Blog posts
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Crime novelist John Dean offers all sorts of advice to emerging authors in his free Handy Hints pages on this website – and his latest piece looks at the dangers of writers repeating themselves and driving readers away in the process. You can read the advice on how to avoid excessive repetition in the Handy…
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I feel that it is time to address a subject which I have avoided for far too long and yet is, by far, the most important challenge that today’s writers face. I am talking about running out of teabags. No, seriously, I am referring to AI, of course. Let me be clear right from the…
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The team at Joffe Books have completed the process of giving John Dean’s popular DCI John Blizzard series of crime novels (Kindle version) a new look. The process began when Joffe Books acquired publisher The Book Folks earlier this year and the treatment has now been given to The Meek Shall Inherit, number twelve of…
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You may recall that in early July, I published a blog offering my support to Aberdeen Arts Centre, which faces the very real threat of closure, and bemoaning the way that communities have to fight to persuade local authorities to support arts establishments. The problem for Aberdeen Arts Centre is the loss of council funding…
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July 26 2025 We have all heard people we know utter the phrase ‘I’d kill for a quiet life’. WeIl, a crime fiction author faced with a quiet life will be unlikely to get much in the way of killing done (fictionally, of course)! The latest piece written by best-selling crime writer John Dean offers…
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The first information about the National Year of Reading in 2026 has been announced. The Government says that reading is central to its Plan for Change, which supports literacy activities in schools, workplaces and in life generally and which boosts well-being, brings people together and expands people’s knowledge about the world. According to the Government:…
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The business world was shaken to its core with the publication five years ago of the searing expose of corporate big business The Diary of Ridley Pinstripe. Indeed, it was so shaken that virtually no one bought a copy of the book, so now it has been relaunched. You can read the full story on…
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Joffe Books’ programme of re-launches for John Dean’s popular DCI John Blizzard crime novels continues with a new look for The Name on the Bullet Kindle version. The relaunches come after Joffe acquired publisher The Book Folks earlier this year and The Name on the Bullet tells how a young police officer is shot dead…
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Hunted by Abir Mukherjee has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, which was presented by Harrogate International Festivals on the opening night of the recent Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Hunted is a thriller set in London and the US in the final week of a toxic presidential campaign,…
John Dean - Crime Writer 