Max Allan Collins

What kind of drama could happen in a small-town Iowa bus station? If you’re a guy like Mallory, it’s the kind that involves sidestepping trouble between a pretty, frightened blonde and a pretty frightening, two-fisted, one-eyed goon. With the help of a handy Pepsi bottle, Mallory saves the lady from the menacing lout, shares a heartfelt moment, and sees her safely off, wistfully wondering if they’ll ever meet again. End of story? Not a chance. Even though it’s Mallory’s best buddy, John, who’s visiting on leave from combat in Vietnam, it’s Mallory who has a nasty flashback—when that same sweet blonde drops back into his life after losing hers. But how did she go from a bus out of town to a car at the bottom of a cliff? Why is her “accident” a dead ringer for the one that killed a scandal-scarred senator? And is local lawman Sheriff Brennan helping to hush things up? The questions are good ones, and Mallory wants answers—bad. But if he crosses the wrong people, things could get ugly....

A mountaintop mansion. A motley collection of guests. A murder. This weekend has all the makings of a classic, cozy mystery story. And a story is all it’s supposed to be—acted out by noted authors and eager fans at the atmospheric Mohonk Mountain House resort in upstate New York. Along with a gaggle of his peers, Mallory’s been invited to join the fun by donning a costume and an alter-ego to pose as a “suspect.” But before you can say “nobody leaves this room!”, Mallory is once again thrust into the role of driven detective when the game’s designated “corpse” turns up decidedly dead. There’s no doubt that the victim, notorious mystery-novel critic Kirk Rath, incited the murderous wrath of nearly every writer he reviewed. But even the most scathing critical barbs never drove a writer to put down the pen in favor of the sword. And even Mallory is baffled by the curious circumstances surrounding the mystery within a mystery. Did he actually witness Rath being run through by a masked figure in the snowy darkness? Was Rath really spotted alive and sneering after the bloody fact? Is someone playing mind games? And is everyone in the house fair game? Murder will out, as they say. But can even the masterful Mallory outwit a roguish gallery of the finest plotters in print?

PI Nathan Heller returns in Bye Bye, Baby, as Max Allan Collins brings to life a vivid star-studded cast, from JFK and RFK to Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford, from Jimmy Hoffa and Joe DiMaggio to Hugh Hefner and Sam Giancana. This is a Hollywood tale you never thought could happen...but probably did. It's 1962, and Twentieth Century Fox is threatening to fire Marilyn Monroe. The blond goddess hires Nate Heller, private eye to the stars, to tap her phone so she will have a record of their calls in case they take her to court. When Heller starts listening, he uncovers far more than nasty conversations. The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia-even the Russians-are involved in actions focused on Marilyn. She's the quintessential American cultural icon, idolized by women, desired by men, but her private life is... complicated...and her connection to the Kennedys makes her an object of interest to some parties with sinister intentions. Not long after Heller signs on, Marilyn winds up dead of a convenient overdose. The detective feels he owes her, and the Kennedys, with whom he busted up corrupt unions in the 1950s. But now, as Heller investigates all possible people-famous, infamous, or deeply cloaked-who might be responsible for Marilyn's death, he realizes that what has become his most challenging assignment may also be the end of him.

In the mid-20th century, Mickey Spillane was the sensation of not just mystery fiction but publishing itself. The level of sex and violence in his Mike Hammer thrillers (starting with I, the Jury in 1947) broke down long-held taboos and engendered a near hysterical critical backlash. Nonetheless, Spillane's influence has been felt--reflections of Hammer are visible in nearly every subsequent tough guy of fiction and film, including James Bond, Dirty Harry, Shaft, Billy Jack, and Jack Bauer. Spillane's fiction came to the screen in a series of films that include Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and The Girl Hunters (1963) with the author himself playing his private eye. These films, and television series starring Darren McGavin and Stacy Keach respectively, are examined in a lively, knowledgeable fashion by Spillane experts. Included are cast and crew listings, brief biographical entries on key persons, and a lengthy interview with Spillane.

