David Dean's Blog

My third, and latest, collection of stories has been released by Genius Book Publishing!

“With HER TERRIBLE BEAUTY, David Dean deals out a dead man’s hand of creepy, powerful, disturbing short stories. Unusual and fascinating!” -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of Patient Zero and Kagen the Damned

Please take a look at the sample stories and see what you think. You may find yourself wanting to read more. The entirety of the first story, "Three Times", is included in the sample. Fair enough?

https://www.amazon.com/Her-Terrible-B...

I'm very happy to announce the release of Tomorrow’s Dead. This collection contains twelve tales of law enforcement personnel, the last of these lending its title to the whole. The cast of characters run the gamut of patrol officer to chief, dispatcher to detective, prosecutor’s investigator to cyber-crimes officer; there’s even a priest who, though obviously not a police officer, plays a role as friend and advisor to one. Both he, and Julian Hall—the officer he befriends—appear together in this volume and two of the other collections that follow. I’ve tried to lend authenticity to my characters, so all are flawed, some fatally so. Some redeemable, others not. All, I hope, are quintessentially human.
The stories are not presented in chronological order and beneath the title will appear the year of publication. As these stories are procedural in nature, the editor thought it might be helpful to the reader. Why? Because police work—like most other professions—has changed rapidly due to both technological and societal influences. In the stories I wrote earlier, for instance, the use of DNA evidence (I can only speak to New Jersey) was restricted to homicide cases, and juries were allowed to assign it whatever weight they might agree upon. Just a few years later, the use of DNA evidence became as unassailable as fingerprints, and utilized in everything from burglaries to aggravated assaults.
I’ve been retired from law enforcement for a decade now and stopped writing procedurals a few years ago. It became obvious to me that my institutional knowledge was rapidly becoming that of an historian rather than authority. What hasn’t changed, however, is the human being that is the police officer, and the unique profession that person practices. There is no other like it. This is what Tomorrow’s Dead is about. Truth lies at the heart of good police work, and good story-telling should always be entertaining. I hope you find both requirements satisfied within the covers of this book. The embedded link will allow you to have a sample read. readhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B81KGH22

My novel, The Purple Robe, has been released as a revised edition by Genius Book Publishing! It also has a very exciting new cover, as well. There are sample chapters available on Amazon for you to get a taste of this most unusual book. It's a combination of thriller, mystery, and fable. I hope that you'll enjoy it and recommend it to your friends if you do. You won't forget it, I think. Here's a link below:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B34ZH48X

One: I'm very happy to announce that my story "The Duelist", which won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award for 2020, was selected for reprint in "The Best American Mystery Stories 2020"! It's a great collection of stories and I hope you'll give it a read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Two: I've also attached a link to an excerpt from my story, "Stone Coat", which is in the current (March/April) issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Take a look. I think it will whet your interest.
https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazin...

As Halloween approaches it's Horror Month here on Goodreads. With that in mind there's no better way to celebrate than with my novel, "The Thirteenth Child". It's not only a grand tale of horror, but it takes place during the weeks leading up to All Hallows Eve! Give it a try and meet the most original vampire in modern literature (seriously), you won't be disappointed. TTC has a 4.04 rating on Goodreads as evidence of my claim. It's your turn. Enjoy.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has released a podcast of my Readers Award winning story, "The Duelist". I've attached a link and hope that you'll take a listen.https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/eq...

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has posted a podcast of my story, "Sofee". I've attached a link here and hope you'll take a listen. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/eq...

Today is the third anniversary of the publication of my novel, The Purple Robe. I hope that if you haven't read it, you might give it a try. If you're undecided, read the reviews and the sample on Amazon. I think you'll find it worthwhile.

As Halloween approaches it's Horror Week here on Goodreads. With that in mind there's no better way to celebrate than with my novel, "The Thirteenth Child". It's not only a grand tale of horror, but it takes place during the weeks leading up to All Hallows Eve! Give it a try and meet the most original vampire in modern literature (seriously), you won't be disappointed. TTC has a 4.12 rating on Goodreads as evidence of my claim. It's your turn. Enjoy.

For those of you that have enjoyed "The Thirteenth Child", I have a new short story in Hello Horror, an on-line magazine. It's titled, "Inheritance", and it's free! Just click on the attached link, then click on the magazine's excellent cover art and it will take you to the table of contents; then click on my story and read at your leisure. It's a terrific magazine and I hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think. http://hellohorror.com/