John J. Delaney

John J. Delaney began writing murder mystery party games in 1999, after playing a game at a dinner party and leaving with the feeling that he could write a much better one. That spark of creative dissatisfaction led John to write over forty games, with worldwide sales of more than 100,000 copies, primarily in the UK and USA.

John has always had a flair for storytelling. His games are known for their clever wordplay, memorable characters with funny names and plots that keep players guessing right to the end. Each one is crafted to be genuinely fun to host, not just to play — with clear running orders, detailed character scripts and a satisfying solution that rewards careful detective work.

Beyond murder mystery, John is a prolific writer across multiple forms. He has written three musicals — Directions, Dream Home and 68 The Musical — as well as a pantomime. He collaborated with Oliver Davis's to create an opera Tir na Nog and wrote a libretto for the opera. One of the opera's arias, This Mortal Man, was included on Oliver's album Solace, which reached number one on the UK Classical charts and number eighteen on the USA Billboard chart.

In 2022 John published his debut novel, A Dangerous Fossil, a mystery thriller featuring fossil hunter "Jurassic" Jemma Thorne set on Dorset's Jurassic coast. He has since released two further books in the series: Jurassic Jemma and the Mysteries of Time and Jurassic Jemma and the Trail of Evil.