The Richard Deming Mystery MEGAPACK™: 15 Classic Crime & Mystery Stories

A Note from the Publisher

A year or so ago, I began tracking down the estates of mystery writers whose work I admired, but who had somehow become “lost” in the shuffle of publishing. Robert Holding. Fletcher Flora. Talmage Powell. Rufus King. Jack Iams. And especially Richard Deming.

Deming (1915–1983) wrote prolifically for magazines (more than 200 short stories) as well as for major book publishers (more than two dozen novels, ranging from original crime novels to media tie-ins (Dragnet and The Mod Squad) to even a pseudonymous nautical series involving submarines. He was a meticulous professional who never disappointed readers.

After much bibliographic, copyright, and genealogical internet research, I managed to track down his granddaughter, Stacy Ford. Stacy was well aware of her grandfather’s writing talents, as she had been raised by Deming and his wife, Ruth, as if she were their own daughter. Stacy and I found we had a lot in common (including college-age kids) and really hit it off. I offered to manage the estate on her behalf, and she accepted.

And almost immediately I discovered skulduggery worthy of a Richard Deming novel! A literary agent Stacy had never heard of had been licensing work by Richard Deming for years (mostly in ebook form) and keeping it “in escrow” until the estate turned up. I quickly extricated Deming from said agent’s grasp, and we haven’t looked back.

We have already released a pair of standalone Deming novels — Dragnet: The Case of the Courteous Killer and This Is My Night — and begun to release the Periscope series. And there are lots more on the way.

Enjoy!

— John Betancourt