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DCI John Blizzard #4
The Secrets Man
DCI John Blizzard visits a friend in hospital and is intrigued when an elderly villain in the next bed begins to reveal what he knows about Hafton's criminal gangs. The revelations attract a series of sinister characters to the ward. Are they trying to silence the old man?
- GenresCrime
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
434 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
John Dean
133 books82 followersJohn Dean is a freelance journalist who has runs his own business and draws heavily on his years as a crime reporter for newspapers and magazines to create his novels.
He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and cites Sherlock Holmes as his all-time favorite detective. He lives in the South West of Scotland.
(Also writes under the pseudonym John Stanley)
Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and cites Sherlock Holmes as his all-time favorite detective. He lives in the South West of Scotland.
(Also writes under the pseudonym John Stanley)
Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 11, 2018
This is a murder mystery with a strong plot. DCI Blizzard once more goes up against top brass who think his interest in an old criminal who has returned to their patch is taking attention away from cracking a case involving drug deaths that is receiving a lot of media attention. Will the veteran detective's instincts turn out to be correct or is old age catching up with him?
April 1, 2020
I wish to make it very clear that methadone is a registered and most effective instrument to wean heroin addicts of the drug. They DO NOT GET STONED from it (= why not everyone joins a program) and will very rarely overdose on it as they receive their necessary dose daily and consume this immediately on the premises. Most often it is the COMBINATION of methadone and the ABUSE of other prescription drugs that causes a haze and can lead to a possible death, certainly when mixed with strong liquor. For people who’ve not been prescribed methadone or who are not heroin-addicts, the use IS dangerous and possibly lethal though.
Also, I strongly disagree with the stepping stone theory upheld in this book that all heroin (or other hard drugs) addicts started with using cannabis, it does not take into account the millions that experimented with smoking joints but never moved on to other substances. As well don’t forget the multitude who used it once and decided it wasn’t their thing. This is like saying that every alcoholic started by drinking milk. I don to want to promote drug abuse but hell, get realistic!
In little over 6 months, three teenagers from affluent families overdose on a mixture of several drugs, combined with vodka and soda. A chemist must be behind this business but none of the known dealers and snitches has a clue as to whom supplies the kids with these drugs.
When DCI John Blizzard visits his friend and mentor George Moore* in hospital, he sees that in the next bed lays an old-time criminal who’s known as “the secrets man”. He’s delusional at the moment and it might be the perfect occasion to wield some long guarded secrets out of the man and solve a cold case murder.
“‘Suffice to say that I’ve got Harry Josephs in a ward at the General, being visited by the likes of Morrie Raynor and Geoff Bates. Geoff Bates a few hours before someone put a bullet in him.’...
George reckons that Harry Josephs is ready to spill the beans on a whole host of crimes and I simply cannot ignore that – and neither can you, Max. Think of the clear-ups.’”
Blizzard harbours a long-term hatred for crime boss Morrie Raynor. He managed to put him away for several years but now he’s a free man again. Everyone assumes that he’s an old man now, enjoying his pension but Blizzard is absolutely not convinced
This is the fourth book in the series and can be read as a standalone. Nevertheless, it’s always better if you can read them in the right order for the continuum of the background stories. I read the first two stories quite a while ago but missed out on the previous one. So, sometimes when they spoke about the past, I wasn’t sure if the events were discussed in that book or ‘off-camera’. It’s a bit nit-picking as it doesn’t influence the story or my understanding of it.
In the first chapters, there’s a bit of timeline shuffling going on as the book jumps back and forth between 1987, 2004 and now (2018 when this volume was published). You recognise some of the names appearing in different periods, but it takes a long time before I realised how all the events are linked together and how some situations are the consequences of things that happened in the past.
DI Blizzard is acerbic and not only in his humour, but there are also moments when his behaviour can be described as boorish. If you’re a suspect, it doesn’t matter if he likes you or not. He’ll dig on till the bottom. His character has grown and become more human throughout the series. At first, he was a real grumpy, rather unpleasant man. The encounter with DC Fee Ellis and their consecutive relationship has had a great influence on his behaviour and moods.
Or is it the writer who’s gotten better? If you compare this book with the first in the series, I think that this one is twice as well written, both in suspense as in contents. John Dean has also written another series about DCI Jack Harris that play out in the Pennines with often spectacular nature scenes (well the description there off).
