As a teenager on the rough streets of New York City, Dan Fortune lost his arm in a failed break-in and decided it was time to go straight. The gritty Chelsea district was his only area of expertise, which is why he ended up in the private detective business there. Still, he’s not your typical beat-’em-up, hard-boiled dick (having only one arm cuts down on the urge for a fistfight) – he relies on brains, persistence, and compassion. Well-read and self-educated, he eventually ends up doing what few other series detectives manage – he makes a radical move, from Chelsea’s dark bars and alleys to the sun-drenched paseos and celluloid dreams of Santa Barbara, California. But the job is always the same – dangerous.
“Finely honed suspense… May he thrive.” — New York Times
“Smashing … leaves the reader breathless.” — Publishers Weekly
“A master of crime fiction.” — Ellery Queen
“The creation of one-armed detective Dan Fortune helped revive the old-fashioned detective yarn.” — Tulsa World
“Dennis Lynds was probably the most important and influential writer of private-eye stories to emerge in the past 40 years. His series about one-armed detective Dan Fortune is filled with the sense of pace, setting, and characterization of a master stylist, and the social consciousness of a committed human being.” — Crippen & Landru
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