David Shawn Klein
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David Shawn Klein is an American novelist and writer of short stories, essays, and poetry.
Writing[edit]
Klein's debut novel, The Money, a crime thriller published by Black Rose Writing in February 2021, was a 2021 Best Thrillers Book Awards winner and a Maxy Award Finalist. A critic for IndieReader praised the story for its outrageous twists and acerbic wit, noting, “Klein writes with a gritty narrative style reminiscent of crime greats like Raymond Chandler and Rex Stout.”[1]
The same publisher released his subsequent novel, the psychological thriller And the Dead Shall Live, in February 2024. A reviewer for BestThrillers.com deemed it Klein's best book to date, prizing the sheer depth of the central characters, particularly agoraphobic novelist Phillip Raymond's “curious proclivities and disturbing backstory.”[2] A critic for Kirkus Reviews concurred that Klein “expertly unspools the backstories of Raymond and Carter,” convincingly guiding his characters around the city.[3]
Klein has also authored a children's picture book, Sherlock Mendelson and the Missing Afikomen, illustrated by Bridget Starr Taylor, which BookViral described as “an appealing fusion of fun and instruction and colour.”[4] Kirkus Reviews wrote positively about the book, observing that the “detective elements, which offer a nod to Sherlock Holmes, are skillfully incorporated, and the entertaining resolution will delight readers.”[5]
The author's short stories, essays, and poetry have appeared in various literary magazines, including Film Comment, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, New York Stories, Runner’s Gazette, American Jewish Times Outlook Monthly, Art:Mag, Lowestoft Chronicle, Pembroke Magazine, and Mystery Magazine.[6] In praise of his short story, published in the Lowestoft Chronicle anthology Intrepid Travelers, a journalist for the Blackpool Gazette remarked, “David Klein hits new heights with The Final Ascent of Hal Tripp.”[7] Two of his later short stories, “Einhorn’s Kosher Palace” and “Finch,” taken from The Money, were published in The Hudson Review.[8] Both stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize,[9] with “Finch” named a Distinguished Mystery Story of 2019 by Best American Mystery Stories 2020.[10] His creative nonfiction piece “Irrational” appears in the Lowestoft Chronicle anthology A Place to Pause, published in 2024.
Klein has taught his short stories at New York City high schools as part of the Hudson Review's Writers in The Schools program.[11]
Works[edit]
Novels[edit]
- The Money (Castroville, Texas: Black Rose Writing, 2021).
- And the Dead Shall Live (Castroville, Texas: Black Rose Writing, 2024).
Children's books[edit]
- Sherlock Mendelson and the Missing Afikomen (Castroville, Texas: Black Rose Writing, 2022).
References[edit]
- ^ Errera, Rob. "The Money". IndieReader. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Mishka, Rao. "And The Dead Shall Live, a Wildly Imaginative Psychological Thriller by David Shawn Klein". BestThrillers.com. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "And the Dead Shall Live". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "Sherlock Mendelson and the missing afikomen". BookViral. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "Sherlock Mendelson and the Missing Afikomen". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Klein, David Shawn. "Bio". Davidshawnklein.com. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Norfolk, Pam (3 May 2013). "Book review: Intrepid Travelers: Lowestoft Chronicle's 2013 Anthology Edited by Nicholas Litchfield". Blackpool Gazette. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ "David Klein". The Hudson Review. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Klein, David Shawn. "Writing". Davidshawnklein.com. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Box, C. J. (2020). The Best American Mystery Stories 2020. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. p. 408. ISBN 978-1-328-63610-2.
- ^ Klein, David Shawn. "Bio". Davidshawnklein.com. Retrieved 29 February 2024.