D.N. Bedeker

            When Neil (AKA D.N. Bedeker) retired from teaching, he set out to pursue his passion—writing. The inspiration for his first book, The Cassidy Posse, came from his grandfather who once severed in the United States Cavalry in the early 1900s. He told young Neil a story about Butch Cassidy being escorted to prison in Wyoming in 1892 by a deputy named Hank Bedeker. Somehow, this account of a relative, however remote, knowing the famous outlaw stuck with him, and over 50 year later, the idea for a book was formed. After the success of The Cassidy Posse, his protagonist, tough Chicago Detective Mike McGhan, would next turn his attention to infamous serial killer H. H. Holmes in a new novel Dark Hearts, White City, set in 1893  at the World’s Fair.

             A few years after retirement, Neil bought a Florida home (double-wide) which he calls his “beach shack.” In the winter, he resides in Clearwater for several months enjoying kayaking, fishing and diving.  Being in Florida during the end of the big real estate boom and the ensuing collapse during the recession of 2007-08 inspired the writing of Hot Pursuit in Paradise.

            Living in Florida has made the author more acutely aware of environmental issues, especially the problems of the Everglades and the coral reefs on the Keys. When a friend told him of a PBS documentary “Everglades of the North”, a whole new interest was sparked. The program was the history of the demise of the Grand Kankakee Marsh that had once covered an immense area of northwest Indiana. In an effort to make the history of this area more well-known to his grandson and other young people, he wrote his first young adult novel The Outlaw Island.