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Dan Fortune #4
Walk a Black Wind
“One of the Year’s Best Mysteries”
– New York Times
– The National Observer
It’s the 1970s, and the edgy metropolis of New York attracts waves of newly liberated young women. Like most of them, Francesca Crawford finds an apartment and a job, and she begins dating. She’s making a life. She’s just twenty years old.
When she’s stabbed to death, a man twenty-five years older than she appears in the office of private investigator Dan Fortune and offers $2,000 – much more than Fortune charges even on his best day; he’ll tell you that himself – to find out who murdered her. The man, a salesman, insists that no one can know he’s the guy who hired Fortune.
As curious about the salesman as about the victim, Fortune soon discovers the young woman ran away from home three months earlier. Her father is the prominent mayor of an upstate city, from an old, aristocratic Dutch family. Still, in New York City she had been working for tips as a cocktail waitress under an assumed name for the two months before her death. Why had she been using a made-up name, and where had she been in that first month after she left home?
Fortune hits the streets to find out. Violence follows him as he heads north. Then, oddly, the trail takes an abrupt turn southwest, to a desolate Arizona Indian reservation. When Fortune uncovers what happened during the missing month, he reveals the terrible secret of why Francesca slammed the door on her past. Swift and passion-filled, the much-lauded Walk a Black Wind is a tale of half truths and lies that erupt in murder.
“In the American private-eye tradition of Chandler, Hammett, and Macdonald.” – The New York Times Book Review
“A master of crime fiction.” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
“[Lynds] writes tales distinguished by a strong personal flavor and originality ... enriched because of Dan Fortune, the compassionate and philosophical private investigator.” – Crime and Mystery
“This is an admirable specimen of the hard-boiled but literate detective novel whose intricately conceived puzzle is matched by its well-paced narrative style.” – The Armchair Detective
– New York Times
– The National Observer
It’s the 1970s, and the edgy metropolis of New York attracts waves of newly liberated young women. Like most of them, Francesca Crawford finds an apartment and a job, and she begins dating. She’s making a life. She’s just twenty years old.
When she’s stabbed to death, a man twenty-five years older than she appears in the office of private investigator Dan Fortune and offers $2,000 – much more than Fortune charges even on his best day; he’ll tell you that himself – to find out who murdered her. The man, a salesman, insists that no one can know he’s the guy who hired Fortune.
As curious about the salesman as about the victim, Fortune soon discovers the young woman ran away from home three months earlier. Her father is the prominent mayor of an upstate city, from an old, aristocratic Dutch family. Still, in New York City she had been working for tips as a cocktail waitress under an assumed name for the two months before her death. Why had she been using a made-up name, and where had she been in that first month after she left home?
Fortune hits the streets to find out. Violence follows him as he heads north. Then, oddly, the trail takes an abrupt turn southwest, to a desolate Arizona Indian reservation. When Fortune uncovers what happened during the missing month, he reveals the terrible secret of why Francesca slammed the door on her past. Swift and passion-filled, the much-lauded Walk a Black Wind is a tale of half truths and lies that erupt in murder.
“In the American private-eye tradition of Chandler, Hammett, and Macdonald.” – The New York Times Book Review
“A master of crime fiction.” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
“[Lynds] writes tales distinguished by a strong personal flavor and originality ... enriched because of Dan Fortune, the compassionate and philosophical private investigator.” – Crime and Mystery
“This is an admirable specimen of the hard-boiled but literate detective novel whose intricately conceived puzzle is matched by its well-paced narrative style.” – The Armchair Detective
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
14 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Michael Collins
35 books6 followersMichael Collins was a Pseudonym of Dennis Lynds (1924–2005), a renowned author of mystery fiction. Raised in New York City, he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart during World War II, before returning to New York to become a magazine editor. He published his first book, a war novel called Combat Soldier, in 1962, before moving to California to write for television.
