Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Do You Wanna Know?

The Silent Scream by Michael Collins (Dennis Lynds)

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Making my way through the Dan Fortune series and while I’m not sure “Dennis Lynds” (Michael Collins’ pen name for these books) is going to improve these like I initially hoped he would after greatly enjoying book one, he’s at least showing signs that he can grow. This is thematically similar to the other Dan Fortune novels I’ve read, and the Lew Archer ones the series inspired: the private eye gets involved in the nefarious deeds of a well-off family and has to untangle them. […]

The Past Is Not Through With Us

Shadow of a Tiger by Dennis Lynds (Michael Collins)

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The influence of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer series is what originally drove me to this series. Dan Fortune can kind of be seen as Archer’s east coast counterpart, only he’s missing an arm and we know more about his personal life. In this one, Dennis Lynds (writing under the nom de plume “Michael Collins”) treads familiar territory for both he and his influencer: exploring the dirty deeds of a family. A recurring theme in many of these stories is the past often catches up to us. […]

Tales of the Past

Walk A Black Wind by Michael Collins/Dennis Lynds

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Lucked out that I finished this one on the last day of my Kindle Unlimited subscription as it’s the only one in the Dan Fortune series my local library doesn’t have. One of the best of the four I’ve read so far, maybe my favorite after Act of Fear. Michael Collins/Dennis Lynds takes the story out of New York City, or at least large parts of it, to investigate corruption in an upstate New York town. I always love a good tale of municipal corruption and there’s […]

All That Razz

Night of the Toads by Michael Collins/Dennis Lynds

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Trying to pour through as much of the Dan Fortune series as I can before my Kindle Unlimited subscription finally expires (for real this time). I really enjoy these books. I’m a Ross Macdonald devotee and “Michael Collins” (Dennis Lynds) is one of the closest writers I’ve read who’s capable of aping Macdonald’s style. He is empathetic yet engaging. He also uses just enough of New York City without getting lost in it. This one is another good entry in the series, though the seams […]

Dreams, They Will Come and They Will Go

The Brass Rainbow by Dennis Lynds/Michael Collins

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My Kindle Unlimited subscription expires this week, which is kind of disappointing because that’s how  I’ve discovered Dennis Lynds’ (aka Michael Collins’) Dan Fortune series. These books are so much fun. And because they never found new life the way many old school pulp writers did through Black Lizard or Mysterious Press, they’re difficult to find in stores. I can get ’em from the library but it’s not the same as having another series to hunt for in used book palaces. At any rate, this […]

That New Author…Read

Act of Fear by Dennis Lynds/Michael Collins

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Ask any compulsive reader what one of their great thrills is and I would hazard to guess many would say “discovering a new author” lands before “discovering a good book.” For when you discover a new author, you discover the possibility of many good books. I picked this one up on a recommendation from Ross Macdonald. Macdonald’s Lew Archer series is my all-time favorite mystery series. He called this one of the most unique crime novels he’s ever read. Hearing such laudatory words from the master himself, […]



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