"FRIEND, YOU'RE TALKING TO A GUY WITH A PRICE ON HIS HEAD AND THE POLICE AT HIS BACK..." Compared to the $40 million the cops think he stole, $75,000 may not sound like much. But it's all the money in the world to the struggling Cuban exiles of Miami who rescued Morgan the Raider. So when it's snatched by a man the Cubans trusted, Morgan sets out to get it back. A simple favor but as the bodies pile up -- dead men and beautiful women-- the Raider wonders what kind of Latin hell he's gotten himself into, and just who or what is the mysterious Consummata? Begun by mystery master Mickey Spillane in the late 1960s and completed four decades later by his friend Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition), The Consummatais the long-awaited follow-up to Spillane's bestseller The Delta Factor -- a breathtaking tale of treachery, sensuality, and violence, showcasing two giants of crime fiction at their pulse-pounding, two-fisted best.

Tough, cynical, and clever, Nathan Heller has been called “the perfect private eye,” the best investigator that Chicago (where ‘lightning’ means gunfire) has to offer. Created by New York Times bestselling novelist and Road to Perdition creator Max Allan Collins, the classic P.I. comes vibrantly to life in this collection of thirteen stories, all based on real cases of the 1930s and ‘40s. In “The Blonde Tigress,” Heller encounters a vicious hold-up crew with a brutal female leader, while in “Scrap” he investigates a union shooting that has national implications. In “The Perfect Crime” he goes Hollywood to protect the lovely Thelma Todd, with tragic results. The private eye finds himself tangling with notorious mobster Mickey Cohen in a “Shoot-out On Sunset” and with Al Capone’s successor, Frank Nitti, in “Screwball.” Heller’s friendship with Eliot Ness finds the two men working together in both “The Strawberry Teardrop,” in which Heller encounters America’s first serial killer, and “Natural Death, Inc.” Heller tackles each case with his trademark cynicism and humor, digging into the grimy underbelly of twentieth-century America to uncover the truth at any cost.

Even the enigmatic hit man called Quarry had to start somewhere. And for him that was the day he returned from Vietnam to find his young wife cheating. He'd killed plenty overseas, so killing her lover was no big deal. When he was recruited to use his skills as a contract killer, that transition was easy, too. He survived by expecting trouble. What he didn't expect was running into her again.

Presidential candidate -- and force of nature -- Huey Long, the -Kingfish, - is in fear for his life. After Nathan Heller delivers the former Louisiana governor a bulletproof vest, the Kingfish hires the Chicago private eye to investigate death threats from political rivals. Soon Heller runs head-on into an IRS investigation seeking millions skimmed from state workers for Huey's -de-duct box-...and into the arms of the ex-governor's lovely ex-mistress. When the charismatic politician is shot down by a seemingly crazed doctor, Heller gets a new employer--the insurance agency fighting a double-indemnity claim from Long's widow. Was the Kingfish truly the victim of assassination, or accidentally killed by his own bodyguards? A classic P.I. thriller built on historical fact, Max Allan Collins' Blood and Thunder showcases Huey Long in all his gaudy glory, while delving deep into the heart of the deadliest swamps of Louisiana's mob-infested politics. -Collins's sense of place and time is unerringly acute, and he happily indulges in recreating Long's fiery stump style. Although Collins has carved out a mystery subgenre that he occupies nearly alone, he and his detective would be a tough act to follow.- --Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

It’s 1950 in Chicago, P.I. Nate Heller’s old stomping grounds. But things are different now, and the wind is blowing in a different, decidedly more dangerous direction. Congressman-with-a-cause and presidential-hopeful Estes Kefauver creates the Committee on Organized Crime to put the squeeze on the mob—and anyone who ever associated with them. Heller tries to lay low, but when ex-cop Bill Drury cooperates and mafia moll Jackie Payne sings, Heller finds himself catapulted into the middle of the investigation. Quick wits and tough talk swirl in the middle of Kefauver’s senatorial charade as Max Allan Collins blends fact and fiction to stunning results. When Drury is murdered and Jackie disappears, Heller decides it’s time for a little payback—and maybe some ice cold justice. With the mob and Kefauver’s crime committee hot on his trial, Heller mixes with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Jayne Mansfield, and Senator Joe McCarthy on a wild Windy City ride.

