Mysterious Goings-On in Santa Barbara

Sleep rolls like fog over the Mesa neighborhood, but skips that clamorous house on the hill. On a deck overlooking the Pacific, a man curses all New York publishers. In the dark, some mid-list writers argue passionately about books with a writing professor. Suddenly, a woman leans over the railing and howls at the full moon. Writer and real-life detective Philip Shelton quickly steers her into the house while mystery author Julie Smith laughs uproariously. Before long, the neighbors will telephone the house and politely inquire: “Are you guys all right?”

“Oh, yes,” Gayle Lynds will say breezily. “It’s just another one of our little gatherings.”

Gayle and Dennis Lynds have become the locus of Santa Barbara’s literary monde noir, throwing dinners and parties for the town’s growing list of suspense writers. “We just talk, swear, laugh, eat well, smoke outside and drink a wee bit, filling in each other on the latest news from Hollywood or New York,” said Gayle. Yet, some authors consider these gatherings to be a lifeline on the moody sea that is the writer’s life.

You could say that the Lyndses are a throwback to the early 20th century, when ink-stained wits held forth in bars and parlors, drinking, smoking and arguing. “Gayle and Dennis host a real, old-fashioned salon, where you always find an interesting crowd,” said Smith.

The two are a driving force behind a round-table of published writers who meet casually over lunch every month. They are often asked to review manuscripts, address conferences or help break a fellow writer’s block. Dennis is committed to the work of the Authors Guild and National Writers Union, which are fighting to protect writers’ copyrights. “I’m an eyes-open socialist,” he explained. “I look around and see that it’s not easy for writers today.”

Over the years, the publishing industry has shrunk from a dozen healthy competitive houses to a few conglomerates. Editors no longer have time to bring along a good writer, Dennis said, because “they’re trying to hit the owners’ earnings target.” And the mid-list writer suffers the most, which is why the Lyndses believe it’s important for fellow writers to nurture and nudge one another.

“Writers have become more aggressive and less collegial in the last few years, probably because publishing has turned so brutal,” Dennis said. “But we don’t feel as competitive as some writers do about their work.” That may be because genre writers have traditionally been disdained by the literary community and therefore tend to band together, Gayle said. “Writers by nature are loners. We just try to make the journey a little less arduous and a lot more fun.”

Prolific Purveyors of Novel Thrills

Both of them are prolific and well-respected. The mustached Dennis stands 6-foot-3 and wears jeans, boots and a short-brimmed cowboy hat. He’s written 70 books under eight pseudonyms, and scholars credit him with creating one of the first compassionate private eyes in American literature.

Under the pen name Mark Sadler, he injected the P.I. into the abyss of Nixon’s Vietnam. As William Arden, he tackled industrial espionage. But as Michael Collins, Lynds introduced in 1966 his best-known character: the one-armed detective Dan Fortune, who evoked compassion in readers and whose clients are psychologically maimed. Like Columbo’s raincoat, Fortune’s disability fools villains and charms readers.

Dennis has used this character over the years to experiment with the mystery genre, integrating styles, news items and short stories into his novels. In March, Dennis published a collection of Dan Fortune tales, “Fortune’s World” (Crippen and Landru), which The Times called a “remarkable” example of the renaissance unfolding today in the short-story crime genre.

Gayle writes thrillers. She’s a tall brunet who is partial to flats, cats and black slacks. During another marriage, she worked as an editor at a think tank, where she was privy to top-secret government research. After her divorce, she supported two children by writing adventure novels under male pseudonyms.

In 1986, she married Dennis and started coming into her own. “Gayle really is the only woman writing international thrillers,” said Fred Klein, a friend and former vice president of Bantam Books in New York. But it was tough for her to break into the spy genre. The head of one large New York house read Gayle’s manuscript and demanded proof of her gender, saying: “No woman could have written this!” Rather than photograph her anatomy, Gayle passed on that publisher.

She went on to write three New York Times bestsellers: her debut novel “Masquerade” (Doubleday, 1996); “Mosaic” (Pocket Books, 1998); and “The Hades Factor” (St. Martin’s/Griffin, 2000), which she co-wrote with the late Robert Ludlum. The spymaster called Lynds “a writer to watch and thoroughly enjoy,” and gave high praise to the newly released “Mesmerized” (Pocket Books). That book is expected to be another bestseller and, like her others, centers on a headstrong heroine who must solve a puzzle before it explodes into global disaster.

