
There’s a new Nathan Heller book you may not have heard about. The title in fact is Nathan Heller, and it’s an 85-page novel-by-novel account of me interviewing Mr. Heller. Anyone interested in the Heller novels will want to read this, and will surely get a kick out of it.
It’s available in three forms – a paperback at $8.95 (such a deal!) and signed/numbered at $50 and signed/lettered at $100. Nathan Heller is the latest in a series of profiles of mystery fiction detectives selected by Otto Penzler and published by Mysterious Press. Among the others in this series are Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Michael Connelly’s Hieronymous Bosch, Jeff Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme and Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse, among many other celebrated authors and sleuths in this unique series.
The format varies among these profiles, but I chose to interview Nate Heller, the conceit being these are excerpts of interviews with him I recorded over the years to help me ghost-write his memoirs.
I’m grateful to Otto Penzler for giving Nate Heller and me a place on this impressive list. Otto is a key figure in the mystery trade – he’s an editor, publisher and a pioneer in the mystery book store field. He edited and published the first three Mike Hammer novels by me working from Mickey’s material-in-progress (The Goliath Bone, The Big Bang and Kiss Her Goodbye), as well as the Spillane/Collins Mike Hammer short story collection, A Long Time Dead.
You can get Nathan Heller by Max Allan Collins right here.
And as far as Mike Hammer is concerned, the final novel in the series was just published by Titan Books. Baby, It’s Murder can be ordered from the usual suspects, and the audio book read by the great Stefan Rudnicki is available at Audible and other venues for audio books.
Stefan, who also reads the Quarry novels (and does a bang-up job of it) took over after Stacy Keach stepped down after a long run.
For those of you who prefer a physical media version of Baby, It’s Murder, and not an audio download, there’s always the book itself using the audio book option at Amazon.
Speaking of Baby, It’s Murder – the concluding Mike Hammer novel – Borg has reviewed it very generously here.
And in case you missed it, here’s the splendid Kirkus review of Baby, It’s Murder.
By the time you read this, the eighth episode of True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak should have dropped. We are closing in on the finish. Director Rob Burnett has edited chapters nine and ten, with only the final mix ahead.
Rob has done an incredible job on this project, serving as director, editor, and producer. We are discussing other projects in the True Noir series including more of our fully immersive adaptations of the Heller novels, with True Crime and The Million-Dollar Wound the likely candidates. We are discussing a Nate Heller movie, as well. Early days on that, but I’ll be scripting it very soon, which is the first step.
Many thanks to all of you who left birthday wishes either here at F.O.M.A.C. or at the various Facebook sites where I post my weekly update/blog. I tried to answer or at least “like” all of those kind wishes, but frankly the number was too great. I ran out of steam before all of you did.
But my thanks are no less sincere. I seem to have lost only one reader (at least one who was vocal) after I posted a mildly political meme last time. I have no intention of getting political here, but sometimes enough is just enough.
Still, I want to keep this a politics-free zone. Early on I got vocal on Facebook and lost some friends or at least damaged some friendships. Social media has not improved our lives, and certainly has damaged our civility.
With my buddy Heath Holland of Cereal at Midnight I’ve done a show about some of my favorite comedy movies. It’s right here.
Finally, if you never got around to watching Blue Christmas last year, or buying the DVD or Blu-ray, it’s free on Tubi starting today, March 10. Check it out here.
M.A.C.
Tags: Baby It's Murder, Mickey Spillane, Mike Hammer, Nate Heller, Nathan Heller, New Releases, True Noir, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak, True Noir: The Nathan Heller Casebooks
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