About Neil

I’m Neil S. Plakcy. I write mysteries and romances, and I live in Hollywood, Florida, with my husband and our two English Cream golden retrievers, Brody and Griffin.

When I’m stuck on a book, I take the dogs for a walk. Getting away from the manuscript helps me think, and watching the dogs often gives me something to investigate. I noticed how much Brody and Griffin loved sniffing fallen branches and wondered what made them so interesting. Researching that behavior led me to the scents left by animals that had lived or moved around in the tree. That detail made its way into a book.

I grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and began writing stories at about sixteen. In tenth grade, my English teacher, Mr. Norman Haider, asked us to retell John Knowles’s A Separate Peace from Finny’s point of view. I began writing seriously after that assignment.

The book affected me deeply, though I couldn’t have explained why at the time. Looking back, I think I was responding to the gay subtext—the longing for a connection with another boy. I couldn’t have called myself gay then. I had no gay role models to help me understand what I was feeling. But that longing was already there, and something in the novel reached it.

Reading Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus in high school gave me another kind of recognition. As a Jewish teenager, it was the first time I saw someone like me in fiction, living in a contemporary world I recognized. Later, I had the chance to study with Roth himself. I still see his influence whenever I write Jewish characters.

I studied English and creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania, earned an MBA at Columbia, and pursued a business career while continuing to write. I later earned an MFA at Florida International University and spent twenty years teaching English at Broward College before retiring.

My first real publication was an erotic story, “The Cop Who Caught Me,” in Honcho magazine. I’ve been writing about gay men and cops ever since!

My books include the Golden Retriever Mysteries, the Hawaii-set Mahu Investigations, and the Have Body, Will Guard romantic suspense series. I also write contemporary and historical gay romance and the Smiling Dog Café stories. I’m interested in how people find connection, and in the friendships and families that help them through difficult times.

If you’d like to keep in touch, my newsletter, Neil’s Ruff Drafts, includes news about my books and writing life, along with free stories and other extras.