forces as well as to solicitors and private clients in criminal and civil cases.

'Language and Online Identities is a very readable book crammed with newly researched, important and often disturbing material of a kind not publicly available before and all well illustrated with fascinating examples.' Malcolm Coulthard, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

• 1. Introduction; 2. Data and methods; 3. Experimental results; 4. Training identity assumption; 5. Resources and constraints in abuse identity performance; 6. Contexts for linguistic investigative advice; 7. Implications and future directions.