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'''Michael Zinn Lewin''' (born 1942, Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American writer of mystery fiction primarily known for his series about [[Albert Samson]], a distinctly non-hardboiled [[private detective]] who plies his trade from a modest walk-up apartment in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]. Lewin himself grew up in Indianapolis, but after graduating from [[Harvard]] and living for a few years in [[New York City]], has lived in England for the last 40 years. Most of his fiction, however, continues to be set in Indianapolis, including a secondary series featuring [[Leroy Powers]], a black policeman who frequently appears in the Samson novels, generally in a semi-confrontational manner. The Samson stories are told in the breezy first-person narrative form typical of private-eye novels and are witty, off-beat for both their plotting and their somewhat unusual setting, as well as for the somewhat off-beat personal life that Samson leads with his mother and a long-time but nameless occasional girlfriend whom he refers to as "my woman".  Although the stories start off in modest, understated fashion about seemingly trivial domestic matters, they eventually escalate to scenes of startling violence.  Of major importance in the stories is the locale itself, the city of Indianapolis and its surrounding countryside, and Samson is certainly one of the most important of the [[regional]] detectives in mystery fiction, as well as being one of the very first.
{{Image|Michael Z. Lewin.jpg|left|150px|Michael Z. Lewin in 2010.}}


'''Michael Zinn Lewin''' (born 1942, Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American writer of mystery fiction primarily known for his series about [[Albert Samson]], a distinctly low-keyed, non-hardboiled [[private detective]] who plies his trade from a modest walk-up apartment in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]].  Lewin himself grew up in Indianapolis, but after graduating from [[Harvard]] and living for a few years in [[New York, New York|New York City]], has lived in England for the last 40 years. Most of his fiction, however, continues to be set in Indianapolis, including a secondary series about [[Leroy Powder]], a policeman who frequently appears in the Samson novels, generally in a semi-confrontational manner. He is the son of [[Leonard C. Lewin]], author of the 1967 bestselling satire ''[[The Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace]]''.


Indianapolis novels.
==Albert Samson==
{{Image|Ask the Right Question.jpg|right|150px|Cover of the 1979 paperback edition of the first Albert Samson novel.}}


These books feature a main character but also have characters who reoccur in other characters’ books.
The Samson stories are told in the breezy first-person narrative form typical of private-eye novels and are witty and somewhat off-beat, both for their plotting and their somewhat unusual setting, as well as for the sharply drawn relationships that Samson has with his mother, who owns a diner, and with his long-time but nameless  girlfriend, whom he refers to only as "my woman". He eschews whiskey and chasing women in the manner characteristic of his fictional confrères, does not own a gun, makes modest, non-gourmet meals for himself from cans, and shoots hoops as a recreation.  Although the stories start off in modest, understated fashion about seemingly trivial domestic matters, they eventually escalate to scenes of startling violence.  Of major importance in the stories is the locale itself, the city of Indianapolis and its surrounding countryside, and Samson is certainly one of the most important of the [[regional detective]]s in mystery fiction, as well as being one of the very first to appear in what is now a widespread genre.  


Albert Samson
==Critical reception==
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION 1971 Putnam
THE WAY WE DIE NOW 1973 Putnam
THE ENEMIES WITHIN 1974 Knopf
THE SILENT SALESMAN 1978 Knopf
MISSING WOMAN 1981 Knopf
OUT OF SEASON (OUT OF TIME, UK) 1984 Morrow
CALLED BY A PANTHER 1991 Mysterious
EYE OPENER 2004 Five Star


Leroy Powder
The ''New York Times'' gave a favorable review to the first Samson adventure:
NIGHT COVER 1976 Knopf
<blockquote>It is always pleasant to come across a promising talent, and Michael Z. Lewin is one. His first book, ''Ask the Right Question'', is a smoothly written private-eye story.  Locale, Indianapolis. A teenage girl hires a detective to discover her biological (i.e. real) father.
HARD LINE 1982 Morrow
He starts investigating, and naturally bugs crawl out of the woodwork.<br/><br/>
LATE PAYMENTS 1986 Morrow


