Featured Author Dean L. Hovey

https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean/

(click link above to purchase any of Dean's books)

I’m Dean Hovey and have been an author with BWL Publishing since 2019. I live in Minnesota but spend my days with my fictional characters. Doug Fletcher and Jill Rickowski are rangers who investigate crimes in National Parks across the U.S. Their first mystery was Stolen Past, set in northern Arizona, involving the deadly fall of an antiques dealer. Washed Away followed with Doug and Jill investigating deaths in an Arizona flash flood.

Research is the lifeblood of any author and I spend nearly as much time doing research as writing. At any given time, there are half a dozen search pages open on my computer as I write. I joked with a reader that I’m probably on an FBI watchlist for researching questions like how fast a body decomposes in the Arizona desert and what bugs are present when a body decomposes in the trunk of a car during a Minnesota summer. I had a wonderful discussion with a Wyoming coroner about the procedures for investigating a climbers fall from Devils Tower. Readers have said it’s those details that bring them into the story and make them feel like they’re a part of the action.

Part of my writing process is creating a backstory for each character. That backstory helps me write dialogue appropriate for their personality and life experiences. The downside is engaging with the characters and finding my emotions tweaked by events in the book. I’ve written with tears streaming down my face as my characters face challenging, unhappy, or emotional situations. I’ve chuckled as the Whistling Pines recreation director deals with crazy senior citizens and uncomfortable situations like those that arise in Whistling up a Ghost (to be released by BWL this coming October). I mentioned my character attachment to Dennis Lehane, the author of Mystic River. He quoted an old writer’s adage, “No tears in the writer. No tears in the reader.” As he put it, “If you’re not invested enough in your characters to evoke your emotions, the readers won’t feel those emotions either.” 

When speaking to a library group, I read a few paragraphs that reflected the character of Doug Fletcher. I read two sentences and sensed the adrenaline rush he’d experienced when rescuing a woman from a car in an ice-covered pond. I had to set the book aside and take a drink of water before going on. That passage had been rewritten a dozen times, but it still moved me.

I was approached by a reader who told me he’d been caught up in Washed Away, finishing it at midnight. He’d tossed and turned until one a.m. wondering what was going to happen to the characters after a cliffhanger ending. He got up and said to himself, “I’m worried about fictional characters who only exist in Dean Hovey’s head. Go back to bed!” We laughed about that when we met the following day. He bought a copy of Dead in the Water to read about the Fletchers’ next adventure on Padre Island National Seashore. Discussions like that keep me energized.

A reader submitted an Amazon review saying Jill and Doug had become his new best friends; people he’d enjoy having over for a beer. I laughed, but it made me reflect on my characters. I had a woman physically “buttonhole” me and tell me exactly what she expected to happen with two of my characters in the next book. I laughed, but it made me realize how deeply she’d become invested in those characters. I read mysteries when I’m not writing, and I’m loyal to my favorite authors because I like the characters. She reminded me that my readers feel the same way.

A reader emailed me after reading Washed Away, asking when I’d decided to become a romance writer. The question floored me. The relationship between the lead characters had developed so naturally, their dialogue guiding the story, that the resulting romance was an unintended outcome.

Fans of the Fletcher series have followed their investigations through five books, the most recent, Devils Fall, took them to Devils Tower National Monument. Doug’s been talking to me a lot during this COVID-19 shutdown, telling me he’d like to visit some of the more obscure National Parks, so he’ll be back next January, investigating a suspicious Black Hills death in Prairie Menace. Future BWL books will take him to The St. Croix National Scenic Waterway (Minnesota), Effigy Mounds National Park (Iowa), and Everglades National Park (Florida). Spoiler Alert: Jill Rickowski becomes his life partner. Her whispers have led to her growing role in future books.

My police consultant, Deanna Wilson, has warned me not to mention that I’m hearing Doug and Jill’s voices speaking to me. Apparently, the police put people who hear voices into 72-hour psychiatric evaluations. 

Happy reading! Dean Hovey