Cassandra in Red

Dan Fortune #17

by Michael Collins

One-armed detective Dan Fortune investigates the murder of Cassandra Reilly, a homeless woman found savagely stabbed to death under the bandstand of a park in Santa Barbara, California

Genres: Mystery

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: all of Dan's skills are needed to find the killers of Cassandra Reilly, a homeless woman - based on a real 1992 event.