Bethesda, Md. ? The book that Charles Moose gave up his police job to write reveals little new about the three-week sniper investigation he led, but focuses much on his life, racism, criticism of the media and the ethics controversy over the book itself.

“Three Weeks in October” goes on sale today, nearly a year after the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings started. The book by Moose, the former Montgomery County police chief, gives an account of the manhunt last year for perpetrators of the sniper shootings. It also describes his North Carolina childhood, his rise through the police ranks and the criticism that followed when he signed a book deal in January with publisher E.P. Dutton.

“It’s the story of how I went from being lionized for helping bring the snipers to justice to being vilified for writing a book about it,” Moose writes in the introduction to the 319-page book.

Montgomery’s ethics panel ruled he couldn’t profit off his job as police chief. He sued to overturn the decision but ended up quitting in June, concluding he couldn’t keep his job and write the book.

Much of his story describes the time frame in the book’s title, when 13 shootings left 10 people dead and alarmed millions in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

When six people were shot in 24 hours starting Oct. 2, Moose and his commanders were dumbfounded. Moose said he thought the shooter was someone having “one hell of a bad day” who would be caught or killed quickly.