Mystery Writing-The John Keegan Mystery Series

Writing  Ghosts of Days Gone By : When Keegan Stands Alone I am editing the next Keegan novel, and one that sets up the logical end of the series. That's tough for me, as Keegan's been around as long as I have been writing, and change can be difficult. Plus, I want to make sure the setup works here, as the next books rely on it.  While reading through it, I see the struggle Keegan has with change as well. He hasn't lost anything yet, but I know what's coming, and just his temporary separation from Pauline screams as wrong, even if it is necessary. When you're with someone that means so much to you, time away feels like the loss of a limb, a misplacing of something so important, you walk around in circles in the same room desperately trying to track it down.  Keegan faces this as tensions in the NYPD bear on him. He has a television show that's doing well and his last case brought way too much attention. There comes a time in every detective’s career when they lo...

When I started writing the Keegan series, I didn’t set out to write just another detective story. The world has plenty of those—sharp-jawed sleuths brooding over whiskey, twisted killers taunting police with cryptic riddles. What I wanted was something different. Not a story about murder, but a story about people. Sure, homicide is the catalyst. It kicks things into motion, forces my characters into late nights, bad coffee, and moral dilemmas that don’t wrap up neatly by the last chapter. But at its core, the Keegan series is about the impact of crime—on the victims, the families, and most of all, the people who investigate it. The Keegan Difference: Humor, Introspection, and Family (the Found and the Stubbornly Sticking-Around Kind) John Keegan isn’t your typical detective. He’s sharp, yes. Persistent, absolutely. But he’s also tired in a way that isn’t just about long hours and cold cases. He’s a man constantly processing the world around him, trying to make sense of both the crimes ...