Area native finds second career as novelist
Published: June 14, 2009
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Linda Morgan/Staff Photographer Scranton native Dr. Joseph P. O'Donnell, of Boston, with two of the mystery novels he wrote. ;Linda Morgan/Staff Photographer Scranton native Dr. Joseph P. O'Donnell, of Boston, with two of the mystery novels he wrote.
It's no mystery that this dentist's resume says he knows smiles. Dr. Joseph P. O'Donnell has been known to put smiles on the faces of both the children in his practice, and the readers of his mystery novels.
A Boston pedodontist, Dr. O'Donnell, uses names from his family and childhood growing up in the Tripp Park/Bull's Head section of Scranton in his tales of private eye, Daniel Gallagher.
The Gallagher name came from his father, Paul O'Donnell's, friend. Both Mr. O'Donnell and Daniel Gallagher were Scranton firefighters. His character Daisy McSurdy's name comes from his grandmother's maiden name.
Dying to know
Dr. O'Donnell's first novel, "Fatal Gamble," is set in the Boston area where Daniel Gallagher is trying to crack a case involving the murder of three doctors in a small Massachusetts town. Citing a partnership with three other dentists that was about to break up as the inspiration for his first novel, he said with a chuckle, "I told my colleagues not to be offended because I was the first one to get knocked off."
In his second novel, "Deadly Codes," Daniel Gallagher gets to the bottom of a car bombing and a woman's mysterious disappearance. Dr. O'Donnell's publisher, iUniverse, gave it an Editor's Choice and it is getting outstanding customer reviews on Amazon.com.
Though he doesn't hesitate to tell anyone how much he's been enjoying his 35-five plus years in making kids smiles brighter, Dr. O'Donnell found a second calling, at age 63.
Better known as JP O'Donnell in the mystery novel realm, he says his second career came unexpectedly. He won the Golden Pen Award from the International College of Dentists.
"Just knowing someone liked my writing was a big accomplishment for me," Dr. O'Donnell said, adding, "And as far as I know, everyone else that won this award stayed in medical writing."
Early stages
Dr. O'Donnell honed JP O'Donnell's skills at a Medical Fiction Writing for Physicians conference in Cape Cod, where, "Of all doctors there, I was the only dentist," he said.
When he started writing, he realized some of his employees were fans of James Patterson and Mary Higgins Clark. "... I knew they'd like to check out my mystery story. When I realized how many chapters I had, I started bringing them in for everyone to read and they loved it. For a while they were getting to the office before me to see if I had written anything new," he said.
The president of Scranton Central High School's Class of 1963, Dr. O'Donnell earned degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and Tufts University. He lives in the Boston area with his wife, Ronney. Their son, Jonathan, is a master electrician in Las Vegas, while their daughter, Randi,, is a law student at Hofstra University.
Dr. O'Donnell will return to Scranton for Anthology New and Used Books' Pages and Places Book Fest, Oct. 3, at the bookstore's 515 Center St. location.
"Fatal Gamble" and "Deadly Codes" are available at Anthology, the Scranton Public Library and Lackawanna College's Seeley Memorial Library, all in Scranton, as well as on iUniverse.com and amazon.com.
Contact the writer: bwilensky@timesshamrock.com
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