John Dunning Books In Order

Cliff Janeway Books In Publication Order

  1. Booked to Die (1992)
  2. The Bookman’s Wake (1992)
  3. The Bookman’s Promise (2004)
  4. The Sign of the Book (2005)
  5. The Bookwoman’s Last Fling (2006)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. The Holland Suggestions (1975)
  2. Denver (1980)
  3. Looking For Ginger North (1980)
  4. Deadline (1981)
  5. Occult Murders (1989)

Short Stories/Novellas In Publication Order

  1. Bookscout (1994)
  2. Dreamer (2013)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976 (1976)
  2. Truly Murderous (1979)
  3. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (1998)
  4. Two O’Clock Eastern Wartime Export (2001)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Ten Tales (1994)

Cliff Janeway Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Stories/Novellas Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

John Dunning Books Overview

Booked to Die

Denver homicide detective Cliff Janeway may not always play by the book, but he is an avid collector of rare and first editions. After a local bookscout is killed on his turf, Janeway would like nothing better than to rearrange the suspect’s spine. But the suspect, local lowlife Jackie Newton, is a master at eluding the law, and Janeway’s wrathful brand of off duty justice costs him his badge. Turning to his lifelong passion, Janeway opens a small bookshop all the while searching for evidence to put Newton away. But when prized volumes in a highly sought after collection begin to appear, so do dead bodies. Now, Janeway’s life is about to start a precarious new chapter as he attempts to find out who’s dealing death along with vintage Chandlers and Twains. Includes information on John Dunning’s new Cliff Janeway novel, The Bookman’s Promise, coming soon in hardcover from Scribner

The Bookman’s Wake

Denver cop turned bookdealer Cliff Janeway is lured by an enterprising fellow ex policeman into going to Seattle to bring back a fugitive wanted for assault, burglary, and the possible theft of a priceless edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven.’ The bail jumper turns out to be a vulnerable young woman calling herself Eleanor Rigby, who is also a gifted book finder. Janeway is intrigued by the woman and by the deadly history surrounding the rare volume. Hunted by people willing to kill for the antique tome, a terrified Eleanor escapes and disappears. To find her and save her Janeway must unravel the secrets of the book’s past and its mysterious maker, for only then can he stop the hand of death from turning another page…
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The Bookman’s Promise

Cliff Janeway is back! ‘The Bookman’s Promise‘ marks the eagerly awaited return of Denver bookman author John Dunning and the award winning crime novel series that helped to turn the nation on to first edition book collecting. First, it was ‘Booked to Die, ‘ then ‘The Bookman’s Wake.’ Now John Dunning fans, old and new, will rejoice in ‘The Bookman’s Promise, ‘ a richly nuanced new Janeway novel that juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer. The quest begins when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, learns that Janeway has recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth century explorer Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton’s journey disguised as a Muslim to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says the book is rightfully hers. She believes that her grandfather, who was living in Baltimore more than eighty years ago, had a fabulous collection of Burton material, including a handwritten journal allegedly detailing Burton’s undercover trip deep into the troubled American South in 1860. Josephine remembers the books from her childhood, but everything mysteriously disappeared shortly after her grandfather’s death. With little time left in her own life, Josephine begs for Janeway’s promise: he must find her grandfather’s collection. It’s a virtually impossible task, Janeway suspects, as the books will no doubt have been sold and separated over the years, but how can he say no to a dying woman? It seems that her grandfather, Charlie Warren, traveled south with Burton in the spring of 1860, just before the Civil War began. Was Burton a spy for Britain? What happened during the three months in Burton’s travels for which there are no records? How did Charlie acquire his unique collection of Burton books? What will the journal, if it exists, reveal? When a friend is murdered, possibly because of a Burton book, Janeway knows he must find the answers. Someone today is willing to kill to keep the secrets of the past, and Janeway’s search will lead him east: To Baltimore, to a Pulitzer Prize winning author with a very stuffed shirt, and to a pair of unorthodox booksellers. It reaches a fiery conclusion at Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. What’s more, a young lawyer, Erin d’Angelo, and ex librarian Koko Bujak, have their own reasons for wanting to find the journal. But can Janeway trust them? Rich with the insider’s information on rare and collectible books that has made John Dunning famous, and with meticulously researched detail about a mesmerizing figure who may have played an unrecognized role in our Civil War, ‘The Bookman’s Promise‘ is riveting entertainment from an extraordinarily gifted author who is as unique and special as the books he so clearly loves.