Adele Buffington
Albert Samson, the not-too-successful private eye, may over-indulge in self-pity—but he understands people and is basically honest with himself and others.  Characters are finely drawn, plotting is logical, details are well worked out.  You can be sure that we'll be seeing more of Mr. Samson.<ref>"Criminals at Large," by Newgate Callendar, the ''New York Times'', November 21, 1971, at [http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30C14FD3C5E127A93C3AB178AD95F458785F9]</ref> </blockquote>
AND BABY WILL FALL (CHILD PROOF, UK) 1988 Morrow


Jan Moro
It was also one of the five nominees for the [[Mystery Writers of America]] annual Edgar prize for the Best First Novel by An American Writer awarded in 1972 for books published in 1971.<ref>All the nominees for best first novel are listed at [http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php]</ref>
UNDERDOG 1993 Mysterious


Joe Prince
Twenty years later, with the publication of the seventh Samson book, ''Called by a Panther'', about the detective's calamitous involvement with a gang of inept ecological terrorists, the ''Times'' wrote:
OH JOE 2008 Five Star


Non-series
<blockquote>The waggish author takes an irreverent view of his wholesome hero, who has been attracting wacky clients ever since he began advertising his services on a local cable television station. It seems he projects "an amateurish professionalism that is completely irresistible" to Indy's oddies. To do justice to his mercurial characters, Mr. Lewin skimps on procedures and dawdles over the mystery's simple resolution. But he is an amusing writer and an ironic commentator on the current state of Midwestern bizarre. <ref>"Crime", by Marilyn Stasio, the ''New York Times'', July 21, 1971, at [http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/21/books/crime-734091.html?scp=1&sq=]</ref></blockquote>
OUTSIDE IN 1980 Knopf


Other novels
Many of the Samson books have endings that, while satisfyingly logical, are something less than unalloyed triumphs for the hero; the conclusion of ''Called by a Panther'', however, is downbeat to the point of grimness.


CUTTING LOOSE 1999 Holt
==Indianapolis novels==
This is a historical novel, published as a Young Adult book. It’s set in the US (including Indianapolis) and the UK.


Lunghi novels – set in Bath, England
Books that take place in Indiana


FAMILY BUSINESS 1995 Foul Play
===Albert Samson novels===
FAMILY PLANNING 1999 St Martin’s


Story collections
*''Ask the Right Question'', Putnam, New York, 1971<br/>
*''The Way We Die Now'', Putnam, New York, 1973<br/>
*''The Enemies Within'', Knopf, New York, 1974 <br/>
*''The Silent Salesman'', Knopf, New York, 1978 <br/>
*''Missing Woman'', Knopf, New York, 1981 <br/>
*''Out of Season'', Morrow, New York, 1984; British title: ''Out of Time'', Oldcastle Books, 1984<br/>
*''Called by a Panther'', Mysterious Press, New York, 1991<br/>
*''Eye Opener'', Five Star, 2004<br/>


TELLING TAILS 1994 PawPaw (UK)
===Leroy Powder novels===
ROVER’S TALES 1998 St Martin’s
*''Night Cover'', Knopf, New York, 1976<br/>
Illustrations by Karen Wallis
*''Hard Line'', Morrow, New York, 1982<br/>
THE RELUCTANT DETECTIVE and other stories 2001
*''Late Payments'', Morrow, New York, 1986<br/>
Crippen & Landru
The title story of this collection was nominated for an Edgar in 1984 but after publication a second story in the collection was also nominated for an Edgar in 2002.


Audio book:
===Adele Buffington novel===
The previously nameless girlfriend that Samson refers to as "my woman" in his own books


ROVER’S TALES Unabridged, read by the author
*''And Baby Will Fall'', Morrow, New York, 1988; British title: ''Child Proof''
Blackstone Audio Books, 99


Novelization:
Jan Moro
UNDERDOG 1993 Mysterious


THE NEXT MAN 1976 Warner
Joe Prince
This book was based on was a movie starring Sean Connery. I included all the scenes and dialogue from the film script with many enhancements and embellishments of my own. The film's producers were pleased with the result and the book came out in at least two countries where the movie didn't. Sorry to say, the screen version was not a success. Part of the NY Times review read that it was “made by people whose talent for filmmaking and knowledge of international affairs would both fit comfortably into the left nostril of a small bee.” Ah well.
OH JOE 2008 Five Star


Non-series
OUTSIDE IN 1980 Knopf


Non-fiction:
==Reference==
 
<references/>
HOW TO BEAT COLLEGE TESTS: A Guide to Ease the Burden of Useless Courses 1970 Dial Press
Even today college students find many tests to be a mystery – especially the badly written ones.
 
