enjoys a senior status among modern private eyes", predating Lawrence Block, Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, Joseph Hansen, Joe Gores, Michael Lewin, and Bill Pronzini. As Michael Collins, he also wrote two science fiction novels, Lukan War in 1969, and its sequel, The Planets of Death, in 1970. Both novels are about mercenaries in a future where they are despised and reviled by most people. When suddenly the society is attacked by a very dangerous enemy, they are called upon to fight and die to protect the same people who were treating them so badly not long before. As William Arden Beginning in 1968 with The Mystery of the Moaning Cave and ending in 1989 with Hot Wheels, Lynds wrote fourteen novels under the pen name William Arden for the juvenile detective series The Three Investigators, which was originated by Robert Arthur, Jr. Under this same name, he also wrote five novels featuring private eye Kane Jackson, a former military policeman who has become an industrial security specialist after leaving the military. The first Jackson novel, A Dark Power, appeared in 1968. As Arden, Lynds also wrote the highly regarded espionage short story "Success of a Mission," which was a finalist for the 1968 Edgar Award for best short fiction. Other pseudonyms Prolific, explaining that he had more ideas than he knew what to do with, in addition to his Collins name, he created additional series under the pseudonyms Mark Sadler, John Crowe, and Carl Dekker. For a few years, he published under three of these pseudonyms at the same time at three different publishing houses — Dodd Mead, Random House, and Bobbs-Merrill. For many years, The New York Times listed his books annually as among the nation’s top mysteries. One year, two appeared on the same list, each written under a different pseudonym. He also penned 8 Belmont Books mass-market paperbacks of The Shadow from 1964 to 1967 under the Shadow's author by-line Maxwell Grant. Other works As he was writing detective novels, he also published literary books and some 100 literary short stories. Five of the stories were honored in Best American Short Stories. He was twice short-listed for the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. His mystery and detective short stories have appeared in Best Crime & Mystery Stories of the Year many times. Twice he was the guest of honor at literary festivals in France honoring the American detective