Delighted to announce that the DCI Blizzard mystery A Flicker in the Night (The Book Folks) is now out in paperback as well as e-book format

You can buy it at…

Buittle Castle and best-selling novelist John Dean have teamed up to run a workshop on how to write a ghost story in the spooky surroundings of the Medieval Tower House near Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway.

The event, which will take place between 3-8pm on Halloween, Thursday October 31, 2019, will help writers to tap into their reader’s…

As a writer, I am always inspired by a sense of place. Whether it be a gloomy city or a stunning hillside, a glass-strewn council estate or a majestic waterfall, something about my surroundings repeatedly triggers ideas. It’s been the theme of a series of creative writing workshops I have recently been delivering.

Let…

Best-selling crime novelist John Dean has announced the 2020 dates for weekend writing workshops at his home near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway.

John, author of 18 novels and currently published by London-based The Book Folks, is the creator of the popular DCI John Blizzard and DCI Jack Harris series.

He will run two courses, based around sense of place and the mechanics of storytelling,  from his 19^th Century home set in rolling countryside on the weekends…

The latest DCI John Blizzard is out, the seventh in the series published by The Book Folks.

In A Flicker in the Night, a spate of murderous arson attacks evokes bitter memories for stalwart detective John Blizzard…It was a defining moment in DCI John Blizzard’s early career when he caught a notorious arsonist on a killing spree.

Yet…

I am currently teaching a creative writing course, part of which focuses on the unreliable narrator, a character who tells a story that the reader cannot take at face value.…

What turns a story from good to very good? For me, it is that extra something. That attention to detail on the part of the author.

Whether it be the description of a place that makes you shiver because you feel the chill air coming off the hills, or a portrayal of a character so…

One of the key things that I tell my creative writing students is that the opening lines of their stories are crucial.

Why? Because harassed publishers, overworked agents and readers with a mass of choice all need grabbing within moments of picking up the book/short…

The DCI Blizzard Murder Mysteries Books 4 to 6 is out.

This is a collection containing the second three books in the DCI John Blizzard…

Since we are running an online crime fiction course, I thought it would be useful to look at some of the rules of how to write a good crime story:

* The story should be strong and have plenty of depth (most crime stories are novels) * Create a strong sense of place - the reader must be able to visualise where the action happens

* Create…

Just a quick reminder that a collection containing the first three books in the…

Delighted that two of my novels published by The Book Folks, the DCI Jack Harris mystery Error of Judgement and the DCI John Blizzard book Strange Little Girl, are both in the Amazon Kindle Top 100 best-sellers in Organised Crime. You can see the list at…

I am delighted that Flame Tree Publishing have agreed a deal with the Crime Writers’ Association to publish the latest anthology of stories by CWA members, to be edited by Martin Edwards.

Vintage Crimes will be a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members’ work over the years. The book will gather stories which members have contributed to CWA anthologies from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century. Publication is scheduled for summer 2020.

Martin said:…

I am always interested in what triggers a new character for a writer. When and how do they burst to life and take their first steps as a fictional entity? I am thinking of this because I am working on a new novel and, although some of my regulars will appear, I’ll need some new ones. Keeps the reader interested, keeps me interested.…

I have noted quite a few comments on blog sites recently, complaining about ‘slow’ stories. As a writer down the years, I have learned the hard way about the need to write with pace, through watching where my editors have deleted text. Each time they do it, it improves me as a writer.

As a creative writing tutor, I have been in the same position, working with several writers over the years who create pace, who keep the story moving, draw the reader in, then damage it by putting in…

There are still places left on the summer’s final weekend course run for writers by best-selling crime novelist John Dean at his home near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway.

John, author of 18 novels and currently published by London-based The Book Folks, is the creator of the popular DCI John Blizzard and DCI Jack Harris series.

He will run the course based around sense of place from his 19th Century home set in rolling countryside on the weekend of August 24/25, 2019.…

Delighted to have nine books in the Amazon Kindle Top 100 Organised Crime book charts,…

I have given a couple of talks on crime writing recently in which the same question cropped up in the Q and A afterwards – ‘Is it important to you that your detectives solve the crime?’

It’s a good question. Of course, in real life many crimes go unsolved, even murders (for which…