Busy Days and Mutual Support

On most days, the two writers begin work at 6 a.m., shuttered in their separate lairs. “I walk around with a cloud over my head,” said Gayle. At the end of the day, they walk downhill to a locally owned coffee shop where they read one another’s pages. “It’s wonderful being married to another writer, as Dennis understands my obsessions,” said Gayle. “Plus, we don’t have to inflict our craziness on other human beings,” Dennis added. Each considers the other editor, advisor and sounding board.

But as soon as a friend signs a contract or completes a book, the Lyndses throw open their doors. Their two-story house is light and airy from the huge windows that face the sea. The walls are filled with framed oils and watercolors painted by mostly local, nationally known artists, such as Channing Peake, Ines Roberts and Saritha Margon. Guests flow easily between the dining room, where Gayle typically serves cold soup, French bread and roast lamb, and the outdoor deck, where Dennis pours bottles of fine local wine. At some point, collective fancy takes flight.

When Smith was “laboring in obscurity” writing her ninth book, she was a frequent guest. “Gayle and I would chew over plot developments,” she said. Those talks helped inspire Smith as she wrote “New Orleans Mourning,” which won the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award for best novel in 1990. When Richard Barre began his first mystery, he was unknown even to the Lyndses. But Barre telephoned Dennis, introduced himself and asked if Dennis would read his manuscript. “Dennis gave me a very nice blurb for my first book.” “The Innocents” went on to win the 1996 Shamus Award and spawned a series of acclaimed Wil Hardesty books. Barre considers Gayle and Dennis his own “Dear Abby and Ann Landers, full of encouragement and advice.”

When small publisher John Daniel & Co. asked if it could publish some of Dennis’ stories, he agreed. “He was so highly regarded that the book [‘Talking to the World’] generated a lot of attention for us,” said co-owner Susan Daniel. And then there’s the time USC professor Shelly Lowenkopf met John Milton, the editor of the literary journal South Dakota Review, at a dinner party at the Lyndses. A few months later, the Review published Lowenkopf’s first short story, which helped catapult the professor’s fiction into several other literary quarterlies.

The Lyndses fan the public literary fires too. Dennis, who is popular in Europe, has often been invited to speak in France and Spain, and the Germans have honored him. He and Gayle speak frequently at Santa Barbara City College, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and other community events. “There are a lot of important writers who live here but who don’t participate in the larger literary community,” said Susan Daniel. “They do.”

About four years ago, the couple helped organize a monthly round-table at which working writers could talk shop. “The group is always in flux,” said Gayle. It has included Allan Folsom (“Day After Tomorrow”), J.F. Freedman (“Above the Law”) and the occasional out-of-towner on tour. Said Dennis: “I like the idea of us all hanging together. Besides, it’s part of a long Santa Barbara tradition.”

In the late 1940s, a group of authors started sharing beers and tortillas at a downtown restaurant. Ken Millar (who wrote as Ross Macdonald), William Campbell Gault (who wrote the Brock Callahan crime series), Bob Easton (who chronicled the infamous 1969 oil spill here), Dave Dresser (of Brett Halliday fame) and 30 others turned lunch into a monthly date. When Dennis arrived from New York City in 1965, he was invited to join.

At the time, he was developing a new character and asked Millar to look at his manuscript. Millar wrote such an enthusiastic endorsement, that Dodd, Mead published what became Michael Collins’ first novel, “Act of Fear.” In 1967, that Dan Fortune book won the Edgar Award for best first novel. In 1988, the Private Eye Writers of America honored Dennis with a lifetime achievement award.

But times have changed. Networking has replaced revelry and time management crowds out inspiration. Yet the Lyndses don’t seem to notice; they continue brainstorming and merrymaking with fellow scribblers. As Gayle said: “The way this whole thing works is that we are all searching for ways to write better stories and touch more people.

“The whole point of it is the book.”

Gayle and Dennis Lynds will sign their new books at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood at 1 p.m. Saturday. Gayle will also have signings at Vroman’s in Pasadena on Wednesday; at Dutton’s in Brentwood and Brentano’s in Century City on Thursday; and at Mysteries to Die For on May 11. Call stores for more information.