Michael Collins is the best-known

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

of Dennis Lynds (January 15, 1924 – August 19, 2005), an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who primarily wrote

mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

. Over four decades Lynds published some 80

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

s and 200

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

, in both mystery and

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

themes. He was a recipient of the

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

(MWA), the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of America and the Marlowe Lifetime Achievement Award from MWA, Southern California Chapter.

Early life

Lynds was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the only child of actors who were touring at the time. He grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and fought in Europe during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, earning a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. W ...

and a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. He studied chemistry (Bachelor's degree in 1949) and journalism (Master's degree in 1951). After working as a magazine editor in New York, he moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1965 to write full-time. Married to thriller author Gayle Lynds, he lived in California until his death.

As Michael Collins

Written under the "Michael Collins"

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, his ''Dan Fortune'' stories constitute one of the longest-running

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

series written, beginning in 1967 with ''Act of Fear'', which earned a 1968 Edgar Award, for Best First Novel. As Collins, Lynds is largely credited with bringing the

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as spe ...

into the modern age: :"Many critics believe Dan Fortune to be the culmination of a maturing process that transformed the private eye from the naturalistic

Spade A spade is a tool primarily for digging consisting of a long handle and blade, typically with the blade narrower and flatter than the common shovel. Early spades were made of riven wood or of animal bones (often shoulder blades). After the a ...

(

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

) through the romantic

Marlowe Marlowe may refer to: Name * Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator * Philip Marlowe, fictional hardboiled detective created by author Raymond Chandler * Marlowe (name), including list of people and characters w ...

(

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

) and the psychological

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

(

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

) to the sociological Fortune (Michael Collins)" :''- Private Eyes: 101 Knights'' (Robert Baker and Michael Nietzel) "After naming Lynds the Best Suspense writer of the 1970s", Baker and Nietzel continue, the

Crime Literature Association In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

of West Germany praised him as follows: :"The break in private eye novels started with Michael Collins. At the end of the 1960s, he gave the form something new, a human touch needed for years. His novels are much more than entertainment. There is a philosophy behind the detective, and in each book we take a look at a special section of American society." Baker and Nietzel point out a popular phenomenon that began with Collins's first book: "''Act of Fear'' ... inspired the by-now monotonous chant by critics about each new hard-boiled author being 'the best since Hammett,' 'the new Chandler,' and 'the heir to Ross Macdonald.' Fortune enjoys a senior status among modern private eyes", predating

Lawrence Block Lawrence Block (born June 24, 1938) is an American crime writer best known for two long-running New York-set series about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and the gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Block was named a Grand Mast ...

, Robert Parker,

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense th ...

, Joseph Hansen, Joe Gores, Michael Lewin, and

Bill Pronzini Bill Pronzini (born April 13, 1943) is an American writer of detective fiction. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories. Pronzini is ...

. As Michael Collins, he also wrote two science fiction novels, ''Lukan War'' in 1969, and its sequel, ''The Planets of Death'', in 1970. Both novels are about mercenaries in a future where they are despised and reviled by most people. When suddenly the society is attacked by a very dangerous enemy, they are called upon to fight and die to protect the same people who were treating them so badly not long before.

As William Arden

Beginning in 1968 with ''The Mystery of the Moaning Cave'' and ending in 1989 with ''Hot Wheels,'' Lynds wrote fourteen novels under the pen name ''William Arden'' for the juvenile detective series ''

The Three Investigators The Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "''Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators''". It was created by Robert Arthur Jr., who believed involving a famous person such as movie director Alfr ...

'', which was originated by Robert Arthur, Jr. Under this same name, he also wrote five novels featuring private eye Kane Jackson, a former military policeman who has become an industrial security specialist after leaving the military. The first Jackson novel, ''A Dark Power'', appeared in 1968. As Arden, Lynds also wrote the highly regarded

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

short story "Success of a Mission," which was a finalist for the 1968

for best short fiction.

