Max Allan Collins

Husband-and-wife mystery writing team Barbara and Max Allan Collins are showcased in this eclectic new collection of short stories, written individually and together.In tales spanning from noir to horror, and genres ranging from police procedural to private eye, the Collins duo finds suspense and dark humor in such unlikely places as the White House, a retirement home, and the San Diego comic con.Two of MWA Grand Master Max's most popular characters, Quarry (in two rare short story appearances) and Ms. Tree (in the Edgar-nominated "Louise"), appear in these pages. Honored short story writer Barbara explores topics from over-zealous feminists to hungry Venus fly traps in tales both comic and chilling. And Marilyn Monroe, a father-and-daughter detective team, and a small-town female cop are among the unlikely stars of his unusual, entertaining collection.

Making a score and settling one at the same time is a rare opportunity, enough to bring Nolan out of criminal retirement ... but he didn't count on the hillbillies or the skyjacker ...Nolan is a pro, a veteran of mob vendettas and decades of high-tension heists. All he wants in his advancing middle age is his slice of the American pie--a way to make capitalism pay without having to drag guns into it. But a bullet-scarred life does not come without its bad karma, and Nolan--and his young cohort Jon, whose own dream is to confine the violence to the comics he draws--often find themselves facing old enemies and new temptations.

INVOKING THE BEST OF THE ORIGINAL JAMES BOND SPY THRILLERS.1963 - It is rumored John Sand was the basis for a certain famous fictional spy created by an old colleague of his at his writing retreat in Jamaica. It's also believed that Sand has exchanged espionage for a cushy life as an energy company executive working for his oil-heiress bride, Stacey.Sand is now at work for a new international agency headed up by his former MI6 boss, with both John and Stacey-who has been trained to work with her husband side by side. Together, they have been assigned to recover a cache of stolen uranium, while also discovering what a bunch of not-so-former Nazis are up to in South America. Joining in the hunt is Sand's former lover, Charlotte DuBois, a French agent as lovely as she is deadly.Their bullet-blazing adventures take them from Switzerland to Argentina, and from the casinos of Las Vegas casinos to the docks of Buenos Aires, with the very real possibility of ending up in the historic bunkers beneath the Berlin wall-on the brink of World War III...

Veteran thief Nolan tangles with a skyjacker and vigilante in two full-length novels from Grandmaster Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition), collected in one volume for the first time ever. It Takes a Thief to Take a Thief. In the aftermath of a bloody heist, Nolan and Jon find themselves flying home to count their ill-gotten gains -- but a skyjacker taking the same flight has other plans. Meanwhile, in Des Moines, someone is offing members of the Mob-connected DiPreta family and the Mob thinks maybe Nolan can make it stop. Maybe he can -- for a six-figure fee. Originally published as two separate novels (and unavailable in bookstores for 40 years!), DOUBLE DOWN finds Nolan and Jon pursuing the American dream in their inimitable criminal fashion. Flying high off his recent return after more than three decades in SKIM DEEP, Nolan is one of MWA Grand Master Max Allan Collins' most unforgettable characters, and DOUBLE DOWN is Nolan at his hard-boiled, larcenous best.

In an attempt to soothe growing Cold War tensions between America and Russia, Premier Nikita Khrushchev visits the US to see all that his "enemy" has to offer. Top of his to-do list? A trip to Disneyland and an introduction to sexual icon Marilyn Monroe. Thanks to the impossible security requirements, Disneyland is out of the question. Marilyn, on the other hand, jumps at the chance to put on a show for the Russian official. During her appearance, she overhears the details of an assassination plot designed to spark an atomic holocaust and devastate both superpowers. When the Secret Service refuses to believe her, Marilyn risks everything to whisk Khrushchev away to safety-in the happiest place on earth. With US agents and the KGB hot on their trail, Marilyn and Khrushchev enjoy the thrills of the amusement park while fighting to stay one step ahead of the assassins and prevent the horrors of an unprecedented war that would annihilate millions. "Historical fiction, thriller and comedy rolled into one book. It was a page turner - I couldn't put it down."