Non-book information
 
 
The extended list of my stories, plays, non-fiction and awards goes on a bit, but a few visitors to this site have asked that I post them. So here goes.
 
Short stories
 
The Loss Factor UK: “Penthouse”, 75
Students of Disaster First with the Swedish
edition of THE ENEMIES WITHIN, 78 UK: MATCH ME SIDNEY, No Exit, 89, US: EQMM, Jan 94
Fast Lane "Woman" July 7, 79
Wrong Number CRIME WAVE, Swedish Academy of
Detection, 81 Collins, London, 81
How in One Week I Achieved A Place in the Frome Basketball Hall of Fame "Basketball" 1981ish
The Frome Fundraisers "Basketball" 1981ish
How I Took Up Coaching and Got My First Whiff of Success "Basketball" 1981ish
 
Silent Testimony AHMM, March 82
The Reluctant Detective THE EYES HAVE IT, ed Robert J Randisi, Mysterious, 84
Family Business Lunghi story UK: WINTERS CRIMES 20,ed Hilary Hale, MacMillan, 88 US: AHMM March 94
At Home UK: NEW CRIMES, ed Maxim Jakubowski Robinson, 89
Wedding Bells Lunghi story UK: NEW CRIMES 2, ed Maxim Jakubowski Robinson, 90
Danny Gets It Right UK: CRIME WAVES 1,ed HRF Keating, Gollancz, 91
You Pay For Everything EQMM, Dec 92
The Truth EQMM, Mar 92
Danny Pulls His Weight UK: 1st CULPRIT, eds Liza Cody and Michael Z. Lewin, Chatto & Windus, 92
Rainey Shines EQMM, July 93
Gains And Losses Lunghi story UK: MIDWINTERS CRIMES, ed Hilary Hale, Scribners, 93 US: EQMM, July 94
The Stranger EQMM, Sept 93 ROYAL CRIMES, ed Maxim Jakubowski and Martin H. Greenberg, Signet, 94
Boss UK: 2nd CULPRIT, eds Liza Cody and Michael Z. Lewin Chatto & Windus, 93 US: EQMM, Feb 95
Kitty Kitty Japan: Hayakawa Mystery Magazine, 93
In Mitigation UK: NEW CRIMES ?, ? 93?
Travel Plans Lunghi story AHMM, April 94
Suicide Note The Armchair Detective, Winter 94
What A Woman Wants MURDER FOR HALLOWEEN, ed Michele Slung and “Roland Hartman”, Mysterious, 94
Blood Blue EQMM, June 94
The Hit EQMM, Oct 94
Cormorants UK: LONDON NOIR, ed Maxim Jakubowski, Serpent’s Tail, 94
The Hand That Feeds Me Rover story UK: 3rd CULPRIT, eds Liza Cody, Peter Lovesey and Michael Z. Lewin, Chatto & Windus, 94
Dr. Bud, CA UK: CRIME YELLOW, ed Maxim Jakubowski, Gollancz, 94
Cross, Rems Of EQMM, April 95
Albert’s List Albert Samson story UK: NO ALIBI, ed Maxim Jakubowski, Ringpull, 95
Oil And Water EQMM, May 99
Backing UK: BLUE LIGHTNING, ed John Harvey, Slow Dancer, 99
Night Shift Leroy Powder story, Japan: Hayakawa Mystery Magazine, ? 99 US: EQMM July 01
Backwater DIAGNOSIS DEAD, Jonathan Kellerman and Martin H. Greenberg, pbk, 99
Gunpoint Lunghi story Japan: Hayakawa Mystery Magazine, Sept 00 US: EQMM, Dec 00
Pay Phone Lunghi story AHMM, Mar 01
If The Glove Fits EQMM Sept/​Oct 01
Rover - CSI Indy Men's Magazine Oct 03
Cigarettes EQMM Sept/​Oct 04 and Best British Mysteries 06, ed Maxim Jakubowski
911 Leroy Powder story EQMM Feb 05
The Jane Case Lunghi story AHMM May 05
Block AHMM Sept 05
And Maybe More Lunghi story EQMM Sept/​Oct 05
Friends of the Garrick in The Verdict of Us All, Crippen & Landru 2006
Wheeze in The Ideas Experiment 06 and EQMM Mar/​Ap 07
They Never Listen and D'Ya Hear Me Garth and Annette, EQMM May 07
Death Row AHMM Mar 08
 