This is a police procedural series than effortless can stand next to Peter Robinson’s “DCI Banks” series
*Strange as it is, every time old-timer George Moore talks, I see and hear the voice of Lennard Pearce (from only fools and horses) in my head. I somehow have the feeling this role would have been perfect for him).
Also, I strongly disagree with the stepping stone theory upheld in this book that all heroin (or other hard drugs) addicts started with using cannabis, it does not take into account the millions that experimented with smoking joints but never moved on to other substances. As well don’t forget the multitude who used it once and decided it wasn’t their thing. This is like saying that every alcoholic started by drinking milk. I don to want to promote drug abuse but hell, get realistic!
In little over 6 months, three teenagers from affluent families overdose on a mixture of several drugs, combined with vodka and soda. A chemist must be behind this business but none of the known dealers and snitches has a clue as to whom supplies the kids with these drugs.
When DCI John Blizzard visits his friend and mentor George Moore* in hospital, he sees that in the next bed lays an old-time criminal who’s known as “the secrets man”. He’s delusional at the moment and it might be the perfect occasion to wield some long guarded secrets out of the man and solve a cold case murder.
“‘Suffice to say that I’ve got Harry Josephs in a ward at the General, being visited by the likes of Morrie Raynor and Geoff Bates. Geoff Bates a few hours before someone put a bullet in him.’...
George reckons that Harry Josephs is ready to spill the beans on a whole host of crimes and I simply cannot ignore that – and neither can you, Max. Think of the clear-ups.’”
Blizzard harbours a long-term hatred for crime boss Morrie Raynor. He managed to put him away for several years but now he’s a free man again. Everyone assumes that he’s an old man now, enjoying his pension but Blizzard is absolutely not convinced
This is the fourth book in the series and can be read as a standalone. Nevertheless, it’s always better if you can read them in the right order for the continuum of the background stories. I read the first two stories quite a while ago but missed out on the previous one. So, sometimes when they spoke about the past, I wasn’t sure if the events were discussed in that book or ‘off-camera’. It’s a bit nit-picking as it doesn’t influence the story or my understanding of it.
In the first chapters, there’s a bit of timeline shuffling going on as the book jumps back and forth between 1987, 2004 and now (2018 when this volume was published). You recognise some of the names appearing in different periods, but it takes a long time before I realised how all the events are linked together and how some situations are the consequences of things that happened in the past.
DI Blizzard is acerbic and not only in his humour, but there are also moments when his behaviour can be described as boorish. If you’re a suspect, it doesn’t matter if he likes you or not. He’ll dig on till the bottom. His character has grown and become more human throughout the series. At first, he was a real grumpy, rather unpleasant man. The encounter with DC Fee Ellis and their consecutive relationship has had a great influence on his behaviour and moods.
Or is it the writer who’s gotten better? If you compare this book with the first in the series, I think that this one is twice as well written, both in suspense as in contents. John Dean has also written another series about DCI Jack Harris that play out in the Pennines with often spectacular nature scenes (well the description there off).
This is a police procedural series than effortless can stand next to Peter Robinson’s “DCI Banks” series
*Strange as it is, every time old-timer George Moore talks, I see and hear the voice of Lennard Pearce (from only fools and horses) in my head. I somehow have the feeling this role would have been perfect for him).
August 22, 2018
1987, Hafton, in northern England. DCI John Blizzard is visiting former DCI George Moore, a retired colleague and mentor, in the hospital when he recognises an elderly man in a nearby bed. It’s Harry Josephs, who had been closely linked to organised crime in the region. Never one to get his own hands dirty, Josephs was nonetheless known as The Secrets Man for his comprehensive knowledge of what went on in the local underworld. But age is a great leveller; now he’s fighting an infection and lying in the ward next to an old adversary. And according to Moore, he is confusing others in the ward for old cronies, and talking to them.
The hospital holds more than its share of memories for Blizzard. One floor above is Lorraine Hennessey, a seventeen-year-old woman lying in a coma. Having overdosed on drugs she’s on life-support; but she’s not been responsive for months, and is just days away from being disconnected from the machines that keep her nominally alive. Blizzard would like very much to find those who put her in that condition and bring them to justice.
When Harry Josephs is visited by some of his old friends they soon realise that his babbling represents a danger to them. They attempt to return to solve the problem late one evening but are rebuffed by the floor nurse, who recognises one of them, and they are forced to leave. But they are not put off so easily.
