Dennis Lynds Books in Order

An American infantryman's experience of the Second World War reveals the destruction behind combat and the pressures of staying alive. Drawing on the author's service, the novel examines how fear and courage emerge from the same struggle for survival.

Private detective Dan Fortune searches for a missing teenager whose friends begin dying violently. A warning from his boyhood friend, now a powerful dockside racketeer, suggests that the apparently routine disappearance conceals a much more dangerous connection.

In a galaxy that believes it has achieved peace, Commander Red Stone remains committed to warfare. When an unidentified threat kills more than a thousand people on Andromeda, despised mercenaries may become the civilization's only defense.

Small-time crook Sammy Weiss asks Dan Fortune for an alibi, then vanishes after a wealthy man is murdered. Believing his friend may have been framed, Fortune investigates a case involving con artists, criminals and New York's privileged elite.

An actress disappears after a relationship with a powerful Broadway impresario who now pursues Dan Fortune's girlfriend, Marty. Jealous and suspicious, the detective investigates New York's theater world to determine whether Marty faces the same danger.

Private investigator Paul Shaw accidentally pushes an intruder from his office window during a struggle. Discovering that the dead young man had no criminal record forces him to investigate an incident that threatens his prosperous, apparently secure life.

Survivors of a dead planet want to restore their home, but the galactic government prefers exploiting its resources. They seek help from mercenary Red Stone, concealing a secret that could complicate his agreement to champion their cause.

Private investigator Paul Shaw searches for a former romantic partner who left New York for Los Angeles and disappeared. Following her trail takes the detective across the country in an effort to discover what became of her.

Dan Fortune is hired to investigate the stabbing of a young woman who worked under an assumed name. Her influential family and a missing month in her past lead his inquiry from New York toward an Arizona reservation.

A Vietnam veteran returns to Buena Costa County and becomes a suspect when a woman is murdered. Former New York police captain Lee Beckett investigates amid political pressure, hidden alliances and old resentments that threaten further violence.

Paul Shaw investigates allegations of corruption surrounding a dead New Jersey official at his daughter's request. The inquiry into an older crime exposes a network of political influence, blackmail and murder in a city controlled by ruthless interests.

Hired to protect a former French soldier from a possible wartime enemy, Dan Fortune guards him overnight. When the man's pawnbroker brother is found hanging the next morning, the detective must investigate a case rooted in concealed histories.

Paul Shaw investigates after his California partner is shot while working on a case involving a politician killed by a car bomb. Untangling personal and political motives means discovering what his partner learned and who wanted him silenced.

Mia Morgan hires Dan Fortune to investigate a blonde woman without explaining her reasons. Threats and warnings soon surround the job, drawing the detective into a conspiracy involving dangerous men whose interest in the woman remains unclear.

A wealthy businessman is shot with his own gun in a shabby motel where he used an assumed name. Sergeant Harry Wood investigates the victim's family and associates, uncovering rival interests stretching from California to Japan.

New York philanthropist Victor Cosmo responds to a recorded death threat by inviting everyone with a reason to kill him to dinner. Charlie Chan receives a special invitation, placing the visiting Hawaiian detective among an unusually dangerous gathering.

Dan Fortune helps friends who cannot find anyone willing to accept payment on their parking-garage lease. The bureaucratic obstruction turns deadly, leading him through corporate offices and criminal circles as he investigates what lies behind the evasions.

Colonel Lovett faces a stolen painting, threats to his business and enemies among former intimates and associates. When deaths follow, rivalries and wartime shadows complicate a mystery shaped by betrayal, revenge and struggles over power in Buena Costa County.

A plot to hold a professional basketball team hostage for a two-million-dollar ransom brings a specialized police unit into action. This novelization follows the S.W.A.T. team as its officers attempt to prevent the scheme from succeeding.

Kate Vytautis hires Dan Fortune to find her missing grandfather but omits that the old man wants to remain hidden. The investigation draws the detective into urban militancy, Eastern European political struggles and further disappearances during the Cold War.