The Sign of the Book

From New York Times bestselling author John Dunning comes a riveting new Cliff Janeway Bookman novel, combining captivating book lore with page turning suspense.

Denver bookman and ex cop Cliff Janeway is enjoying the good life, buying and selling the books he adores as he ekes out a living in his store on seedy East Colfax. And it doesn’t hurt that superstar lawyer Erin D’Angelo has joined him as a partner in both business and love.

Erin is a special lady, so it’s hard for Janeway to refuse her when she asks a favor. Will he travel to the little mountain town of Paradise, Colorado, to check on one of Erin’s girlhood friends who’s in deep trouble? Laura Marshall sits in the county jail, accused of murdering her husband, Bobby.

The situation is delicate because Bobby and Erin were a couple before he married Laura. In fact, it was Laura’s affair with Bobby that ended Erin’s relationship with each of them, and the women have been estranged ever since. Now Laura has called on Erin for help, but Erin’s not sure she even wants to see her onetime best friend, let alone get involved in her case. Could Janeway visit Laura on Erin’s behalf and try to find out what happened the night Bobby died?

The clincher for Janeway: Bobby Marshall was a book collector, and Janeway can’t resist a house full of books any more than he can resist Erin’s uncharacteristic request. His normally self sufficient girlfriend is clearly at loose ends. He drives to Paradise the next day.

Janeway soon discovers that neither he nor Erin is likely to be able to save Laura Marshall. The young wife and mother is terrified of something and has already admitted to the arresting officer a smarmy local deputy with a huge chip on his shoulder that she shot her husband and then tried to dispose of the bloody evidence.

But did everything really happen as Laura claims? And what about the books? Bobby had a vast library, but at a casual glance, the titles seem ordinary, even to a seasoned bookman like Janeway. Could they possibly be a motive for murder?

Janeway, Erin, and local attorney Parley McNamara discover that the case against Laura Marshall is far more complicated than it seems. Professionally, Erin must decide whether to represent Laura; and personally, whether a decades old friendship can be resurrected. Janeway wants to know the significance of Bobby’s book collection. He senses their importance, and under his careful scrutiny, the rows of unremarkable volumes could reveal a killer’s motive.

Rich with the intricacies of book collecting that only an expert like John Dunning can offer, The Sign of the Book is a beautifully crafted, enthralling novel of suspense from the consummate bookman himself.

The Bookwoman’s Last Fling

In another enthralling bestseller by ‘master yarn spinner’ Chicago Sun Times John Dunning, rare book dealer and relentless private eye Cliff Janeway unravels a deadly plot marked by stolen classics and stable secrets.

When wealthy horse trainer H. R. Geiger dies, Denver bookman Cliff Janeway encounters the legacy of the man’s wife, Candice, a true bookwoman who left behind an assortment of rare first edition children’s books. Sent to as*sess the collection, Janeway soon finds that several titles are missing, replaced by cheap reprints while other hugely expensive pieces remain. Why would a thief take one priceless book and leave an equally valuable volume on the shelf? Suspecting foul play, Janeway follows the trail of Candice’s shadowy past to California’s Golden Gate and Santa Anita racetracks, where he signs on as a racehorse hot walker. Eavesdropping on the chatter among the hands, he doesn’t like what he hears. And when he goes to the house where Candice died to look for answers, Janeway finds much more than he bargained for.

The Holland Suggestions

Never before published in paperback and with an all new Foreword from the author, this is award winning author John Dunning’s first mystery novel. A mysterious photograph unlocks a Pandora’s Box of Jim Ryan’s memories and lures him on a terrifying journey toward the shocking truth about the mother of his daughter, about himself, and about a past experiment in terror. As a legacy of betrayal and murder spirals out of control, Jim Ryan edges closer and closer to the hypnotic and destructive powers of ‘The Holland Suggestions‘.

Denver

By the 1920s, Denver had outgrown its frontier town beginnings. But for some, life was still as perilous as the surrounding terrain. The insidious influence of the Ku Klux Klan was reaching its peak, and those who stood in its path feared for their safety. Denver is the saga of a family caught in this tempestuous time. To newspaperman Tom Hastings, his writing matters more than anything. As the book opens, President Harding has just died, and Hastings finds himself drawn toward the biggest story of his career. But his wife resents his allegiance to the newspaper and his Jewish stepfather is a target for the supremacist Kleagles two good reasons not to persist in his pursuit of the story: that and the KKK has penetrated the highest levels of government in the state. Some eighty characters surround Tom Hastings: there’s his half sister, the quiet, passionate Jewess Anna Kohl; David Waldo, a socialist and friend to Jack London; Willie Brown, a rising political star torn between his desire for elective office and the love of his life; and Marvel Millette, a Nellie Bly like reporter in whom Tom Hastings finally meets his match. John Dunning creates flesh and blood figures, not only of these fictional characters but of historical personages as well. There is John Galen Locke, the Grand Dragon of the KKK, and Fred Bonfils, a founder of a newspaper dynasty built on tabloid sensationalism; President Calvin Coolidge, too, makes a gruff appearance. Denver is a panoramic novel as vibrant as the city for which it is named, as tumultuous as the era in which it is set. John Dunning never lets the reader lose sight of the men and women who live their lives on the pages of this saga. While crosses burst into angry flames and menacing droves of white robed Klansmen gather against the torch lit skies, passions, fears, joys, and hates are played out in Denver in the 1920s.

Deadline

When a circus tent fire results in the death of a young girl, reporter Dalton Walker searches for leads while juggling a second story about a young Amish woman who left her home to become a dancer in the Big Apple. Tour.

On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio

Now long out of print, John Dunning’s Tune in Yesterday was the definitive one volume reference on old time radio broadcasting. Now, in On the Air, Dunning has completely rethought this classic work, reorganizing the material and doubling its coverage, to provide a richer and more informative account of radio’s golden age. Here are some 1,500 radio shows presented in alphabetical order. The great programs of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s are all here Amos ‘n’ Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Lone Ranger, Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour, and The March of Time, to name only a few. For each, Dunning provides a complete broadcast history, with the timeslot, the network, and the name of the show’s advertisers. He also lists major cast members, announcers, producers, directors, writers, and sound effects people even the show’s theme song. There are also umbrella entries, such as ‘News Broadcasts,’ which features an engaging essay on radio news, with capsule biographies of major broadcasters, such as Lowell Thomas and Edward R. Murrow. Equally important, Dunning provides a fascinating account of each program, taking us behind the scenes to capture the feel of the performance, such as the ghastly sounds of Lights Out a horror drama where heads rolled and bones crunched, and providing engrossing biographies of the main people involved in the show. A wonderful read for everyone who loves old time radio, On the Air is a must purchase for all radio hobbyists and anyone interested in 20th century American history. It is an essential reference work for libraries and radio stations.

Two O’Clock Eastern Wartime Export

Widely acclaimed for his groundbreaking crime novels ‘Booked to Die’ and ‘The Bookman’s Wake,’ award winning author John Dunning triumphantly returns with a riveting new thriller that takes us back to the summer of 1942, when radio was in its prime, when daylight saving time gave way to ‘wartime,’ when stations like WHAR on the New Jersey coast struggled to create programming that entertained and inspired a nation in its dark hour. Into this intense community of radio artists and technicians in Regina Beach, New Jersey, come Jack Dulaney and Holly Carnahan. They are determined to find Holly’s missing father, whose last desperate word came from this noisy seaside town. Holly sings like an angel and has what it takes to become a star. Jack a racetrack hot walker and novelist who’s hit every kind of trouble in his travels from sea to sea tries out as a writer at WHAR and soon discovers a passion for radio and a natural talent for script writing. While absorbing the ways of radio, from writing to directing, he meets some extraordinarily brave and gifted people who touch his life in ways he could not have imagined actresses Rue, Pauline, and Hazel; actor director Waldo, creator of the magnificent black show ‘Freedom Road; ‘ and enigmatic station owner Loren Harford, among others. Jack’s zeal for radio is exceeded only by his devotion to Holly, who needs his help but who is terrified for his safety. Strange things are happening in Regina Beach, starting with an English actor who walked out of the station six years ago and was never seen again. And Holly’s father is gone too, in equally puzzling circumstances. As Jack and Holly penetrate deeper into the shadows of thepast, they learn that someone will do anything, including murder, to hide some devastating truths. In a stunning novel that transcends genre, John Dunning calls upon his vast knowledge of radio and his incisive reading of history to create a poignant, page turning work of fiction that sheds new insights on some of the most harrowing events of the twentieth century. Like E. L. Doctorow’s ‘Billy Bathgate’ or Caleb Carr’s ‘The Alienist,’ Dunning’s brilliant tale of mystery, murder, and revenge brings to life another time, another place, another world.

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