Welcome!

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Welcome to my blog! I am here for mysteries, magic, and puzzles, and I hope you are too. When you visit here you can expect to read about my own writing, the mysteries I like (both real and fictional), magic and magicians, and occasionally puzzles. My main goal here is to provide some entertainment and introduce you to my fiction.

I got hooked on mysteries myself way back in fourth grade when I read some Edgar Allan Poe stories. Then one dreary Sunday afternoon I discovered my father’s copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. I looked for a story I had heard of, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, since it was mentioned in a book about codes and ciphers in my school library. From there I strayed into more Holmes stories for a bit then moved on to other genres. It wasn’t until college that I turned back to mysteries in a serious way. I read everything I could by Doyle (thank God for Dover reprints), Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers (wished I could dress like Lord Peter), G. K. Chesterton, and Dashiell Hammett. They all inspired me in different ways.

I had also read about challenges that Mensa members would give each other, such as, “There is a pencil on the desk of the college President. The office is currently closed and locked. How could you get the pencil out without the key?” I set myself two of these - the removal of a piece of jewelry from a safe that a person does not have the combination to, and a science fiction scenario in which a man goes into a Star Trek-like transporter, and in spite of all safety protocols and computer monitoring, just disappears. I came up with solutions, but you will have to wait for the short stories to come out if you want to know my methods.

As you follow along you may notice that I refer to other mysterious items. For instance, in my novel Turf War, I have decided to name my two official detectives Voynich and Dighton. These days we call such references Easter eggs, and I like creating them as much as I like finding them. Check out both those names if you want a bit of timeless intrigue.

Where does the magic fit in? Well, magic is what happens when you don’t insist on having an explanation at the end. Usually this is because no one has been killed, so you don’t mind. Cut a lady in half and put her back together and you’re P. T. Selbit. Leave that last bit out and you’re the Black Dahlia killer.

So, we’re here for a sense of wonder, and almost always for fun as well.

I have a lot more to say, but if I stop here I know what to talk about in my next post. Also, if you’re a fan of The Blacklist, which my son has got me watching, I will point out an Easter egg that appears early in the show, and make a connection from that to a James Bond film. Plus one you may have spotted in the new Lego Sherlock Holmes set.

See you then!

Dean

5/6/2025


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