John P. Verdon is an American novelist. In 2010, Crown/Random House published his first mystery thriller, '' Think of a Number'', the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

in the ''Dave Gurney'' detective series.

Biography

Verdon is a graduate of Regis High School in New York City and Fordham University. His initial career was in the advertising industry in New York City, where he worked on the creative sides of several large agencies. After his retirement from advertising, he and his wife decided to leave the city and move to a rural area in the western foothills of the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

.
"John Verdon." - Author. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2014. . In his first pursuit after leaving the city he designed and built Shaker-style furniture—a career he pursued for the next ten years. He also became a fan of classic detective stories, in all their varieties from

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

Reginald Hill Reginald Charles Hill FRSL (3 April 193612 January 2012) was an English crime writer and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. Biography Hill was born to a "very ordinary" family ...

. His wife, Naomi, inspired him to write his own mystery novel. Two years later he completed ''Think of a Number''. Its subsequent success in the marketplace, as well as with critics, persuaded him to write a second novel, ''Shut Your Eyes Tight'', featuring the same central characters. That was the beginning of a series of crime thrillers featuring retired NYPD homicide

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

, Dave Gurney. The books in the series have been translated into more than two dozen languages.
"John Verdon." Bookreporter.com , . The Book Report, n.d. Web. 4 June 2014. .

Bibliography

* '' Think of a Number'' (2010) * ''Shut Your Eyes Tight'' (2011) * ''Let the Devil Sleep'' (2012) * ''Peter Pan Must Die'' (2014) * ''Wolf Lake'' (2016) * ''White River Burning'' (2018) * ''On Harrow Hill'' (2021) * ''The Viper'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verdon, John 1942 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people)