Jeff Lindsay
The American playwright and crime novelist who created Dexter Morgan.
Jeff Lindsay is the American playwright and crime novelist best known for creating the fictional psychopathic Miami police forensic analyst and serial killer-killing vigilante Dexter Morgan. Born Jeffry P. Freundlich on July 14, 1952, in Miami, Florida, he graduated from Ransom Everglades School in 1970 and from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1975, later earning Master of Fine Arts degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Theater Direction and Playwriting. The first book of his Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, was developed into the Showtime television series Dexter from 2006 to 2013, with actor Michael C. Hall playing the character.
Quick Facts
- Pen name
- Jeffry P. Lindsay
- Birth name
- Jeffry P. Freundlich
- Born
- 14 July 1952
- Birthplace
- Miami, Florida, U.S.
- Occupation
- Writer
- Spouse
- Hilary Hemingway
- Notable works
- Dexter series
- Genre
- Mystery
Lore & Background
Jeff Lindsay's first book in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, was originally titled "Pinocchio Bleeds" after his middle daughter suggested it, but his publisher disagreed. The novel was included on the original nomination list for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards in the Best First Novel category, but was dropped after the group learned Lindsay had published several books in the 1990s under another pen name, Jeffry P. Lindsay. Many of his earlier published works include his wife Hilary Hemingway as a co-author; she is the niece of Ernest Hemingway and an author in her own right. Lindsay had a cameo role in the tenth episode of the third season of the Dexter television series. He has also written a comic book version of Dexter, distributed by Marvel comics, consisting of two mini-series: Dexter and Dexter: Down Under.
Reader's Guide
The Dexter television series aired on Showtime from 2006 to 2013, with the first season based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Subsequent seasons featured original storylines that departed from Lindsay's books. The franchise also includes the animated web series Dexter: Early Cuts (from 2009) and the later television series Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022), Dexter: Original Sin and Dexter: Resurrection (from 2025). Lindsay's other works include the Riley Wolfe series (Just Watch Me, 2019; Fool Me Twice, 2020; Three-Edged Sword, 2022; The Fourth Rule, 2023) and stand-alone novels such as Dream Land: A Novel of the UFO Cover-Up (1995) and Dreamchild (1998), both co-authored with Hilary Hemingway.
More in Lore & Behind the Scenes
Elsewhere in Dexter
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