Coming soon in EQMM Who Killed Frankie Almond?, The Wilt of Love, Password. Other stories with publication tba Powder Goes Hunting and a Rover story, Desperate Bitches
 
EQMM is Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
AHMM is Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
 
Competition mystery story:
 
Murder in the Library Indianapolis Star, 93
 
Poem
 
Whodunnit? EQMM July 2003
 
Drama
 
Crimey radio plays
 
"The Loss Factor" 74 45” BBC, adapted from my story of the same name
"The Way We Die Now" 74 90” BBC, adapted from my novel
"The Enemies Within" 76 90” BBC, adapted from my novel
"Arrest Is As Good As A Change" 82 45” BBC, original play
"Rainey Shines" 87 55” BBC, adapted from my story
"Ask the Right Question" 88 60” Germany, BBC 9?, adapted from my novel
"Missing Woman" 91 60” BBC, adapted from my novel
"Cross, Rems Of" 9? 30” Belgium, adapted from my story of the same name
"Rough Cider" 9? 90” BBC, adapted from Peter Lovesey novel
"Keystone" 9? 90” BBC, adapted from Peter Lovesey novel
"The Silent Salesman" 99 90” (in 2 parts) Germany, adapted from my novel
 
Competition radio play
 
"Who Killed Gnutley Almond?"
Five 5” episodes of this original play were broadcast on consecutive days on the BBC for a week leading up to the 95 Bouchercon in Nottingham. Listeners were invited to provide a solution. All the episodes plus my solution were then broadcast as complete 30” play.
 
Vaguely mystery radio plays
 
"Place of Safety" 85 90” BBC, original play
"The Interests of the Child" 87 90” BBC, original play
"Jingle" 99 45” BBC, adapted from the story “Backing”
 
 
Crime Stage Plays
 
"Deadlock" Written on commission for and with Dr Fosters Travelling Theatre. British-set small-cast multi-role whodunnit.
Toured in the UK for 8 weeks in Oct/​Nov 90
 
"Who Killed Frankie Almond?" Based on the competition radio play of similar name.
This version was first staged in a radio format as a competition library event in the fall of 95 for the Indianapolis and Marion County Public Library.
 
"Whooodunnit?" Episodic play structured in a radio format, like Frankie Almond. First staged in Indianapolis and Marion County Public Library in fall of 98.
 
TV movies
 
MISSING WOMAN In Japan in the late ‘80s
 
AND BABY WILL FALL Japanese TV, 90” adaptation 2001
 
 
 
Non-fiction (not including book reviews)
 
"Now Is Now" Sport Magazine 1970 (on Roger Brown)
 
"Mr Inside Mr Outside" Sport Magazine 1970
 
“Soft-Boiled But Still An Egg” (how Albert Samson originated)
MURDER INK, ed Dilys Wynn, Workman, 77
 
“Afternoon by the Pool” (about meeting Ross Macdonald)
INWARD JOURNEY – Ross Macdonald, ed Ralph Sipper
Cordelia Productions, 84
 
"The Calorie Bank Diet" - Syndicated in US early '80s
 
“Liza Cody’s Anna Lee” UK: 100 GREAT DETECTIVES, ed Maxim Jakubowski
Xanadu, 91
 
“Foreword” to Marcia Muller’s EDWIN OF THE IRON SHOES
UK: Chivers, 93


“Chandler from the Perspective of a Working Detective Writer”
==See also==
Germany: RAYMOND CHANDLER JARHBUCH 1.
*[[Crime fiction/Catalog of prominent writers]]
Ed William Adamson, Andreas-Haller-Verlag, 96
*[[Crime fiction/Catalogs/Famous detectives]]
(Published in English…)

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© Photo: Michael Z. Lewin
Michael Z. Lewin in 2010.

