Authors and Creators
Dennis Lehane
(1965- )

One of the most acclaimed crime writers to emerge from the nineties, Dennis Lehane has written several award-winning novels, including the acclaimed series featuring Boston private eyes Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, introduced in A Drink Before the War (1994), which won a Shamus Award and several bestselling standalones. Three of his novels (so far) have been made into notable films: Mystic River (2003), directed by Clint Eastwood, which won the Academy Award for Best Film, Gone, Baby, Gone (2007), a Kenzie and Gennaro novel which marked actor Ben Affleck's directorial debut, and Shutter Island (2010), which was adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2010. He's also contributed to television's The Wire.

Lehane's parents emigrated from Ireland to the States, where Dennis he was born. He grew up in the working class Dorchester neighbourhood, the youngest of five children, and attended Boston College High School (a Jesuit prep school), Eckerd College (where he found his passion for writing), and the graduate program in creative writing at Florida International University in Miami.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Mr. Lehane worked as a counselor with mentally handicapped and abused children, waited tables, parked cars, drove limos, worked in bookstores, and loaded tractor-trailers. His one regret, he claims, is that no one ever gave him a chance to tend bar.

Since his success as a writer, Lehane has become much in demand as a writing instructor and racked up a slew of honourary degrees and titlesfrom numerous colleges and universities. He's taught fiction writing and serves as a member of the board of directors for a low-residency MFA program and been involved with the Solstice Summer Writers' Converence at Boston's Pine Manor College, taught advanced fiction writing at Harvard, and been presented with numerous honorary degrees and other honours from Eckerd College (Florida), Emerson College (Boston) and Emmanuel College (Massachusetts).

NOVELS

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• A Drink Before the War (1994; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro)..Buy this book
• Darkness, Take My Hand (1996; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro)...Buy this book
• Sacred (1997; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro)..Buy this book
• Gone, Baby, Gone (1998; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro)...Buy this book
• Prayers For Rain (1999; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro)...Buy this book
• Mystic River (2001)...Buy this book
• Shutter Island (2003)...Buy this book
• The Given Day (2008)
• Moonlight Mile (2010; Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro) ..Buy this book

SHORT STORIES

• "Running Out of Dog" (1999, Murder and Obsession)
• "Gone Down to Corpus" (2002, The Mighty Johns and Other Stories)
• "ICU" (Spring 2004, Beloit Fiction Journal)
• "Until Gwen" (June 2004, The Atlantic)
• "Mushrooms" (2006, Coronado)
• "Animal Rescue" (2009, Boston Noir)

PLAYS

• CORONADO (2005)
  Based on the short story "Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane

COLLECTIONS

• Coronado: Stories (2006)...Buy this book
  Includes five short stories and "Coronado," Lehane's two-act play.

FILM

• MYSTIC RIVER
  (2003)
  Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
  Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
  Directed by Clint Eastwood
  Starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden
  
  
• GONE, BABY, GONE...Buy this DVD
  (2007, Miramax)
  Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
  Screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard
  Directed by Ben Affleck
  Produced by Ben Affleck, Sean Bailey, Alan Ladd Jr. and Danton Rissner
  Executive producer: David Crockett
  Starring Casey Affleck as PATRICK KENZIE
  and Michelle Monaghan as ANGIE GENNARO
  with Slaine as Bubba Rogowski
  Also starring Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan
  Whew. This one reminds me why I love detective fiction. Highly and heartily recommended.
  
  
• SHUTTER ISLAND...Buy this DVD...Buy it on Blu-Ray
  (2010, Paramount)
  Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
  Screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis
  Directed by Martin Scorsese.
  Executive producer: Dennis Lehane
  Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams

TELEVISION

• THE WIRE
  (2002-08, HBO)

• "Dead Soldiers" (2004)
  Story and teleplay by Dennis Lehane
  
  
• "Refugees" (2006)
  Story and teleplay by Dennis Lehane
  
  
• "Clarifications" (2008)
  Story and teleplay by Dennis Lehane

RELATED LINKS

• The January Interview with Dennis Lehane
  1999 interview conducted by Karen G. Anderson.
  .
• Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos: Hard-boiled Buddies
  Illuminating interview conducted by Crescent Blues, featuring Dennis Lehane and fellow crimewriter George Pelecanos at a joint reading and book signing at the Mystery Bookshop in Bethesda, Md., in June 1999. 
  
  
• A Drink Before the War
  The Thrilling Detective review by Christopher Friesen.
  
  
• Ah, Boston, You're My Home:
  This site's preliminary listing of Beantown eyes.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Gerald So and Bluefox808 for their help here, with this one.