Visiting Writers Program Welcomes Investigative Journalist and Author

12/3/2025

Investigative journalist and distinguished author Professor Dick Lehr shared the harrowing tales of his career and elements of his craft during a recent Upper School assembly as part of the annual Visiting Writers Program coordinated by English Department Chair and teacher Paul Gustafson.

The Visiting Writers Program is supported by the Betty Lou Blumberg Endowed Chair of English. The program was established in honor of former English Department Chair Betty Lou Blumberg and continues to allow the English Department to invite writers and poets to campus for reading and literary workshops.

“The program is intended to expose students to authors from a variety of genres as we have welcomed poets, novelists, and essayists throughout the years,” said Mr. Gustafson. “This year, we wanted to host a nonfiction writer in order to teach students about the important role that journalism plays in a free society. Professor Lehr has wide-ranging experience in the field of investigative journalism and investigative journalists, in particular, can help to reveal and explain some of the challenging and complex problems that we face in our society.”

Professor Lehr began the presentation sharing his educational and career journey as he worked in the legal field, but crossed over into journalism and investigative work. His most prominent role that shaped his career was working at The Boston Globe as a legal affairs reporter, magazine and feature writer, and longtime member of the investigative reporting unit, the Spotlight Team. He recounted his experiences researching and investigating organized crime, police corruption, and social justice issues in the Boston area and beyond that would inspire his written work. He further elaborated that his work came with challenges as the investigations turned into high-profile cases, and it was important to maintain journalistic integrity and write with authority. His novels The Fence and Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI and a Devil’s Deal were two of the inspired works he spoke on along with his experience on the film Spotlight. Professor Lehr ended the presentation with an excerpt reading of his latest novel, White Hot Hate.

Following the assembly, Professor Lehr hosted a workshop in Swain Library for a select group of students. During the workshop, he explained the process of writing the investigative news story for The Boston Globe. The piece titled Doubt Cast Over Tiffany Moore Verdict called into question the validity of the case decision, and it was reopened a year after the publication. Professor Lehr explained how he first came to learn about the case, how he gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses that cast doubt upon the prosecution's claims, and how he used this research to craft a ground-breaking and compelling investigative story. He also discussed elements of writing effective nonfiction prose, explaining elements of a compelling lead paragraph as well as how to structure a story to develop dramatic tension. Students were encouraged to ask questions to which Professor Lehr answered about his research notes to publication timeline, understanding how to place characters and details from real life cases with authenticity, and the shifting lens of journalism in the digital age.

Dick Lehr lives in Boston with his family where he is a professor of journalism at Boston University. He has authored eight works of fiction and nonfiction including Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI and a Devil’s Deal, which became the basis of the Warner Bros. film of the same name. His nonfiction book, The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited The Battle for Civil Rights, became the basis of a PBS/Independent Lens documentary. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting as a member of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team.

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