Other pseudonyms

Prolific, explaining that he had more ideas than he knew what to do with, in addition to his Collins name, he created additional series under the pseudonyms Mark Sadler, John Crowe, and Carl Dekker. For a few years, he published under three of these pseudonyms at the same time at three different publishing houses —

Dodd Mead Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. Ta ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, and

Bobbs-Merrill The Bobbs-Merrill Company was a book publisher located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Company history The company began in 1850 October 3 when Samuel Merrill bought an Indianapolis bookstore and entered the publishing business. After his death in 1 ...

. For many years, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' listed his books annually as among the nation’s top mysteries. One year, two appeared on the same list, each written under a different pseudonym. He also penned 8 Belmont Books

mass-market paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...

s of ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

'' from 1964 to 1967 under the Shadow's author by-line

Maxwell Grant Maxwell Grant was a pen name used by the authors of ''The Shadow'' pulp magazine stories from the 1930s to 1960s. Street & Smith, the publishers of ''The Shadow'', hired author Walter B. Gibson to create and write the series based on popular int ...

Other works

As he was writing detective novels, he also published literary books and some 100 literary short stories. Five of the stories were honored in ''

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in co ...

''. He was twice short-listed for the

Drue Heinz Literature Prize The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language. This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States was initiated in 1981 by Drue Heinz and de ...

. His mystery and detective short stories have appeared in '' Best Crime & Mystery Stories of the Year'' many times. Twice he was the guest of honor at literary festivals in France honoring the American detective novel.

New styles

In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Lynds's work took another turn. He began lacing his detective novels with short stories, biographies, and symbolic vignettes, a literary technique that recent mystery writers have copied and expanded. Critic Richard C. Carpenter discussed it in ''Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers'': :"Powerful and memorable, hese new worksindicate that Collins has embarked on a new course after some 60 books. Truly he is a writer to be reckoned with."

Selected bibliography

Science Fiction novels by Michael Collins

*''Lukan War'', 1969 *'' The Planets of Death'', 1970

Dan Fortune novels by Michael Collins

*''Act Of Fear'', 1967 *'' The Brass Rainbow'', 1969 *''Night Of The Toads'', 1970 *''Walk A Black Wind'', 1971 *''Shadow Of A Tiger'', 1972 *''The Silent Scream'', 1973 *''Blue Death'', 1975 *''The Blood-Red Dream'', 1976 *''The Nightrunners'', 1978 *''The Slasher'', 1980 *''Freak'', 1983 *''Minnesota Strip'', 1987 *''Red Rosa'', 1988 *''Castrato'', 1989 *''Chasing Eights'', 1990 *''The Irishman's Horse'', 1991 *''Cassandra In Red'', 1992 *''Crime, Punishment, and Resurrection'', 1992 *''The Cadillac Cowboy'', 1995

Kane Jackson novels by William Arden

*''A Dark Power'', 1968 *''Deal in Violence'', 1969 *''The Goliath Scheme''. 1970 *''Die to a Distant Drum'', 1972 (aka ''Murder Underground'') *''Deadly Legacy'', 1973

Detective short story collections by Michael Collins

*''Crime, Punishment And Resurrection'', 1992 *''Fortune’s World'',

Crippen & Landru Crippen & Landru Publishers is a small publisher of mystery fiction collections, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1994 by husband and wife Sandi and Douglas G. Greene in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is named af ...

, 2000 *''Spies and Thieves, Cops and Killers'', 2002 *''Slot-Machine Kelly: The Collected Private-Eye Cases of the "One-Armed Bandit,"'',

, 2005

Paul Shaw novels by Mark Sadler

*''The Falling Man'', 1970 *''Here To Die'', 1971 *''Mirror Image'', 1972 *''Circle of Fire'', 1973 *''Touch of Death'', 1981 *''Deadly Innocents'', 1986

Mainstream novels and short story collections by Dennis Lynds

*''Combat Soldier'', novel, 1962 *''Uptown Downtown'', novel, 1963 *''Why Girls Ride Sidesaddle'', short stories, 1980 *''Talking To The World'', novella and short stories, 1995

External links

DennisLynds.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Michael 1924 births 2005 deaths American mystery writers Edgar Award winners American military personnel of World War II Writers from St. Louis Pulp fiction writers Shamus Award winners American male novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Missouri 20th-century pseudonymous writers