{"id":18333,"date":"2026-11-15T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T05:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=18333"},"modified":"2026-11-09T12:08:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T17:08:37","slug":"six-steps-to-murder-by-john-dean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=18333","title":{"rendered":"Six Steps to Murder by John Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I\u2019m reviewing a novel by another author, John Dean, who\u2019s new to me. It was a shorter read, but a lot was packed into those pages.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

Blurb<\/h2>\n

He came to fight the fire. Someone made sure he died in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

A wildfire is tearing across the North Pennines when a burning man staggers out of the flames. Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harris races to help him. He\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

The dead man is firefighter Barry Mayhew. But beneath his burns, the pathologist discovers two shotgun wounds. One in each leg.<\/p>\n

Someone wanted him alive when the flames reached him.<\/p>\n

A former soldier, Harris has seen punishment shootings before. This was meant to end in death.<\/p>\n

Yet the man everyone knew as Barry Mayhew proves remarkably difficult to trace. At the classic-car garage where he worked, he claimed he was visiting his sick mother \u2014 but this woman doesn\u2019t exist. The trail leads instead to a hospital children\u2019s ward, a desperately ill baby \u2014 and a woman terrified of anyone coming through the door.<\/p>\n

She knew Barry by a different name.<\/p>\n

With the raging fire threatening the hillside cottage he shares with his two rescue dogs, Harris must uncover what the firefighter was hiding.<\/p>\n

Then he hears of another dead mechanic. He too was shot in the legs.<\/p>\n

They say just six handshakes connect any two people. Harris needs to trace the connections between a dead man\u2019s different lives.<\/p>\n

Every hand the dead man shook leads Harris to another victim.<\/p>\n

One of them leads to his killer.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

Book links\/info<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n
Goodreads<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nhttps:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/262803940-six-steps-to-murder<\/u><\/u><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Purchase Link<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nhttps:\/\/mybook.to\/sixstepsmurder-zbt<\/u><\/u><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Publication Day<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nMonday, November 09, 2026<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Publisher<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nThe Book Folk (Imprint of Joffe Books)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Genre<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nCrime Thriller<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Page Count<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\n214 pages<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Series \/ Standalone<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\n13th standalone book in the DCI Jack Harris series<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My review<\/h2>\n

\"\" As I said in my intro, this is another new-to-me author.<\/p>\n

This book had a lot going on. Murders, wildfires, and some shady dealings from the past.<\/p>\n

The author kept the pace fast throughout the book and threw in plenty of twists along the way.<\/p>\n

This was book 13 in the series, but you didn\u2019t need backstory to catch up on past events.<\/p>\n

It was an enjoyable read, and I’ll be looking up the previous books in this series.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Dean is a freelance journalist who has run his own business for twenty years and who draws heavily on his years as a crime reporter for newspapers and magazines to create his novels.\u2028\u2028He is a member of the Crime Writers\u2019 Association and cites Sherlock Holmes as his all-time favourite detective. He lives in the South West of Scotland.<\/p>\n

Connect with John<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n
Facebook<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/john.dean.90038882\/<\/u><\/u><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Website<\/b><\/b><\/span><\/td>\nhttps:\/\/johndeancrimewriter.co.uk\/<\/u><\/u><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I\u2019m reviewing a novel by another author, John Dean, who\u2019s new to me. It was a shorter read, but a lot was packed into those pages. Blurb He came to fight the fire. Someone made sure he died in it. A wildfire is tearing across the North Pennines when a burning man staggers out … Continue reading Six Steps to Murder by John Dean<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[870,307,283,1297,1944,2067,6,2069,1280],"tags":[106,2068,228],"class_list":["post-18333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-book-tour","category-crime-writer","category-crimethriller","category-joffe-books","category-john-dean","category-novels","category-the-book-folks","category-thriller","tag-authors-2","tag-john-dean","tag-novels-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSix Steps to Murder by John Dean - Celtic Connexions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today, I\u2019m reviewing John Dean\u2019s Six Steps to Murder. 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