Awards & Honors

“By examining the issues of crime and violence from many angles, from the philosophical to the psychological, [Lynds] offers a deeper understanding of what it means to be human, which is, after all, what good literature is really about.”

—Professor David Geherin, The American Private Eye

Awards

Marlowe Award for lifetime body of work, Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Southern California chapter, 2002
MWA nominee for Best Short Story, “The Horrible, Senseless Murders of Two Elderly Women,” 2002
Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Nominee, 1995, 1993, 1984
Guest of Honor, La Ville Est un Roman, Consiel General, Seine St-Denis, Paris, France, 1991
Lifetime Achievement Award, Private Eye Writers of America, 1988
Guest of Honor, 8th Festival du Roman et du Film Policiers, Reims, France, 1986
President, Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), 1985
The Best Suspense Writer of the 1970s Decade, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriminalliteratur, the Crime Literature Association of West Germany, 1980
MWA Special Award, 1969
MWA Edgar Allan Poe Award, 1968.

Honors

Walk a Black Wind by Michael Collins
New York Times list of year’s best mysteries
The National Observer list of the year’s four best mysteries
Shadow of a Tiger by Michael Collins
New York Times list of year’s best mysteries
Silent Scream by Michael Collins
New York Times list of year’s four best detective novels
Circle of Fire by Mark Sadler:
New York Times list of four Best Detective Novels
A Touch of Darkness by John Crowe
New York Times list as one of the year’s three best police procedurals
Minnesota Strip by Michael Collins
The Year’s Best Mystery and Suspense Novels, Edward D. Hoch, ed., Walker & Co.
Red Rosa by Michael Collins
The Year’s Best Mystery and Suspense Novels, Edward D. Hoch, ed., Walker & Co.
Castrato by Michael Collins
The Year’s Best Mystery and Suspense Novels, Edward D. Hoch, ed., Walker & Co.

“[Lynds] is the Costa-Gavras of the PI world … we might also call him the Captain Kirk of PI writers, boldly taking the genre where no colleague has gone before — and doing it so passionately that we can’t help but sign on for the quest with him.”

—critic Francis M. Nevins, Jr.