November 9, 2025
Book reviewer Lars Walker, of Brandywine Books.has has been working his way through the some of the DCI Jack Harris crime novels written by John Dean and published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company.
Down to earth, perceptive and honest (he does not like everything the books do and does not mind saying so, but is largely complimentary), the reviews build into an in-depth examination of John’s work.
You can find the reviews by Lars, himself an author, at the excellent website https://brandywinebooks.net/ and typing John Dean into the Search box.
October 9 2025
Author John Dean has given an interview in which he talks about some of the challenges involved in writing the DCI Jack Harris series of crime novels, particularly the recent bestseller Murder in the Pennines. You can read it in the Blog section at
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 experiences while serving as a young soldier with the NATO peacekeeping force following the Kosovo War.
Faced with the murder of two apparently innocent businessmen in the North Pennines, Harris and his Detective Sergeant Matty Gallagher travel far beyond the familiar landscapes of the North of England to confront ghosts that refuse to stay in the past.
The publisher describes the book as ‘a gripping British police procedural steeped in atmosphere, secrets, and shocking twists. Perfect for fans of Peter Robinson, Ann Cleeves, J.R. Ellis and Joy Ellis’.
The series has more than 5,000 Five Star Reviews!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Terrific police procedural.” Father Ted
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Gripping thriller.” Cozmo
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Crime fiction as cunning as a fox.” Beck
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Good plot with plenty of red herrings.” KC
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Keeps you guessing to the end.” Tammie
The book can be purchased in e-book, paperback and hardcover formats on Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk
What John Dean says about his latest 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 The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company) is among my most ambitious novels.
Featuring DCI Jack Harris in the 12th book in the long-running series, the story takes him from his base in the North Pennines to the aftermath of events which took place when he was a teenage soldier seconded to a NATO peacekeeping force after the Kosovo War more than twenty years ago.
The decision to base part of a story abroad offers great scope for storytelling but also presents challenges for the author and the editors that handle his/her manuscript, in my case the excellent Polly, Tarek and Lucy with their forensic approach to the job.
That’s because, although a book set abroad is a work of fiction, and comes with a degree of licence, as do all stories, the author still has a responsibility to view the narrative with a non-fiction author’s eye, making sure that they have done the appropriate research.
In this case, my source material was a series of articles on the Internet and, more importantly, the excellent Kosovo War and Revenge by Tim Judah (Yale University Press 2000).
The reason books like Tim Judah’s are so important is that researching facts and figures only goes so far. The author also needs to do what they can to get under the skin of a place and Kosovo War and Revenge does that superbly, confirming some of what I thought I knew and adding immeasurably with new insights.
Getting the research right when dealing with an area like the Balkans, where complex age-old ethnic disputes and allegiances change in bewildering fashion, rewards the author’s effort and, I hope, helps the reader immerse themselves in my new novel.
Murder in the Pennines can be purchased in e-book, paperback and hardcover formats by visiting Amazon and keying the title in the search field at https://www.amazon.co.uk/
John Dean has had 26 crime novels published by The Book Folks, including twelve in the best-selling DCI Jack Harris series, including
The Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harris series (The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company)
The first nine novels in John Dean’s Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harris series have been published in a special Kindle e-book boxset for just 99p – you can’t get a better offer than that.
Published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company, the novels tell the story of the detective as he returns to take charge of CID in the North Pennines valley where he grew up.
With more than 1,800 pages of gripping mysteries, the series is atmospheric, compelling, and full of twists as the detective and his team tackle local villains, visiting thieves and organised crime gangs.
Haunted by his past, driven by justice, and fiercely protective of the natural world, Jack Harris is a detective like no other.
Included in this box set:
- Dead Hill
- To Die Alone
- The Vixen’s Scream
- To Honour the Dead
- Thou Shalt Kill
- Error of Judgement
- The Killing Line
- Kill Shot
- Last Man Alive
The series has more than 5,000 Five Star Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”Terrific police procedural” Father Ted
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”Gripping thriller” Cozmo
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Crime fiction as cunning as a fox” Beck
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Good plot with plenty of red herrings” KC
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Keeps you guessing to the end” Tammie
The boxset can be purchased by keying in ‘John Dean’ on Amazon
the most recent single Jack Harris novel to be published was To Catch A Lie (2024):
A murder investigation leads DCI Jack Harris to Scotland, but is it just a fishing expedition?
When a man’s body is found on the Langdon Estate in the North Pennines, DCI Jack Harris suspects the death is connected to recent attacks on anglers by a violent group of animal rights activists.
However, the victim turns out to be an investigator hired to look into the illegal snaring of otters, and it becomes clear that something else is going on in Harris’s quiet rural patch.
With rumours and intrigue bubbling up, swept along by strange currents, Harris and his sergeant, Matt Gallagher, head north of the border where they find themselves knee-deep in some very murky waters.
With Harris out on a limb and at odds with his team, it will take excellent police work to catch a murderer in their midst.
To Catch a Lie is the eleventh book in the bestselling DCI Jack Harris series. The full list is as follows:
1. Dead Hill
2. The Vixen’s Scream
3. To Die Alone
4. To Honour the Dead
5. Thou Shalt Kill
6. Error of Judgement
It was a tragedy that shocked people in the North Pennines, a passenger aircraft that tried to cross the uplands but was flying far too low due due a technical fault, aviation investigators later concluded. The plane clipped one of the summits and ploughed into a hillside, killing all aboard.
Despite an intensive search of the surrounding hills, one of the bodies was never found and remained missing until, years later, a mountain rescue team called out to help an injured hill walker, is astonished when it stumbles upon a body still strapped into its airline seat and hidden from view in the middle of a wood.
Local head of CID, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harris, heads up the investigation and very soon concludes that something is very wrong. Can the body really have been there all that time? How did the search teams miss it during the exhaustive search that followed the crash, including in the wood? Is the body really the missing passenger or is it a hoax, and, if it is a hoax, who is responsible and why?
The police investigation leads Harris and his team to question the findings of the initial crash inquiry team and conclude that foul play was responsible for the loss of the aircraft. As Harris become ever more convinced that a terrible crime has been committed, he and his team find themselves re-opening old wounds and alarming people who have good reason for the incident to remain in the past. Error of Judgement by John Dean (The Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint) can be purchased in various formats by keying the crime novel’s title into the search field at www.amazon.co.uk
7. The Killing Line
8. Kill Shot
9. Last Man Alive
10. The Girl in the Meadow
11 To Catch a Lie
12 Murder in the Pennines
Are the defacing of a town’s war memorial and the death of a WWII veteran connected? DCI Jack Harris investigates.
The small town of Levton Bridge is beset by a spate of vandalism against its war memorials. Uniformed police believe it is just kids, but DCI Jack Harris is not so sure. And when a local WWII veteran is found brutally murdered, his suspicions are confirmed.
With anti-war activists causing trouble in the lead up to Remembrance Sunday, top brass want the case wrapped up to avoid further bad publicity. But the obvious suspects have strong alibis and Harris’ instincts tell him there is something serious afoot. The wildlife-loving detective is increasingly exasperated. Preferring his beloved dogs to his colleagues and having little patience for humans in general, Harris becomes more aggressive and unforgiving as the murder investigation fails to progress.
Someone in the town knows something, but the clues point to outside the region. Will a return to Harris’ old stomping ground of Manchester help him finger the murderer? Or will the investigation draw a blank and Harris blow a fuse that will get him fired.
In its isolated spot on the slopes of a windswept hill, Meadowview House has been vacant for decades. Yet now that it has been earmarked for redevelopment by a wildlife trust, a man turns up claiming it should be part of his inheritance.
After causing a scene, the police intervene but with no evidence, Geoffrey Haynes’ demands are curtly dismissed.
DCI Jack Harris has more than a passing interest in the property. During his errant youth, it was one of the places where he got up to no end of mischief.
But another spanner is thrown in the works when builders uncover the skeleton of a woman under the floorboards.
Now DCI Jack Harris is interested in what Haynes has to say. Yet the veteran cop might have questions to answer of his own.
The books can be purchased at Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardback formats
John Dean - Crime Writer 