Blog posts
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The second crime novel by Castle Douglas writer David L Haigh has been published with the third in the series to be available in November (2025). Hooked By The Past, the second book in the series, is published by Ingle-Haigh and follows David’s debut crime novel Land Kill, which came out in February 2024. Ingle-Haigh…
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Ambitious emerging writers who are seeking to break into the world of crime fiction should always be keen to learn (as, might I humbly suggest, should those of us who are more experienced as well!) and that means eagerly pouncing on interviews with those who work in the industry, particularly those whose job is to…
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When you are an author writing novels for a series, the biggest challenge is keeping the narrative fresh. But how do you achieve that? The answer is by injecting energy into each story to avoid a sense that it’s ‘same old, same old’. One way to do that is to come up with a story…
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Best-selling crime writer John Dean has posted another article to help aspiring writers and offer insights for readers, this one focusing on injecting emotions into flat passages. I, as you may know from recent posts, am in the final weeks of editing the next DCI Blizzard novel to send to my publisher The Book Folks,…
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The latest book in the DCI Jack Harris series of crime fiction novels (published by the Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint) continues to attract encouraging reviews, which is gratifying. More gratifying than usual, actually, because I deliberately set out to do things differently in Murder on the Pennines, including giving the main character’s back…
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Best-selling crime writer John Dean has posted his latest blog, which is aimed both at helping emerging writers learning their craft and giving readers an insight into the way an author balances writing for fans of a series with the needs of new readers. You can read the article here and it is also on…
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Best-selling crime writer John Dean has considered the challenges in writing Point of View in his latest article to help aspiring writers. You can read it here or drop into the Handy Hints sections of this website which has many such pieces. This article has also been added to Handy Hints – Characters where it…
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The winners of the Channel 4 Writing for TV Awards 2025 have been revealed at an event at Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. The awards provide emerging television writers in the North of England with unique professional opportunities to propel their careers. All four winners will each receive mentoring, a £3,000 cash bursary and a long-term…
John Dean - Crime Writer 