John W. Dennehy Books In Order

Publication Order of Boston Law Books

Publication Order of The Country Lawyer Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

John W. Dennehy
John W. Dennehy is an American short story writer and novelist, and was born in Boston, Massachussets. His short fiction has appeared in Typehouse Literary Magazine, Crimson Streets, Dual Cost Magazine, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Shotgun Honey, Near to the Knuckle, and many others.

John grew up on a lake in the state of New Hampshire, which he attributes to his creativity. After he graduated from Pinkerton Academy, he served in the United States Marines.

He graduated from Suffolk Law and UNC Wilmington. John was also a Partner in a Boston law firm for a number of years. And he is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. John loves chocolate labs and is an avid fly fisherman.

Most of John’s ideas come from some insertion, meaning some image forms or something comes to mind. Then he plays it out in his mind and figures out if it works as a book or short story length piece. Some ideas come from his real life with a sort of creative twist, or he envisions something and goes with it. A lot of the time, the creative ideas stem from something that he imagines, then works out the story around the central idea.

There will be times that he works off of a detailed outline, and others it’s just one inside his head or scratched down briefly onto paper. Other times, he will have just an insertion point to get him going and no outline to work with. No matter what the case is, he will get inspired by seeing where his work is actually going to go, learning how things will turn out, similar to watching a good movie or reading a good book. Only it is a work of your own.

To ensure he doesn’t get writer’s block he ascribes to the approach that you write a set amount of words in a sitting and then walk away from the piece. It tends to leave you right in the middle of something, then when he comes back to it, he picks it up right in the middle. It puts you in a position to continue writing rather than start from nothing. He has used this for decades now without coming down with writer’s block.

John finds that his favorite part of being a writer is working through each step of the creative process, then going back to fine tune it until it is a chiseled, finished product. This means he approaches writing like some do art.

John’s debut novel, called “Clockwork Universe”, was released in the year 2016. His work is from the suspense and thriller genres.

“Clockwork Universe” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2016. In an alternate Victorian, some ferocious beasts are wreaking havoc. They are an enhanced mixture of Rhino and Leopard, the predators are impervious to typical weapons. Death follows every move they make.

British big game hunters are sent off to Boston with specific orders to take these creatures down. Young Kevin Barnes mysteriously travels from the cushy modern world in a Steampunk universe, where clockwork controls the very cosmos. Kevin finds he’s joining the hunters and this one stoic debutant in the hunt. Is Kevin going to measure up and beat these Rhino-pards or will he become another victim?

This is an interesting and fun read that takes us back in time and to a whole other world. There’s a lot of action, superb characters, and dialogue that paints a vivid picture for readers. The novel gets started pretty fast and is full of action and adventure immediately.

“Pacific Rising” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2017. A hurricane is brewing in the Pacific, and grounds all military aircraft. The storm awakens this ancient predator from a long slumber, a Kaiju bend on ravaging and destroying Tokyo. Storm conditions and a treaty that bans nuclear weapons serve to hinder offensive capabilities.

A Joint Task Force turn to some US Marine fighter pilots and Master Gunnery Sergeant James Penton to tackle the beast. At the same time, a Navy SEAL operation in North Korea is going down, with this mission to disable an ancient Soviet missile.

After the conventional weapons fail to thwart this destructive monster, leaders turn to Penton as their last-ditch effort to stop the Kaiju, and stop further devastation and death from happening. Are the Marines going to prevail, or are they too going to be victims of this creature?

“Sinister Seeds” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2018. Harry Mulligan, a beleaguered veteran, accidentally discovers a rare artifact in Boston. It belongs to Patrick Donovan, a mobster who collects antiquities from Irish mythology, who is going to stop at nothing to get it back.

Happenstance soon unfolds into a battle of evil versus good, just as old as Harry’s penultimate struggle with the terrors from his past collide with some of the supernatural battles over this artifact.

A professional woman visiting Boston, named Claire, gets stuck in the middle of this ordeal. Time ticks down for anybody that encounters this artifact. Is Harry going to slay all of his demons, or just become one more victim of this desperate mobster?

“Limited Damages” is the first novel in the “Ken Dwyer” series and was released in the year 2020. One wrongful death in a state hospital leaves Ken Dwyer, a Boston trial attorney, seeks ways to get around a one hundred thousand dollar stautory cap on the damages one up and coming aggressive courtroom brawler who makes his living in the trenches of criminal defense and personal injury matters.

Supported by this diverse group of lawyers, the tiny law firm desperately looks to pin liability on a new defendant with some deep pockets. Dwyer takes a criminal case to help pay his bills. Ken’s investigation into both of the matters takes him into a Balkan crime syndicate’s dealings. Is he going to uncover the cause of this wrongful or is he going to be another casualty of street crime?