DCI John Blizzard Books In Order

Publication Order of DCI John Blizzard Books

The DCI John Blizzard series is a set of British Whodunit novels by John Dean who also goes by John Stanley, an author of mystery fiction. As a novelist, he has more than two dozen works of fiction to his name. In his other life, Dean is a Darlington C0. Durham-based award-winning journalist. As a journalist, he has won many awards including the Environmental Reporter of the Year and North East Freelance Journalist of the Year. Over the years, he has been a contributor to prestigious publications such as The Daily Express, The Sunday Times, and The Sunday Telegraph.

John was born in Derby but was brought up in Durham. He was still very young when he developed a love for writing encouraged by his mother who would become a published poet and his father who worked as a librarian. He also had very good teachers in Tom Cowley at comprehensive school and Judith Kent when he was in primary school. Thereafter, John Dean worked for more than four decades as a journalist in some of the most prestigious publications and as a freelancer. During his days as a journalist, he worked for the most part as a crime reporter which provided a lot of material that he now uses as inspiration for his crime fiction works. He also worked in his own business for more than two decades as a magazine journalist. When he got really good that his novels became bestsellers, he ventured into creative writing courses which he ran from his home between Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway and Castle Douglas.

The DCI John Blizzard series are works set in Hafton a fictional city in North England. The gripping collection of novels follows the life and times of John Blizzard a Detective Chief Inspector who has to investigate many harrowing and sometimes intricate cases. Blizzard is known for being committed to justice and having an unparalleled sense of morality. Due to his unwavering stance, he often clashes with his bureaucratic superiors and criminals. Across the series, he has to deal with various challenges from unearthing and destroying complex webs of corruption to solving horrific murders. He usually investigates the darker aspects of societal issues and human nature, as he offers readers some of the most thought-provoking stories. The series has come to be known for its intricate plots, well-drawn characters, and atmospheric settings. The writing in the series is characterized by how authentic it is, as it draws upon John Dean’s background as a journalist to come up with compelling and realistic crime stories. As such, this is a work that provides a combination of social commentary, character development, and suspense and is perfect for anyone who loves classic British crime mystery fiction.

John Dean published The Long Dead the debut novel of his most popular series DCI John Blizzard series of novels in 2006. It starts with a very interesting archeological investigation at a prisoner-of-war camp which unearths a bunch of bodies from unmarked graves. While it does seem like a simple open-and-shut case, DCI John Blizzard thinks there is something more to the bodies. He is soon proven right when forensic experts report shows that one of the men died very recently. Why was the man killed and who was he? Blizzard gets his team together to investigate and soon they discover a cruel crime and vengeance that may go back generations. Moreover, the killer is still out there and might just strike again when they all least expect it. Will Blizzard be able to figure out the identity and motivation of the man before he kills again? Set in the northern England port of Hafton, it is the typical modern British crime mystery that comes with an intriguing case and a bunch of clues. Dean also throws in convincing characters and snappy dialogue to make for one of his best-ever page-turners.

John Dean’s Strange Little Girl is a captivating work that is all about a no-nonsense detective, an unforgotten crime, and a desecrated grave. When John Blizzard the detective is called in to inspect a desecrated grave at a cemetery in Hafton city, he is convinced that the case is linked to the case of the girl who went missing years earlier. The desecrated grave is the property of the victims of a cold-case murder that involves some members of the family of the missing girl. Blizzard is convinced that the girl’s father was responsible for the crime but the man had never been brought to justice. He has since become very wealthy but Blizzard believes he can still take him down. In light of recent events, he asks his superiors to let him reopen the case. However, he may have bitten off more than he can chew as his investigations bring a dark villain back to the scene. The man is ready to do anything to protect himself from the law, and it is not long before a new murder is reported. With the pressure increasing, the detectives believe they are missing something that may have been hidden from them by a sinister crime ring willing to protect its interests at all costs.

The Railway Man is the third novel of the DCI John Blizzard by John Dean. Once again, it features John Blizzard the no-nonsense burly detective who never takes no for an answer. When a local hardman and former boxer is found killed, hardly anyone sheds a tear. When Blizzard is asked to investigate, he realizes that there is a long list of people who would want the man dead. However, getting any of these men to testify is complicated, even though he would do anything to bring the perpetrator to book. It just happens that the local bully once beat up a man so badly that his entire life was changed by the injuries. Blizzard’s team believes they have found their man but Blizzard is not so sure. He is convinced that the real perpetrator could be hiding closer to home. He probes deeper into the man’s life which was full of a tangled web of lies. The detective might have to deal with some very uncomfortable truths that could shatter his entire view of his beloved city. All in all, The Railway Man is a classic traditional mystery from Britain that John Dean spices up with a modern and very thrilling twist.