The mob couldn't kill him, the cops couldn't catch him, and even time wouldn't slow him down. Playing dirty isn't Nolan's style ... until he's taken to the cleaners. Nolan was still alive; his wounds healed and his money was safe--all $800,000 of it. It was Nolan's birthday and he was sitting happy.Until Planner was killed. Planner was an eccentric antique dealer; Planner had the $800,000 in his safe. But now he was dead and the money was gone.Caught up in the sizzling crossfire of double-dealing, danger, and death, Nolan was up against the Family again. There was only one way out ... Blood Money

After 16 years on the run, would Nolan bury the hatchet with the mob...or would they bury him first? They don't come tougher than Nolan - but even a hardened professional thief can't fight off the entire Chicago mafia. So when an old friend offers to broker a truce, Nolan accepts the terms. All he has to do is pull off one last heist - and trust the Mob not to double cross him. Fortunately, Nolan has a couple of things going for him: an uncanny knack for survival and an unmatched hunger for revenge...

Legendary crime writer Mickey Spillane's celebrated tin-star hero Caleb York returns in the explosive Western saga by New York Times bestselling author Max Allan Collins. This time, Sheriff York will have to keep his wits about him as he goes toe-to-toe with a powerful cattle baroness who is manipulative, clever, and out for revenge... Inspired by the timeless Westerns of John Wayne and the hardboiled heroes of classic crime fiction, bestselling legends Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins turn up the heat on their tin-star tough guy Caleb York--in a gun-blazing showdown with two women ranchers calling the shots... It starts with an abusive, drunken young scoundrel who resists arrest, holds a barmaid hostage, and gets what he deserves from the blazing .44 of Sheriff Caleb York. The New Mexico lawman doesn't regret taking such deadly action, but the late youth's powerful mother, cattle baroness Victoria Drummond, seems bound to feel differently. To York's surprise, Victoria takes the news with stoic resignation--all she asks of him is a favor: help her convince Willa Cullen--the love of Caleb's life--to sell her the spread that Willa's late father had carved out of the wilderness. Willa, every bit as strong-willed as her rival, refuses to give up her land without a fight. Sheriff York anticipates an ugly showdown brewing with himself in the dangerous middle. And before he can stop it from escalating, the seductive cattle queen sends an army of hired guns to Sugar Creek, the sole source of water available for Willa's herd. York finds himself caught in the crossfire of a savage shoot-out between Willa's cowboys and Victoria's gunfighters. No matter who wins, it's going to be a bloodbath... In a climax in the tradition of Spillane's classic I, the Jury, York must face a beautiful deadly female who promises heaven but intends hell, while the devils in her employ plan to remove Caleb York from God's good earth.

Legendary crime writer Mickey Spillane's celebrated tin-star hero Caleb York returns in the explosive Western saga by New York Times bestselling author Max Allan Collins. When Sheriff Caleb York's deputy is shot down in cold blood, York has no doubt the bullets were meant for him. It's the first nasty step in a plan rustled up by Luke Burn 'Em Burnham--eliminate the law, corral a team to rob a bank in booming Las Vegas, New Mexico, then lay low. With a treacherous local merchant for cover, and York out of the picture, all they'll have to do is wait for the calm. Then they get wind of one little hitch: not only is York still alive, but he's gunning for justice--and revenge. As the winter weather bears down, a chilling cat-and-mouse begins. York isn't about to let Burnham and his gang of miscreants get away. It'd be a cold day in hell if he did.

Joyce Lackey was a classic baby-boomer. She had it all: a high-paying position, a beautiful condo, a BMW. But there was one thing she didn't have any more - her youth, and that was what she needed most.Her boss fired her because he wanted someone with "young blood and young ideas." Joyce was forced to start all over again. But could she compete with all the beautiful young kids who were so hungry for what she had? The X-Gen Agency could give Joyce everything she wanted, everything she needed - a new job, a new body and a new identity. In short: a new life, but there was a price. It seemed reasonable enough when Joyce signed the contracts, and besides, she was desperate. By the time she realized what she had done, it was too late to turn back. This was one contract without an escape clause..."A clever, twisted generational thriller that fictionalizes the brewing Boomers vs. Gen X-ers conflict in the workplace and in society at large."

