Blog posts
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Energy is crucial to the success of storytelling. Now, in the latest of his Handy Hints pieces designed to help emerging authors, best-selling crime writer John Dean has offered an insight into how he, and other, authors inject much-needed energy into their stories. The piece can be found in the Handy Hints – Plotting section…
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John Dean talks about the challenges presented by his new novel My latest crime novel has just been published and I don’t think that I have looked forward to the appearance in print of one of my titles with such anticipation for a long time. The reason is that Murder in the Pennines (published by…
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The 12th novel in the DCI Jack Harris crime fiction series written by John Dean has been published. Murder in the Pennines (The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company), John’s 26th crime novel to be published, starts with a bomb scare at a North Pennines holiday camp which sees DCI Harris forced to relive his…
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A campaign backed by a range of organisations is championing the work carried out by Scotland’s libraries. Love Libraries is being promoted by organisations including the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIPS) in Scotland, the National Library of Scotland (as part of its centenary celebrations in 2025), the Scottish Library and Information Council,…
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Scanning the many reviews of John Dean’s crime novels on Amazon provides a fascinating insight into what matters to readers and what they value about their relationship with the authors whose books they purchase. Now, John has explored the relationship in a thought-provoking article which has been published in the Features section of this website.
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John Dean Handy Hint I am working on the latest DCI John Blizzard novel and will find myself with a working first draft in a matter of weeks. The next task will be to print it out then embark on editing the manuscript. I have written extensively in my free Handy Hints -Editing section about…
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In the latest of his free pieces of advice for emerging crime writers, best-selling author John Dean turns to the vital matter of secrets. For criminals (usually murderers, in crime fiction) to come over as credible they need powerful motives and the key to getting that right is usually the things they keep secret. John…
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Thirty-seven of Scotland’s best authors, including crime writer John Dean, are included in the first anthology put together by a new independent publishing company. 274 Miles will be published by Tantallon Tir, which is based in Glasgow and aims to showcase the very best in Scottish fiction, on September 30, 2025. Copies can be booked…
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One of the most important skills that an author must master for a novel to work is the use of triggers to engage readers. The worst thing a novel can achieve is nothing – for the reader to get to the end and not to be changed in some way, to have not experienced anything.…
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In the latest addition to the Handy Hints section of this new website, which is provided primarily to help aspiring writers, crime writer John Dean examines how new regular characters can revitalise series of novels. You can find the piece in Handy Hints – Characters on in the main menu.
John Dean - Crime Writer 