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When we set up our website dedicated to crime writing in Dumfries and Galloway earlier this year, we knew that there were decent foundations on which to build but I don’t think we realised quite how much there was happening. The website, which has been created by Chris Walker, owner of the Selkirk Arms Hotel…
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You may recall that yesterday I was facing the dreaded blank page and the even more dreaded mind as I begin work on my new crime novel. My solution was to start writing and see where it took me. It does not always work but it did on this occasion. I imagined my character DCI…
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Ah, the dreaded blank page. I am starting on the latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel but I am undecided what it will be about. Normally, I have a strong Idea but not this time – scraps of ideas, yes, strong ideas no. It is a problem which myself and fellow crime writer Ian Robinson…
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Best-selling crime writer John Dean will mark 20 years as a published novelist with a discussion about the nature of ideas with fellow crime writer Ian Robinson at a Kirkcudbright hotel in Dumfries and Galloway. The title of the event is taken from the quote from Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, playwright, and critic, who when…
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He’s back! The latest crime novel featuring Detective Chief Inspector John Blizzard, written by Dumfries and Galloway author John Dean, will be published on September 10, 2026. The Informer, the 27th of John’s books to be published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint, is the 13th featuring Blizzard and is set as usual…
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The winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2026 is The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths, with Frances Crawford winning the McDermid Debut Award (and a Highly Commended going to Mel Pennant), and David Baldacci being awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award. The Frozen People is the first book in a…
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Durham Book Festival returns between October 9-11 and details of some of the early events have been revealed. 2026 is the National Year of Reading and the festival will celebrate it with a North East Big Read: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. Free copies of this ystery will be available in libraries and community…
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I am editing one of my crime novels and am struck by the fact that it is not possible to over-estimate the importance of the process. When I finish my final draft, and before I send it off to my publisher for their verdict, I always ask myself the same questions, for which the answer…
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Every author likes to receive a complimentary review, maybe one which dissects your characters, praises your evocation of landscapes or delights in the way your plot twists like a twisty-turning thing. Failing all that, I’ll settle for a recent Amazon review which just said: ‘Wife likes it’ – it’s better than ‘Wife does not like…
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Here’s another Handy Hint for emerging writers. You need to keep something from the reader if you are writing a crime novel, preferably something big which when revealed has them understanding the clues you dropped earlier in the story and amazed that they did not pick up on them. Like what, I hear you ask?…
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John Dean - Crime Writer 