Collin Wilcox
Collin M. Wilcox was an American author and businessman, born on September 21, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II and later pursued a degree in English literature at Antioch College, graduating in 1948. Throughout his early career, he taught art, worked in advertising, and entered the furniture industry, eventually founding his own lighting company. Wilcox transitioned to writing in 1972, where he found recognition primarily for his police procedural series featuring Sergeant Frank Hastings, which began in 1969 with "The Lonely Hunter" and concluded with "Calculated Risk" in 1995. His works are noted for their incorporation of social and psychological themes reflective of the changing landscape of San Francisco over the decades. Additionally, he explored other genres, including suspense and mystery, producing notable titles such as "Spellbinder" and collaborations with other authors. Wilcox was actively involved in the literary community, serving as a regional vice president of the Mystery Writers of America. He passed away from cancer on July 12, 1996, in San Francisco, leaving behind a legacy of character-driven narratives intertwined with contemporary issues of his time.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Collin Wilcox
Author
- Born: September 21, 1924
- Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
- Died: July 12, 1996
- Place of death: San Francisco, California
Biography
Collin M. Wilcox was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 21, 1924. His parents were Harlan Collin Wilcox and Lucile Armina Spangler Wilcox. He served with the United States Army Air Force from 1943 to 1944. In 1948, he received his B.A. in English literature in 1948 from Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 1954, he married Beverly Buchman. They had two sons, Chrisopher and Jeffrey. The couple was divorced in 1964.
After graduating from Antioch, Wilcox taught art for two years at Town School, San Francisco, and then worked briefly as an advertising copywriter. In 1953, he went into the furniture business as a partner in Amthor and Company. In 1955, he founded his own lighting company, Collin Wilcox Lamps. In 1972, he left the business to become a full-time writer. Wilcox remained in the San Francisco area for the rest of his life. He died there of cancer on July 12, 1996.
At first, Wilcox intended to alternate writing series mysteries with suspense novels, which he believed presented more of a challenge. However, Stephen Drake, the clairvoyant San Francisco newspaper reporter who appeared in Wilcox’s first two books, failed to capture the imagination of the public. Wilcox’s straight suspense books were only moderately successful, beginning with The Faceless Man, which was published in 1975 under the pseudonym of Carter Wick. Wilcox’s suspense novels included Twospot, written with Bill Pronzini, and Spellbinder, one of the first books about television evangelists.
Between 1988 and 1994, Wilcox wrote five mysteries featuring Alan Bernhardt, a San Francisco actor and director who is also a part-time private investigator. However, Wilcox is remembered primarily as the author of a police procedural series featuring Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Frank Hastings of the San Francisco Homicide Squad. The series began in 1969 with The Lonely Hunter; the final novel, Calculated Risk, was published the year before the author’s death in 1996. The series can be read as a chronicle of two and a half decades of life in San Francisco. The Lonely Hunter is set in the hippie period, when drug pushers infest San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury district; by contrast, Calculated Risk deals with gay-bashing and AIDS. However, though Hastings is a tough, analytical professional like heroes of the hard-boiled mystery genre, he is also very human. In The Lonely Hunter, he worries about his runaway daughter; in Aftershock, he is concerned about a woman he cares about, and in Calculated Risk, he is involved in another romantic relationship, this time with a woman on the force.
Wilcox was prominent in his field, serving as regional vice president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1975 and as a member of the board of directors in 1976. His Frank Hastings series was widely praised for combining the elements of a police procedural with the psychological and social insights usually found in other mystery genres.