DCI Blizzard passes Josephs’ bed, and the man calls out to him; he’s mistaken the officer for a man named Des Fairley, an underworld figure who’d been murdered decades earlier. The crime had never been solved, and Blizzard sees an opportunity to bring down the head of the gang, Morrie Raynor. It’s tempting, but as Blizzard will discover, the challenge is not without its dangers.
Scottish-based crime writer John Dean has sixteen novels to his credit to date, most of them featuring DCI John Blizzard, as well as others written as John Stanley. Less well known in America, his books are informed by his experience as a crime reporter and polished by his skills as a teacher of creative writing. The Secrets Man is a well-written police procedural, with a convincing cast of characters and accurate in its depiction of professional policing without slavishly focusing on forensic details, and building toward a compelling climax. Told from multiple points of view, the story widens the readers’ understanding of the broad and lasting impact that crimes can have on those around them. Read one, and you’ll go hunting for the others.
The hospital holds more than its share of memories for Blizzard. One floor above is Lorraine Hennessey, a seventeen-year-old woman lying in a coma. Having overdosed on drugs she’s on life-support; but she’s not been responsive for months, and is just days away from being disconnected from the machines that keep her nominally alive. Blizzard would like very much to find those who put her in that condition and bring them to justice.
When Harry Josephs is visited by some of his old friends they soon realise that his babbling represents a danger to them. They attempt to return to solve the problem late one evening but are rebuffed by the floor nurse, who recognises one of them, and they are forced to leave. But they are not put off so easily.
DCI Blizzard passes Josephs’ bed, and the man calls out to him; he’s mistaken the officer for a man named Des Fairley, an underworld figure who’d been murdered decades earlier. The crime had never been solved, and Blizzard sees an opportunity to bring down the head of the gang, Morrie Raynor. It’s tempting, but as Blizzard will discover, the challenge is not without its dangers.
Scottish-based crime writer John Dean has sixteen novels to his credit to date, most of them featuring DCI John Blizzard, as well as others written as John Stanley. Less well known in America, his books are informed by his experience as a crime reporter and polished by his skills as a teacher of creative writing. The Secrets Man is a well-written police procedural, with a convincing cast of characters and accurate in its depiction of professional policing without slavishly focusing on forensic details, and building toward a compelling climax. Told from multiple points of view, the story widens the readers’ understanding of the broad and lasting impact that crimes can have on those around them. Read one, and you’ll go hunting for the others.
July 31, 2025
And another convoluted case for Blizzard revolving around suspicious drug deaths. Made even worse when the police have absolutely no idea where the supply is coming from. No pressure then to solve this before the death rate increases. Then we have an ex copper in a hospital ward alongside The Secrets Man of a well know gangster!
Amongst all of this, we are getting more and more into the private lives of John and his Sergeant, Colley. Good humorous moments amongst the seriousness of the case.
Amongst all of this, we are getting more and more into the private lives of John and his Sergeant, Colley. Good humorous moments amongst the seriousness of the case.
October 16, 2018
I rushed through this one before the end of my Kindle Unlimited trail and probably didn't do it justice but it seemed the best of the three in the series that I have read, though not by a large margin.
Another plot with a number of threads and elements of unfinished business jostling for prime position in the investigation.
Would I read another? Yes.
Another plot with a number of threads and elements of unfinished business jostling for prime position in the investigation.
Would I read another? Yes.
February 21, 2018
DCI John Blizzard
Loved this series. Hope Mr. Dean has started another one. When I start a new series the characters in the first book are what keeps me coming back. Love John Blizzard and can't wait to see how the grumpy detective copes with fatherhood.
Loved this series. Hope Mr. Dean has started another one. When I start a new series the characters in the first book are what keeps me coming back. Love John Blizzard and can't wait to see how the grumpy detective copes with fatherhood.
August 17, 2019
DCI John Blizzard's past comes back to haunt him as criminal Norrie Raynor has been released from jail. He must also deal with an investigation into the deaths of several students by a drugs overdose.
An enjoyable well-written crime story
An enjoyable well-written crime story
November 10, 2025
Book 4 now.
Got the full set of 12. Struggled with the first and second but now getting into Blizzzard's head. The characters are now coming to life. Good storyline is the most important part of the book. I am pleased to say that it is all coming together. On to book 5.
