Blog posts
-
One of the biggest challenges for crime writers is how to give their villains credible reasons to commit their offences, usually murder. Few people are out and out evil and there are plenty of nuances and subtleties to the business of slaughter! Persuading the reader that motives are credible is vital if a crime novel…
-
I am lending my voice in support of the campaign to save Aberdeen Arts Centre, which has come under threat of closure due to a financial crisis. Although I have never visited Aberdeen, or its arts centre, the plight of such cultural venues reaches out to so many of us and, for me personally, touches…
-
Writing is about making decisions – many thousands of them over a career – and it can prove to be a confusing experience for authors, particularly ones just beginning to learn the craft. If that sounds like you, it may be worth checking out the Handy Hints sections on crime writer John Dean’s new website…
-
The Latch Man is the latest DCI John Blizzard crime novel by John Dean to be given the Joffe Books relaunch treatment, including a distinctive new cover for the Kindle version. Joffe Books recently took over publisher The Book Folks and has embarked on a major campaign to breathe new life into the backlists of…
-
A thought-provoking analysis of global book sales, which is contained in an article for American arts magazine From Whispers to Roars, has highlighted some interesting insights into the rapid changes being undergone by the publishing industry – and is a must-read for any author. The article was written by R. R. Noall, a poet and…
-
I am compiling a list of the Golden Rules of Writing to go on a dedicated page on my new website here at (www.johndeancrimewriter.co.uk) under the free Handy Hints section, which is designed to help aspiring writers. So what am I after? Your golden rule (just one, no more than 25 words, your name, your latest…
-
Are you an aspiring writer summoning up the courage to finally send off your beloved manuscript to a publisher or agent but suddenly assailed by crippling doubts? In fact, the envelope bearing the print-out has been sitting on the kitchen table for a week or your finger is continuing to hover, paralysed, over the keyboard’s…
-
There is one thing that gives the writer in me more pleasure than anything else, and I suspect it is the same for many more authors, and that is when a reviewer refers to your fictional characters as if they are real. That happened recently when an Amazon reviewer of The Girl in the Meadow…
-
I mentioned in a previous post about the Amazon Organised Crime ebook best-sellers chart being topped by the DCI Jack Harris boxset. . Well, this morning (Monday June 30, 2025) it has been joined in the top 100 by three further John Dean titles published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books Company. The novel…
-
One of the key skills that a crime writer has to master right from the beginning of their career is how best to use the Red Herring, the technique whereby the author drops in information that has been deliberately designed to mislead the reader. It’s a massively useful tool (not for nothing is the Crime…
John Dean - Crime Writer 