1934 Chicago dazzles with fast action and calculating, cold-blooded mean¬ness as private detective Nate Heller combs Chicago’s North Side looking for John Dillinger. But things take a turn for the strange when self-aggrandizing G-Man Melvin Purvis shoots down a Dillinger double in front of the Biograph Theater. Full of muscle and oozing Chicago’s tough-guy persona to the hilt, Max Allan Collins’ Nate Heller is the ultimate private investigator—in the ultimate P.I. town. Heller’s undercover search for a farmer’s-daughter-turned-gun-moll has him on the dusty Depression backroads of middle America, in the company of Ma Barker and her boys, Baby Face Nelson, Alvin Karpis, and a very-much-still-alive Dillinger—whose outlandish plan to kidnap J. Edgar Hoover in downtown Chicago is one Heller tries to foil. Including appearances by fan dancer Sally Rand, boxer Barney Ross, and Heller’s “godfather,” Frank Nitti, True Crime is a relentless classic.

March 1932. After the recently incarcerated Al Capone offers to negotiate the return of the kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh, Nathan Heller of the Chicago P.D. is sent to Hopewell, New Jersey, as a police liaison. As a part of Lindbergh’s inner circle, Heller investigates crooks, cranks, socialites, and psychics in a frustrating, fruitless attempt to solve the case.Max Allan Collins makes the crime that captivated a nation the focal point of yet another fascinating and thoroughly spellbinding foray into his world of histori¬cal crime fiction. Four years later, in 1936, Heller—now a private detective, and considered an expert and insider on the Lindbergh case—is hired by the governor of New Jersey in an eleventh-hour quest to determine the guilt or innocence of Bruno Hauptmann, who sits on death row convicted of the murder and kidnapping of the Lindbergh child.

It's 1949 in Washington, D.C., and Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, convinced he has been targeted for murder, hires Chicago P.I. Nate Heller for protection. Heller must deal with Beltway infighting, Communist paranoia, Israeli agents, and a mysterious military group called the Majestic Twelve in his journey to protect Forrestal. With his client locked away in a mental ward, Heller begins to doubt his own sanity as he explores reports of flying saucers landing near the tiny desert town of Roswell, New Mexico. Taking his unique brand of historical fiction to the highest seats of our country's power structure, Max Allan Collins delivers a sordid tale long on wit and rich in detail. When Forrestal suspiciously commits -suicide, - the Chicago P.I. uncovers a top-secret, reprehensible alliance between the U.S. government and a Nazi cabal. With a supporting cast that includes Harry Truman, Teddy Kollek, Jack Anderson, and Drew Pearson, Majic Man is a who's who of American post-war history. -Heller possesses a refreshingly gritty underside, reflected in a past that encompasses a stay in the psychiatric ward, perjury, and sensitive casework for the highest levels of society and government. There's magic of a literary kind here: full-bore suspense coupled with an ingenious take on an overworked pop-historical touchstone.- --Publishers Weekly

Los Angeles. The City of Angels. The perfect place for a honeymoon…and the worst possible time for a murder. Vacationing private investigator Nate Heller finds himself a suspect in the LAPD’s investigation of the notorious Black Dahlia murder case. Problem is the butchered starlet, Elizabeth Short, is an old Chicago flame of Heller’s—and only the P.I. himself knows she was blackmailing him for abortion money. Classic noir at its finest blended to extraordinary effect with historical facts, Max Allan Collins’ Angel in Black crackles with tight plotting and razor-sharp dialogue. With the help of a world-weary, alcoholic Eliot Ness, Heller links the murder to a notorious Cleveland serial killer…while doing his best to stay out of jail and salvage his already troubled new marriage. Along the way he encounters Chicago boxer Barney Ross, fellow suspect Orson Welles, and zany gangster Mickey Cohen. “The characters, historical and fictional, come delightfully to life…. Collins paints a web of interconnections in a tightly woven plot and posits a radical solution to a crime that still resonates in literature and movies.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In 1931, Nate Heller on a leave of absence from the Chicago P.D. goes to Hawaii to work as an investigator for family friend Clarence Darrow. One of five Honolulu natives accused of the rape of recent bride Thalia Massie has been murdered; facing murder charges are Thalia s naval officer husband and her socialite mother. Something doesn t seem right, and Darrow has brought Heller in to get to the bottom of it. A first-rate detective thriller, Max Allan Collins Damned in Paradise shimmers with authenticity as it drives inexorably towards its grave conclusion. Heller aided by Chang Apana, the real-life model for Charlie Chan determines that while Thalia surely was raped, the identity of her attackers are in question, and the lush tropical setting cannot dispel the morass of bigotry, lies, and revenge through which the young detective must wade to reach the bitter truth."

