Kevin Wade, author of 'One Good Eye' - 'Blue Bloods' showrunner talks learning the rules of crime shows, writing 20 individual mysteries, and switching to novels

Kevin Wade, author of 'One Good Eye' - 'Blue Bloods' showrunner talks learning the rules of crime shows, writing 20 individual mysteries, and switching to novels

August 13, 2026 · 1h 3m · Season 1 · Episode 416

About this episode

Kevin Wade discusses his transition from screenwriting for television to writing novels, including insights on crafting mysteries and the challenges of episodic storytelling.

Kevin Wade is a screenwriter and show-runner, behind some of the biggest films and series of recent times. After acting for a bit, he started off penning Off-Broadway plays. Kevin moved on to write on 'Working Girl', 'Meet Joe Black', 'Maid in Manhattan', before getting huge success as the exec producer and showrunner for most of the 'Blue Bloods' series. The show was a police procedural starring Tom Selleck. It ran for years, and meant Kevin and his team needed to write over 20 mysteries a season, that individually wrapped up and all contributed towards the overall was series arc. His debut novel, 'Johnny Careless', was nominated for an Edgar Award, and he's followed that up with 'One Good Eye'. It tells the story of Police Chief Jeep Mullane, who sets off on a lonely and dangerous path to find out who attacked one of his oldest, closest friends. We discuss the marathon of writing 20+ episodes of a show every year, and learning to hit the beats and fit the format of network television. Also you can hear why he ditched the initial idea for the novel, and why a fire isn't really exciting. Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine This week's episode is sponsored…

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