Paul Sobers travels to Buena Costa County after his estranged wife is murdered, determined to learn why she left and who killed her. His investigation collides with other deaths, a disappearance and secrets embedded in local families.

A wealthy businessman hires Dan Fortune to retrieve his gambling brother, who has vanished with money intended to free a nephew from jail. The search leads through Manhattan's gaming circles and turns into a dangerous murder investigation.

County investigator Lee Beckett finds a prominent lawyer dead without visible injury, with his politically ambitious boss already at the scene. Determining whether it was accident, suicide or murder requires confronting hidden rivalries in Buena Costa County.

An appeal from former girlfriend Marty draws Dan Fortune into the search for the Canyon Slasher. Investigating on the West Coast, the one-armed detective must untangle a case whose apparent connection to a notorious killer raises further questions.

Dan Fortune is hired by a wealthy father to locate a runaway son and his wife, but neither wants to be found. Competing pursuers and mounting deaths turn the search into an investigation of hidden motives and money.

Paul Shaw's prospective client is murdered before their agreement is settled, leaving the detective working for the widow. Following the killer's trail from Long Island to Manhattan's clubs and lodging houses soon makes Shaw a target himself.

Working at his firm's Los Angeles office, Paul Shaw investigates a client's murder and a drug scheme involving college dropouts. The victim's widow and powerful interests complicate a trail through nightclubs, wealthy estates and the city's dangerous connections.

Dan Fortune searches Manhattan's Minnesota Strip for Roy Carter, who vanished after a Vietnamese refugee sheltered by his family was murdered. The investigation leads through exploitation, drugs and dangerous pursuers as Fortune tries to connect the two cases.

After elderly Communist activist Rosa Gruenfeld is shot, her granddaughter hires Dan Fortune to find the attacker. Investigating Rosa's political life and fractured family relationships puts the detective in danger as he searches for the source of an enduring hatred.

Dan Fortune investigates a death linked to a missing young man involved in Central American gunrunning. His inquiry takes him from New York to California, where family tensions, intelligence agencies and dangerous ambitions complicate the search for answers.

Hired to explain Jack Price's overnight absences, Dan Fortune discovers a high-stakes poker circle in Santa Barbara. When members begin dying, the investigation exposes financial promises and a scheme that threatens everyone drawn into the game.

Esther Valenzuela hires Dan Fortune to identify whoever is following her and locate her missing diplomat husband. Evidence of drug-cartel connections pulls the detective from California toward Guatemala, where intelligence interests and covert power make the case increasingly dangerous.

Dan Fortune investigates the stabbing of homeless woman Cassandra Reilly in a Santa Barbara park. Unconvinced by the apparent explanation, he examines her past and the surrounding community, uncovering tensions that complicate the search for her killers.

This Dan Fortune collection combines shorter mysteries with a novella about a journalist reportedly killed in Africa while investigating a religious leader. Other cases involve a frightened file clerk, a locked-room puzzle and a young man's murder.

Stories set in Central America, the Mojave Desert, and Santa Barbara explore conflicts across wealth, work, ethnicity, and gender. The title novella brings a dissatisfied veterinarian, an invalid philosopher, an apartment manager, and a dying koala into an urban encounter.

Former soldier and intelligence operative Ford Morgan leaves his Costa Rican retreat to help his ex-wife after an assassination attempt on her wealthy husband. Her son's suspected involvement leads him into a family struggle and a dangerous financial scheme.

Fourteen stories follow one-armed private detective Dan Fortune through cases in New York, South America and Santa Barbara. The collection gathers previously uncollected fiction alongside a new story, with an introduction and a checklist of the character's appearances.

Early private-eye stories introduce Slot-Machine Kelly through cases originally published between 1962 and 1966. Author prefaces explain each tale’s place in Dennis Lynds’s development, bringing previously uncollected detective fiction together with reflections on the craft behind it.