Gayle Lynds is an American author. She is known for being a bestselling novelist in the male-dominated genre of spy fiction or spy thrillers. Lynds is an award-winning author and her books are published in some twenty countries. Born in Nebraska, Lynds was raised in Iowa, graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism, and now lives in Maine where she is a full-time novelist.
Biography
Lynds began her writing career as a reporter for the Arizona Republic, where her investigative reporting made such an impact that it led to changes in state legislation. Later, she was an editor with Top Secret security clearance at a government think tank. Her fiction career began with literary short stories published under her own name and several pulp fiction novels under male pseudonyms such as G.H. Stone, Gayle Stone, Nick Carter, and Don Pendleton. She also wrote three novels in The Three Investigators, a YA mystery novel series. With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series and wrote three of the books. In 2004, she co-founded and was elected co-president (with David Morrell) of International Thriller Writers, Inc.[1]
Her husband, fellow novelist Dennis Lynds, died in August 2005. In 2011 she married retired Maine district court judge John C. Sheldon.
Awards and honors
The Last Spymaster was awarded the 2006 Novel of the Year prize from the Military Writers Society of America. Masquerade was listed by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten top spy novels of all time. The Coil was a 2004 BookPage "Notable Title" and won the Affaire de Coeur reader poll for "Best Contemporary Novel." Mosaic was named "Thriller of the Year" by Romantic Times magazine. Mesmerized was a finalist for the 2002 Daphne du Maurier Award. The Hades Factor, which she co-wrote with Robert Ludlum, was a CBS television miniseries in April 2006.
Selected works
Novels
- The Assassins (2015)
- The Book of Spies (2010, also published Library of Gold)
- Some characters in this novel are named after suggestions fans wrote in the author for a contest, although she doesn't say the exact choices.
- The Last Spymaster (2006)
- The Coil (2004)
- Mesmerized (2001)
- Mosaic (1998)
- Masquerade (1996)
Covert-One Novels with Robert Ludlum
- The Altman Code (2003)
- The Paris Option (2002)
- The Hades Factor (2000)
Filmography
- Covert One: The Hades Factor (writer) (2006)