Back in the day, the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City wasn’t hip, chic, expensive, and yuppified, with a Starbucks on every block. In fact, it was such a lousy place to live, you could hardly give the real estate away. Populated by gangsters, muggers, grandmothers with baseball bats, and parents working long hours on the wrong side of the law to pay for tenement apartments with no view, the place was also colorful, with memorable characters straight out of a Damon Runyon novel. It was in this live-by-your-wits atmosphere that Dan Fortune grew up. One of his best boyhood friends was Andy Pappas. They broke into the holds of ships together, stealing cargo, watching one another’s back. But things happen. Dan lost his arm in a failed robbery attempt, and decided it was time to figure out another way to make a living. With the people and geography of Chelsea his only areas of expertise, he put out his shingle: Dan Fortune, Private Detective. But Andy liked his life of crime, and power was addictive. Andy stayed the course, killing his way up until he took over the docks. He was boss of bosses, a vicious racketeer. Still, he’d let Dan be familiar, call him by his first name, even give him crap – until now. Now Dan is trying to track down a teenager named Jo-Jo Olsen. It looks like a routine missing-persons case, until Jo-Jo’s friends start dying violently, one by one, just before Dan can question them. Then Andy Pappas warns Dan that unless he cools it on Jo-Jo, he’ll end up on the rapidly growing pile of corpses. It doesn’t make sense. Why does Andy Pappas care about Jo-Jo, and what does Dan need to do to stay alive long enough to find out and save the kid? Act of Fear is the winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel “Collins has the ability to set in motion a sequence of events that moves with the inevitability of a huge boulder rolling down a mountainside.” – New York Times “A master of crime fiction.” – Ellery Queen “Act of Fear is the most interesting private detective novel I have read in a long time. It is a highly original piece of work in a field not noted for much originality. Mr. Collins is a writer to watch and, above all, to read.” – Ross Macdonald Winner of the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel "Action, excitement, and entertainment." - Library Journal, - "[Lynds] sets in motion a sequence of events that moves with the inevitability of a huge boulder rolling down a mountainside." - New York Times - "He's a master of crime fiction." - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - "Act of Fear is the most interesting private detective novel I have read in a long time. It is a highly original piece of work in a field not noted for much originality. Mr. Collins is a writer to watch and, above all, to read." - Ross Macdonald - The Dan Fortune books are "densely plotted, finely characterised and highly regarded suspense novels." - The Financial Times of London Dennis Lynds wrote more than 60 books and 200 short stories. His Dan Fortune novels are considered one of America's most classic and beloved series of detective mysteries.  He won numerous prizes including the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Private Eye Writers of America. His work was chosen for Best American Short Stories and Best Mystery and Suspense Stories. A teenage rifleman in World War II, he came home with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He went on to earn degrees in chemistry and journalism and was a New York magazine editor for many years.  Born in 1924, he died in 2005.  Obituaries celebrating him appeared around the globe. His career had lasted more than fifty years. "To spin tales as intriguing and thought provoking as Lynds's for decades is a remarkable enough achievement. Even more remarkable is the sustained quality." - Los Angeles Times