In the mob-choked Chicago of 1932, private detective Nathan Heller may be willing to risk his life to earn a Depression dollar, but he never sacrifices his sardonic wit. Now, author Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition) reissues the contemporary classic that introduces the wise-cracking Nathan Heller in all his guts and glory. When Mayor Cermak’s “Hoodlum Squad” brings Heller along on a raid with no instructions but to keep his mouth shut and his gun handy, he becomes an unwitting, unwilling part of a hit on Al Capone’s successor, Frank Nitti. As a result, Heller quits the force to become a private eye; his first job—head off a nation-shaking political assassination in Miami Beach. With the Chicago World’s Fair as a backdrop, Heller encounters a Ragtime array of crooks and clients, including Al Capone, George Raft, “Dutch” Reagan, and FDR himself. Rich in riveting plot turns, including a heartbreaking romance, True Detective is one of the most highly entertaining and unlikely coming-of-age stories written. That’s why mystery fans and critics alike rank the history thriller True Detective at the top of their lists—and why the book swept up a Shamus Award for the best novel from the Private Eye Writers of America.

Rock Island, Illinois 1929. Michael O'Sullivan er en god far og familiemann, men jobber også for John Looney, byen irske gudfar. Michael er kjent som dødsengelen både blant venner og fiender. Men da sønnen hans blir vitne til en massakre, er far og sønn plutselig i krig med tidens mest nådeløse gangstere. Boken er filmatisert.

First...there was the last quarry. Then...there was the first quarry. Now...look who's caught in the middle. The enigmatic hitman Quarry - star of seven celebrated novels and an award-winning feature film ("The Last Lullaby") - is back in this violent, steamy tale of warring crime families. When two Godfathers set out to bump each other off, guess who winds up with both contracts...

QUARRY'S BACK – FOR HIS TOUGHEST JOB EVER. The ruthless professional killer known as Quarry long ago disappeared into a well-earned retirement. But now a media magnate has lured the restless hitman into tackling one last lucrative assignment. The target is an unlikely one: Why, Quarry wonders, would anyone want a beautiful young librarian dead? And why in hell does he care? On the 30th anniversary of the enigmatic assassin's first appearance, bestselling author Max Allan Collins brings him back for a dark and deadly mission where the last quarry may turn out to be Quarry himself.

Crime fiction readers know Quarry, the ruthless killer-for-hire, from Max Allan Collins' acclaimed novels. But where did Quarry's story start? For first time ever, Collins takes us back to the beginning, revealing the never-before-told story of Quarry's first job: infiltrating a college campus and eliminating a professor whose affair with one of his beautiful, young students is the least of his sins...

Lieutenant Horatio Caine leads a crack team of forensic scientists who investigate crimes amid the tropical surroundings and cultural crossroads of Miami. Together, they collect and analyze the evidence to expose the truth and to bring justice to those who often cannot speak for themselves: the victims. FLORIDA GETAWAY Thomas Lessor left Las Vegas for Miami to get away from it all -- in fact, he felt certain he was going to get away with murder. But he was wrong, and the Las Vegas PD soon contacted Miami with a warrant for his arrest. Hot on his trail, the Miami CSIs are called to the scene of his abandoned car...a car that's been abandoned in spirit but not in body. And on a pleasant and secluded Miami beach, a young couple is about to make a gruesome discovery....