Michael Zinn Lewin (born 1942, Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American writer of mystery fiction primarily known for his series about Albert Samson, a distinctly low-keyed, non-hardboiled private detective who plies his trade from a modest walk-up apartment in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lewin himself grew up in Indianapolis, but after graduating from Harvard and living for a few years in New York City, has lived in England for the last 40 years. Most of his fiction, however, continues to be set in Indianapolis, including a secondary series about Leroy Powder, a policeman who frequently appears in the Samson novels, generally in a semi-confrontational manner. He is the son of Leonard C. Lewin, author of the 1967 bestselling satire The Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace.

Albert Samson

Cover of the 1979 paperback edition of the first Albert Samson novel.

The Samson stories are told in the breezy first-person narrative form typical of private-eye novels and are witty and somewhat off-beat, both for their plotting and their somewhat unusual setting, as well as for the sharply drawn relationships that Samson has with his mother, who owns a diner, and with his long-time but nameless girlfriend, whom he refers to only as "my woman". He eschews whiskey and chasing women in the manner characteristic of his fictional confrères, does not own a gun, makes modest, non-gourmet meals for himself from cans, and shoots hoops as a recreation. Although the stories start off in modest, understated fashion about seemingly trivial domestic matters, they eventually escalate to scenes of startling violence. Of major importance in the stories is the locale itself, the city of Indianapolis and its surrounding countryside, and Samson is certainly one of the most important of the regional detectives in mystery fiction, as well as being one of the very first to appear in what is now a widespread genre.

Critical reception

The New York Times gave a favorable review to the first Samson adventure:

It is always pleasant to come across a promising talent, and Michael Z. Lewin is one. His first book, Ask the Right Question, is a smoothly written private-eye story. Locale, Indianapolis. A teenage girl hires a detective to discover her biological (i.e. real) father.

He starts investigating, and naturally bugs crawl out of the woodwork.

Albert Samson, the not-too-successful private eye, may over-indulge in self-pity—but he understands people and is basically honest with himself and others. Characters are finely drawn, plotting is logical, details are well worked out. You can be sure that we'll be seeing more of Mr. Samson.[1]

It was also one of the five nominees for the Mystery Writers of America annual Edgar prize for the Best First Novel by An American Writer awarded in 1972 for books published in 1971.[2]

Twenty years later, with the publication of the seventh Samson book, Called by a Panther, about the detective's calamitous involvement with a gang of inept ecological terrorists, the Times wrote:

The waggish author takes an irreverent view of his wholesome hero, who has been attracting wacky clients ever since he began advertising his services on a local cable television station. It seems he projects "an amateurish professionalism that is completely irresistible" to Indy's oddies. To do justice to his mercurial characters, Mr. Lewin skimps on procedures and dawdles over the mystery's simple resolution. But he is an amusing writer and an ironic commentator on the current state of Midwestern bizarre. [3]

Many of the Samson books have endings that, while satisfyingly logical, are something less than unalloyed triumphs for the hero; the conclusion of Called by a Panther, however, is downbeat to the point of grimness.

Indianapolis novels

Books that take place in Indiana

Albert Samson novels

  • Ask the Right Question, Putnam, New York, 1971
  • The Way We Die Now, Putnam, New York, 1973
  • The Enemies Within, Knopf, New York, 1974
  • The Silent Salesman, Knopf, New York, 1978
  • Missing Woman, Knopf, New York, 1981
  • Out of Season, Morrow, New York, 1984; British title: Out of Time, Oldcastle Books, 1984
  • Called by a Panther, Mysterious Press, New York, 1991
  • Eye Opener, Five Star, 2004

Leroy Powder novels

  • Night Cover, Knopf, New York, 1976
  • Hard Line, Morrow, New York, 1982
  • Late Payments, Morrow, New York, 1986

Adele Buffington novel

The previously nameless girlfriend that Samson refers to as "my woman" in his own books

  • And Baby Will Fall, Morrow, New York, 1988; British title: Child Proof

Jan Moro UNDERDOG 1993 Mysterious

Joe Prince OH JOE 2008 Five Star

Non-series OUTSIDE IN 1980 Knopf

Reference

  1. ↑ "Criminals at Large," by Newgate Callendar, the New York Times, November 21, 1971, at [1]
  2. ↑ All the nominees for best first novel are listed at [2]
  3. ↑ "Crime", by Marilyn Stasio, the New York Times, July 21, 1971, at [3]

See also

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