Max Haines (1931–2017) was a Canadian journalist and true-crime writer whose work helped bring short-form crime reporting to a wide newspaper readership. He was closely associated with the Toronto Sun, where his “Crime Flashback” column began in 1972. The column drew on historical and contemporary murder cases and was subsequently syndicated across Canada and internationally.
Over more than three decades, Haines produced thousands of “Crime Flashback” columns and wrote numerous true-crime books. His work distilled case histories into concise, accessible narratives, generally emphasizing reported events and criminal investigations rather than extended psychological interpretation. His anthology Multiple Murderers II, credited to Haines and Glenn-Stewart Garnett, was published by the Toronto Sun in 1995 and collects accounts of multiple-murder cases.
In 2005, Haines received the Derrick Murdoch Award from Crime Writers of Canada, a special-achievement distinction recognizing contributions to the crime genre. News Media Canada reported that he had written 28 books and approximately 2,500 Toronto Sun “Crime Flashback” columns by the time of his death in 2017. His long-running column and anthologies remain part of Canadian popular true-crime publishing.
This profile is awaiting source review; collected books are already linked below.