Got the full set of 12. Struggled with the first and second but now getting into Blizzzard's head. The characters are now coming to life. Good storyline is the most important part of the book. I am pleased to say that it is all coming together. On to book 5.
March 31, 2018
The Secrets Man
A well written murder/murders mystery! The writer keeps your attention on the story and you start guessing who is to blame? A good read!
A well written murder/murders mystery! The writer keeps your attention on the story and you start guessing who is to blame? A good read!
April 1, 2018
Another good Blizzard book. A must read!
August 24, 2018
Great Story
Another great story in the Inspector Blizzard series.Lots of action and twists and .Great characters with a great story line
Another great story in the Inspector Blizzard series.Lots of action and twists and .Great characters with a great story line
September 27, 2018
A great read!
This book will keep you up late! A very good book, with twist and turns enough to keep you on your toes.
This book will keep you up late! A very good book, with twist and turns enough to keep you on your toes.
January 5, 2019
Another in the series.....just as good
Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Well written. What's not to like? I can easily recommend this one. Read and enjoy it.
Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Well written. What's not to like? I can easily recommend this one. Read and enjoy it.
Read
July 25, 2019Love this series. Each book holds my interest from start to finish and I find it hard to put down.
October 20, 2019
Frustrating
I really enjoy this series, but as always there are too many characters to sort out. It muddles things. Maybe that is the point, but enough already.
I really enjoy this series, but as always there are too many characters to sort out. It muddles things. Maybe that is the point, but enough already.
February 5, 2020
Must read
A very captivating story. I though I had it all worked out. Not was I wrong. The ending really surprised me.
A very captivating story. I though I had it all worked out. Not was I wrong. The ending really surprised me.
April 2, 2020
Good, very down to earth style of writing.
April 14, 2020
Another gripping book from John Dean
May 1, 2020
3.5 stars
March 23, 2021
Enjoyed this and enjoyed getting to know the characters better. They have become like old friends.
June 13, 2023
Another great investigation.
March 10, 2024
Another marvellous read.
Once you start one of John Dean's books you can't put them down!
Once you start one of John Dean's books you can't put them down!
June 7, 2025
Great Read
I really liked this story. Kept me engrossed with all the twists and turns. Can't wait to read more of this authors books
I really liked this story. Kept me engrossed with all the twists and turns. Can't wait to read more of this authors books
June 8, 2025
The 4th in the DI Blzzard series and I really think they are Getting Better and Better.
November 28, 2011
When DCI John Blizzard visits a friend in hospital, he is intrigued by the elderly villain in the next bed, who babbles on about the things he knows about the local criminal gangs. Although most of Blizzard’s colleagues dismiss the ravings of a senile old man, his ramblings attract a number of sinister characters to the ward. Not long after that the old villain is dead, and Blizzard starts to wonder if there was truth to his words after all. Has he been silenced for giving away old gang land secrets?
Meanwhile, Blizzard is occupied with the case of local teenagers who are turning up dead, apparently victims of drugs contaminated with a lethal poison. Is there a connection between these victims, and the killing of a gang land member 40 years ago? Can Blizzard find the dealer selling the lethal gear before any more young people die?
It took me a while to like John Blizzard, who comes across as being yet another cynical and hard-bitten old copper. But he did grow on me after a while. For all his flaws, he is a character trying to do the right thing, for the sake of the young girl on life support who was the first victim of the drug dealer, and for his police woman partner, whom he thinks deserves a man she can be proud of. And in spite of the apparently disparate storylines, the two plot threads tie up neatly at the end, and make for an engrossing read.
Reprinted with permission of Shots e-zine (http://www.shotsmag.co.uk)
Meanwhile, Blizzard is occupied with the case of local teenagers who are turning up dead, apparently victims of drugs contaminated with a lethal poison. Is there a connection between these victims, and the killing of a gang land member 40 years ago? Can Blizzard find the dealer selling the lethal gear before any more young people die?
It took me a while to like John Blizzard, who comes across as being yet another cynical and hard-bitten old copper. But he did grow on me after a while. For all his flaws, he is a character trying to do the right thing, for the sake of the young girl on life support who was the first victim of the drug dealer, and for his police woman partner, whom he thinks deserves a man she can be proud of. And in spite of the apparently disparate storylines, the two plot threads tie up neatly at the end, and make for an engrossing read.
Reprinted with permission of Shots e-zine (http://www.shotsmag.co.uk)
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October 28, 2018I love the dci John blizzard series.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews