- 1984: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III (Houghton Mifflin, Boston)
- 1989: The True Story of the Milo Murder (Houghton Mifflin, Boston) (with Carlton Stowers)
- 1992: From the Files of the World's Greatest Private Eye (Bloomsbury, London)
- 2001: O.J. Is Guilty But Not of Murder (Dear Overseas)
According to Dear's webpage, he has also written a fictional book called
Dead Men Don't Lie. He has also written two instructional books:
Adopted: How to Find Your Biological Parents and Other Family Members, and
Fingerprinting: How to Take Mistake-Proof Fingerprint Impressions.
In his book
Private Detective, Dear mentions that he intends to write books on the case of mystery woman Barbara Russo and on the death of jockey Dan Beckon.