Former Newtown resident Larry Terhaar has kicked off a detective series with the release of his second novel, Once A Detective…

Terhaar’s newest entry in his author catalog is a detective mystery said to be perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and James Patterson. Terhaar’s new character, former NYPD Detective-Turned-Private Detective, Dan Burnett, finds himself mixed in an unsolved murder case with the involvement of Las Vegas casinos, a beautiful woman, and a suspicious second wife who inherited millions upon his death.

Terhaar went through a variety of jobs in his twenties before finally finding a passion for home building. His career path took a turn toward real estate development, eventually culminating in the construction of condominiums in 2005.

A Westport native, Terhaar’s wife Beth was his high school sweetheart. The couple raised their two sons in Newtown, graduating both from Newtown High School.

After years in the home building and development business locally, Terhaar retired in 2016. He and Beth began dividing their time between a home in Danbury and Surfside, Fla., where they now spend their winters.

Terhaar’s new career as a writer kicked off after he joined the board of directors for the condominium complex where he and his wife now live part-time.

“When I first started, I heard the reports of the collapse of the condos at Surfside,” he said. “I understood it was largely due to the board of directors not taking the building’s problem seriously, so I became quite interested in it.”

From that point he became enthralled in his research of the partial collapse of Champlain Towers in Surfside in June 2021. That research turned into his first book, Oceanside, published earlier this year. The novel was separated into three parts: one belonging to those who originally constructed the building, the first responders who helped clean up the mess, and then finally the residents who had lived in the building.

Having already gotten lost in fiction with his first book and getting rid of his nerves about being a legitimate author, Terhaar found writing Once a Detective… easier than expected.

“I found once I got started with this book, I sort of became obsessed with it,” he said. “I would wake up in the morning with an idea and sit down and start writing for hours.”

Many local readers will be surprised to hear that the detective mystery takes place in a region familiar to Connecticut residents, especially those of Fairfield County. Though the location wasn’t picked for a specific reason, Terhaar opted for familiarity when choosing his location.

Setting the story in Westchester County allowed him to write about areas he knows very well. Though writing and storytelling came rather easily to him, there were still some troubles Terhaar had to overcome.

“I always from reading understood plots and how the story has to build to a climax,” he said. “I didn’t have any trouble with that but things like formats for dialogue writing, punctuation, and sentence structure I needed help with.”

Thanks to new editors for his second novel, he was able to soften out the rough edges of his storytelling but upon finishing writing he was still struggling with the climax. Originally Terhaar had a climax picked out, but his editors brought back his first draft telling him he needed more, so he got back to writing and by the time he turned in his final draft the climax for his book was completely different.

Compared to his first novel, tackling this detective mystery was completely different but Terhaar feels he keeps improving with every novel he writes.

“I am learning so much so fast,” he said. “Each book I write is better in every way, I’m able to think ahead on plot lines and I write dialogue better.”

Most recently the budding author had a book signing at Byrd’s Books in Bethel. The August 10 event gave him a chance to speak to some of the fans of his books. He admitted he’s not completely used to meeting people at his book signings who are there to see him, but he still enjoys the chance to talk to his fans about his work.

Terhaar has another author event scheduled for Saturday, August 24, at Bookpoolaza in Norwalk Senior Center, 11 Allen Road in Norwalk. It will be part of the Norwalk Book Festival which features many fiction and non-fiction works.

Beyond that, Terhaar also has a book signing event planned for Saturday, September 7, at Barnes & Noble in Danbury Fair Mall, 7 Backus Avenue in Danbury, beginning at noon.

In addition to Byrd’s Books, Once a Detective… is available at Barnes & Noble locations. It is also available through Amazon. For more information on Larry Terhaar and his next Dan Burnett novel, visit larryterhaar.com.

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Intern Jack Kobrock can be reached via editor@thebee.com.