A classic Mike Hammer story from the New York Times bestselling authors Max Allan Collins and the master of noir Mickey Spillane, featuring a brand-new, never before seen, alternative ending. Recuperating in Florida after the mob shoot-out that nearly claimed his life, Mike Hammer learns that an old mentor on the New York police force has committed suicide. Hammer returns for the funeral--and because he knows that Inspector Doolan would never have killed himself. When a woman is murdered practically on the funeral's doorstep, Hammer is drawn into the hunt for a cache of Nazi diamonds and for the mysterious woman who had been close to Doolan in his final days. Everything leads to a Mafia social club where Hammer and his .45 come calling, initiating the wildest showdown since Spillane's classic One Lonely Night.

The first new Nolan novel in thirty-three years from one of the masters of the genre, Max Allan Collins, award-winning author of Road to Perdition.The onetime world-class thief Nolan--now happily gone straight with his own restaurant/nightclub--whisks his longtime lover Sherry off to Vegas for a trip to a wedding chapel and a honeymoon stay. But an eye-in-the-sky security cam at a casino spots Nolan, whose past catches up with him when he's thought to be casing the joint. An old friend sees Nolan as the perfect patsy for a scheme to heist the weekly skim haul, and when the former thief's young frequent accomplice, Jon--a musician in the casino's house band--finds the couple mysteriously, suspiciously missing, it's up to Nolan's Best Man to keep wedding bells from tolling a funeral march.

A young woman's terrible nightmares are a projection of a serial killer's mad murders... Prepare to meet a seductive vampire preying on the homeless, a mobster who meets his murderous match, a sexual predator who selects the wrong victim, a psychotic Santa, a tabloid ghost hunter, and a pop star who wants to live forever. And waiting for you are teenage hookers from hell, a bad girl turned good in a bad way, and a group of ghost hunters who spend a harrowing night in a very haunted house.A riveting, brand-new collection of dark crime and darker horror by Mystery Writers of America "Grand Master," Max Allan Collins.

AN OFF-THE-WALL ROMP AND OTHER EXHILARATING CRIME STORIES. Recent almost-college-grad Fred Kitchen and his eccentric six-foot-four pal, Wheaty, pay off a poker debt with a prank - showing their stuff in the then-current fad of streaking. Soon they are under arrest and in jail, killing time by playing cards with a couple of hardened criminals, unwittingly racking up a new debt...one that can only be paid off by participating in a bank robbery during a small-town festival. Written as a tribute to the comic novels of his mentor Donald E. Westlake, Shoot the Moon is a fast, funny crime novel written early in his career by Max Allan Collins.

The onetime world-class thief Nolan - now happily gone straight with his own restaurant nightclub - whisks his longtime lover Sherry off to Vegas for a trip to a wedding chapel and a honeymoon stay. But an eye-in-the-sky security cam at a casino spots Nolan, whose past catches up with him when he's thought to be casing the joint. An old 'friend' sees Nolan as the perfect patsy for a scheme to heist the weekly skim haul, and when the former thief's young frequent accomplice, Jon - a musician in the casino's house band - finds the couple mysteriously, suspiciously missing, it's up to Nolan's Best Man to keep wedding bells from tolling a funeral march.

A thrilling ride through the case books of Ms Tree, private detective! From the minds of Road to Perdition author Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty, comes the second collection of five classic Ms Tree comics. Follow the private investigator Ms. Michael Tree through even more thriling cases, as she races to solve crimes of passion, murder and intruige! Join Ms. Michael Tree, the 6ft, 9mm carrying private detective on her thrilling adventures as she solves crimes and fights to get her revenge for her murdered husband. No case is too small, no violence too extreme, just as long as it gets the job done.

A collection of eleven of Barbara Collins's best cat-themed stories, edited by Max Allan Collins. In "A Proper Burial," a childless couple is driven to extremes to get back the remains of their beloved dead cat, held as evidence in a murder case. In a saloon brawl instigated by hatchet-wielding Carry Nation, the bartender kills "Carry's Cat," and Carry is later charged with the saloonkeeper's murder. When an actress leaves her fortune to her cat, a scheming daughter tries to rub out "The Ten Lives of Talbert."Can an elderly woman beat a murder rap by claiming that her cat is her reincarnated husband? Find out in "Aunt Emma's Defense." And in "Cat Got Your Tongue," co-written with mystery-writer husband Max Allan Collins, a conniving young couple attempts to steal the cat of a taxidermy-loving old vaudevillian."Intriguing . . . superb . . . the best the mystery genre has to offer." --Booklist