Now that May is here, it's another exciting month on the
list: Dennis Lynds is the guest of honour! It's a great
pleasure to have him here and I thank him for spending the
time with us.
His entry in Hubin's CRIME FICTION seems, at first, very
short. It says:
"LYNDS, DENNIS. 1924- . Pseydonyms: William Arden, Michael
Collins, John Crowe, Carl Dekker, Maxwell Grant, Sheila
McErlean, Mark Sadler, qq.v. See also: Nick Carter; Don(ald
Eugene) Pendleton." However, following up on the pseudonyms
shows the enormous number of crime and mystery books and
short stories he's written over the last forty or so years.
The series about Dan Fortune, the one-armed New York private
detective, written under the name Michael Collins, are the
most discussed of his books on this list. I know they're
special favourites of several people here.
If you want to do some background reading, start here:
and don't miss the introductory "Dear fellow readers and
writers:"
http://www.dennislynds.com/letterfromdennis.htm
Have a look at his bibliography:
http://www.dennislynds.com/complete_bibliography.htm
It doesn't include some of his work under house names like
Nick Carter, Don Pendleton, and Brett Halliday, which are
listed here, along with another biographical sketch, and a
list of the awards he's won (including an Edgar for best
first novel and the lifetime achievement award from the
Private Eye Writers of America):
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/collins.html
His wife Gayle is also a writer, and has a web site with lots
of interesting stuff:
Dennis Lynds has several connections to list members. Kevin
Burton Smith
(who runs the Thrilling Detective web site) introduced me to
him at Bouchercon last year. James Reasoner is another writer
who's been Brett Halliday and written some Mike Shayne
stories, and Bill Crider is another writer who's been Nick
Carter. Juha Lindroos at Point Blank Press is planning a
Dennis Lynds reader. Doug Greene at Crippen and Landru is
doing a collection of all the Slot-Machine Kelly short
stories, and has done a collection of Dan Fortune stories.
MYSTERY*FILE #47 (the latest issue), edited by Steve Lewis,
has an article about the Dan Fortune novels, a bibliography
of all the Fortune stories, and an interview with Dennis
Lynds, all by Ed Lynskey. Those are just the ones I know
about and can recall off the top of my head, but there must
be more.
I didn't know it until a few years ago, but I've been reading
Dennis Lynds's work since I was about 11, when I found the
Three Investigators series. I loved them, and reread THE
MYSTERY OF THE LAUGHING SHADOW
(1969), as by William Arden, a few days ago. It has all the
things that made the series so enjoyable--the limousine, no
school, thrills and danger, mysterious strangers, kids
outwitting adults, possible ghosts or monsters--and works in
Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," too. That's the kind
of detail that can lead a kid to a whole new world of mystery
reading.
Welcome, Dennis Lynds! RARA-AVIS members, please make him
feel at home.
Cheers,
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/
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