Two years later Collins published the Edgar Award–winning Act of Fear (1967), which introduced his best-known character: the one-armed private detective Dan Fortune. The Fortune series would last for more than a dozen novels, spanning three decades, and is credited with marking a more politically aware era in private-eye fiction. Besides the Fortune novels, the incredibly prolific Collins wrote science fiction, literary fiction, and several other mystery series. He died in Santa Barbara in 2005.
Two years later Collins published the Edgar Award–winning Act of Fear (1967), which introduced his best-known character: the one-armed private detective Dan Fortune. The Fortune series would last for more than a dozen novels, spanning three decades, and is credited with marking a more politically aware era in private-eye fiction. Besides the Fortune novels, the incredibly prolific Collins wrote science fiction, literary fiction, and several other mystery series. He died in Santa Barbara in 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 5, 2019
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 plenty of it here. But because this is a Dan Fortune novel, and this series is so clearly inspired by Ross Macdonald’s Archer series, eventually, we get to the dirty family dealings. And that’s when the rug of the plot gets pulled out from underneath.
Now, I’m not always a fan of the rug getting pulled out. It can be a lazy plot device. But here, it works and it works for reasons I can’t speak about without spoiling anything. It makes the story about something else but in a way that feels true to the struggle of identity and family life. And as this series has shown through the first four books, it’s not afraid to shy away from social issues. It deals with a big one here that, again, I can’t talk about because of spoilers. And there is a bit too much of the “Proud Liberal White Man” tone in how Collins deals with it. But it’s something you rarely see in mystery novels and I was impressed.
Gonna take a break from this series for a bit but it’s worth returning to.
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 plenty of it here. But because this is a Dan Fortune novel, and this series is so clearly inspired by Ross Macdonald’s Archer series, eventually, we get to the dirty family dealings. And that’s when the rug of the plot gets pulled out from underneath.
Now, I’m not always a fan of the rug getting pulled out. It can be a lazy plot device. But here, it works and it works for reasons I can’t speak about without spoiling anything. It makes the story about something else but in a way that feels true to the struggle of identity and family life. And as this series has shown through the first four books, it’s not afraid to shy away from social issues. It deals with a big one here that, again, I can’t talk about because of spoilers. And there is a bit too much of the “Proud Liberal White Man” tone in how Collins deals with it. But it’s something you rarely see in mystery novels and I was impressed.
Gonna take a break from this series for a bit but it’s worth returning to.
October 23, 2020
Deserves five stars but ...
I wanted to give this fantastic mystery adventure the full five stars, but I just couldn't. Too many little things nagged at me amidst great characters and a plot that never stopped moving. The little things. Like after being tied up, the one-armed detective "rubbed his wrists" to get blood circulating? And some of the killings and character leaps and long explanatory expositions ... A fantastic story by a master writer. Just missing a little something for me when all said and done.
I wanted to give this fantastic mystery adventure the full five stars, but I just couldn't. Too many little things nagged at me amidst great characters and a plot that never stopped moving. The little things. Like after being tied up, the one-armed detective "rubbed his wrists" to get blood circulating? And some of the killings and character leaps and long explanatory expositions ... A fantastic story by a master writer. Just missing a little something for me when all said and done.
October 23, 2017
Walk a Black Wind Dennis Lynds
A life of privilege, forsaken for passion. Her lover, husband goes to war. Korea. He becomes POW. Escapes. Returns home after a long absence. He has two daughters, that he will never know. He's wife has remarried. Returned to her life of privilege and status. She will protect it at all costs. Fate or just bad luck? A tremendous read. Full of twists and turns. Betrayal, deceit and will the truth be told?
A life of privilege, forsaken for passion. Her lover, husband goes to war. Korea. He becomes POW. Escapes. Returns home after a long absence. He has two daughters, that he will never know. He's wife has remarried. Returned to her life of privilege and status. She will protect it at all costs. Fate or just bad luck? A tremendous read. Full of twists and turns. Betrayal, deceit and will the truth be told?
May 1, 2023
OK detective novel. Not the worst I've read but far from the best. Originally published in 1973.
October 18, 2025
RATING: 3.5
June 30, 2014
pseud Dennis Lynds
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews