David Benjamin

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Sharyn Alden Communications

David Benjamin

press release: What mysteries have kept your undivided attention from the very first page?

Author David Benjamin knows a good mystery when he sees one. That comes from a long list of books he’s authored including his beloved Jim Otis’ Wisconsin-based mystery series. Additionally, he has facilitated workshops for mystery writers.

In Paris, where he spends time, he has held a writing discussion with the British National Union of Journalists and a writing workshop at the American Library in Paris.

Deforest Library participants will hear Benjamin ‘decode’ the key elements needed to make a mystery great. Please note: this special event, originally scheduled in January, was rescheduled to Monday, February 28, 6:30 p.m. It will also be available on Zoom; register for a link.

“Writing a good story, especially putting together a thriller or mystery, is like solving a series of problems, in which language, science, geography, law, imagination and the unexpected are all jumbled together,” he said

About the Author

Benjamin has won seventeen literary awards from five different judging organizations — in genres that range from mystery and crime to romantic comedy and historical fiction.

A typical working writer, Benjamin has had stints as editor of a weekly newspaper, the Mansfield (Mass.) News, where he earned nine awards for excellence in journalism, and as editor of Tokyo Journal, which led to his authorship of SUMO: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Japan’s National Sport, which has been continuously in print since 1990.

The author started his first novel in elementary school, reading chapters aloud to his classmates at St. Mary’s School in Tomah, Wisconsin. He adapted some of those experiences in his memoir, The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked (Random House, 2002). 

His publishing imprint — Last Kid Books (lastkidbooks.com) — pays homage to Benjamin’s first published fictionalized account of his life growing up in small town Wisconsin at midcentury.

Today, he draws ideas from a lifetime of living and traveling throughout the world as well as stories gleaned from his own backyard. Some of his well-drawn characters may be found charting paths through Wisconsin mysteries, page-turners he expertly brings to life.

Ask Benjamin what elements are essential to plot out a good mystery, and he has a ready response.

“You can write a mystery without a murder,” he said, “but the following three M’s will typically be in place.” 

Maguffin — Coined by Alfred Hitchcock, a maguffin is an item that motivates characters, creates conflict and propels the plot.

Moriarty — The elusive, brilliant and dangerous mastermind.

Marlowe — This is a flawed but stubborn sleuth who won’t let go. Think Sam Spade,  Philip Marlowe, Jim Rockford.

Benjamin’s mysteries, including Skulduggery in the Latin Quarter, Black Dragon, Jailbait, and Bastard’s Bluff and — most recently — Woman Trouble — exploit these ingredients, plus a punch of humor.

James Fallows, of The Atlantic magazine calls the thriller, Black Dragon, “A genuine page-turner, full of enough action, suspense, sly humor, and sharp, cultural insights….an enjoyable and provocative book.”   

Benjamin said, “No matter what book you read, beyond all else, it should be fun. When you discuss it later, just thinking about that story should still have that intangible residue of pleasure.”