John Dunning (detective fiction author)

John Dunning (January 9, 1942 – May 22, 2023) was an American writer of non-fiction and detective fiction.

He was known for his reference books on old-time radio and his series of mysteries featuring Denver bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, Dunning moved to his father's hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, at the age of three.

In 1964 he left his parents' home and moved to Denver, Colorado, where, after a time working as a stable hand at a horse racing track, he got a job at The Denver Post.

On May 30, 1969, Dunning married Helen Rose Korupp.

Dunning died on May 23, 2023, at the age of 81, following a long battle with dementia, stemming from a brain tumor diagnosed in 2006.

In 1970 he left the newspaper and took up writing novels, while pursuing a variety of jobs.

Dunning received his first award nomination in 1981, when Looking for Ginger North received an Edgar Award nomination for "Best Paperback Original".

The following year, Deadline was nominated for this same honour.

Partly because of trouble with his publishers, in 1984 he stopped writing and opened a store specializing in second-hand and rare books called the Old Algonquin Bookstore.

At the urging of fellow authors, he returned to the world of novels in 1992 with his first Cliff Janeway novel, Booked to Die.

Dunning's novel Booked to Die won the Nero Award and was nominated for the 1993 Anthony Award in the "Best Novel" category.

In 1994 he closed the store and continued it as an internet and mail order business called Old Algonquin Books.

In addition to compiling encyclopedic reference books about the history of radio programming, Dunning hosted a long-running weekly radio show, Old-Time Radio.

The follow-up to this novel, The Bookman's Wake, was nominated for the 1996 Edgar Award in the "Best Novel" running.