Dave Jeffery: Author

Dave Jeffery is 44 and lives with his family in rural Worcestershire. He was born in The Black Country and spent most of his youth dreaming of writing and drawing comic strips for DC Thompson, creators of The Beano and The Dandy.

Dave completed his first novel, Badlands, at the age of ten and admits that it was 'pretty awful'. He still has it hidden somewhere in his loft. At school he used to write and illustrate comics for his school friends and sold them for a few pennies. At 15 years of age, he was invited to Dundee to see DC Thompson’s offices after sending his portfolio to them. Nothing may have come of the visit but the dream of getting work published continued.

This year has seen this lifelong ambition fulfilled when his red-haired heroine, Beatrice Beecham was acquired by Ghostwriter Publications. This adventurous, super-sleuth teenager is currently on her second adventure with a third, Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt, due out in May 2010. A chapbook bridging the second and third Beatrice mysteries will be published in late 2009.

Writing as David Jeffery, this author also publishes adult and young adult horror and supernatural fiction. His zombie novel The Risen will be released in November 2009, and the first of the Gargoyle Trilogy will be out in late 2010. His Campside Chillers collection will also be available early next year. In the interim Dave's short stories can be found in the Creature Feature anthology and The Gargoyle Chronicles both available from the Ghostwriter Publications'  website.

When he is not writing novels Dave works as a mental health practitioner. He has published an academic book with a major publishing company and articles in his field of mental health whilst presenting on the international stage. He is in the process of editing another book for Speechamrk Publishing Ltd, for release in 2011.

He is also author of Finding Jericho, a novel for young adults exploring the relationship between a 15 year old boy and an uncle who has been diagnosed with manic depression. This book has been endorsed by the mental health charity MIND.

Dave enjoys music, playing guitar and was once in a band called The Lion Farm who took their name from the council estate where he grew up.