Posts Tagged ‘Antiques Round-up’

True Noir Followed by a Slice of Fruitcake – WTF?

Tuesday, March 24th, 2026

I’m not sure what compelled me to do two weeks of lists of “Five Favorites” here. I can say with confidence it was more about me looking back and summing up than trying to sway anybody about those favorites. I do admit to trying to bring new eyes and ears to Bobby Darin and Vanilla Fudge, but otherwise I was just taking stock of what has shaped and is shaping me, even at this late stage of the game.

Yesterday (as I write this) Heath Holland interviewed me about my return in recent years to indie filmmaking. I haven’t seen it, and don’t believe it’s been posted yet; but it felt good. I’ll provide a link here as soon as I can.


Heath Holland

I mention this, first, because I want to recommend Heath’s work on YouTube in general (under his Cereal at Midnight banner). He is one of the best and sanest of the champions of physical media out there right now. He and I have been doing commentaries (about 10 so far I believe) for various Blu-rays and 4K discs).

Also, as many of you know, I have a regular segment on YouTube as part of Robert Meyer Burnett’s show Let’s Get Physical Media, with the great Dieter Bastion. It’s a show that usually runs about two and a half hours, airing live on YouTube on Sunday afternoon (1 pm Central). And of course you can catch it anytime, after it airs, at your convenience. I usually come on about 2 p.m. Central and discuss discs I’ve recently watched, usually noir/mystery-centric movies or at least noir-adjacent. I stay for about an hour. There’s lots of movie talk and news of forthcoming physical media releases. I was a fan before I become, well, a segment.

Rob and Dieter have been great about promoting Death by Fruitcake, though I suspect it is anything but their cup of tea. They have also relentlessly given time to Return of the Maltese Falcon and to the Burnett/Collins collaboration, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak.

Rob will be coming to the Quad Cities some time in early May (exact date to be determined) for an event at the Putnam Museum in Davenport. (This event was supposed to be in early April but that didn’t work out.) We’ll be showing The Maltese Falcon on their big IMAX screen on the first night, followed with an interview with me about Return of the Maltese Falcon. On the second night we’ll present the opening chapters of True Noir, also in the IMAX theater.


Robert Meyer Burnett salutes True Noir

As I’ve mentioned, True Noir is now in wide distribution at your favorite audio source, with a four-CD set due soon from Skyboat. There’s also a soundtrack of Alex Bornstein’s wonderful score in the works, and I believe the entire audio drama will be available on Blu-ray in 5.1 with the collected chapter-by-chapter videos I made about the history behind this first Heller saga.

Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What have you done for Max Allan Collins lately? I’m listening. I’m waiting.

Joking aside, you’ve done plenty. Many of you have reviewed Return of the Maltese Falcon on Amazon and elsewhere. That’s very helpful. The book is successful enough that serious talk is under way to do two Sam Spade follow-up novels. Barnes & Noble are carrying it widely now, again thanks to your nudging, although they have generally relegated it to the mystery section and not among significant new releases. BAM! has been much better.

Keep those reviews coming. If you’ve read the book, and like it, let Amazon know by way of a review, which can be as long or short as you like. If you didn’t like it, remember – silence is golden.

Death by Fruitcake can use your help, too – we have two lovely reviews at Amazon so far. It’s a little high-priced for a DVD (around $22) but unfortunately I can’t do anything about that. It’s streaming all over the place, but not free yet. That will come sometime next month, I think.

I was amused when Heath spoke of liking Fruitcake but being blindsided by what a different tone it has compared to my other work. (He had just listened to Michael Rosenbaum as Nate Heller in True Noir.) He also was not a fan or even familiar with “cozy” mysteries. But he did claim to have enjoyed our little movie, and particularly singled out Alisabeth Von Presley and Paula Sands for praise (not surprisingly).


Paula Sands and Alisabeth Von Presley in Death by Fruitcake.

And, for those of you who follow – or at least have sampled the Barbara Allan-bylined series my wife Barb and I write together – know, our Antiques/Trash ‘n’ Treasures mysteries are what you might call subversive cozies. They contain at least as much humor as mystery, and our tongues are in cheek throughout.

At 20 books, these novels about Brandy and Vivian Borne are arguably my (our) most successful series. The current one, Antiques Round-up, is a fairly wild ride, I think you’ll find. And we just delivered Antiques Web.

What am I – are we – working on now? Well, I am waiting to hear about the prospective Spade novels and a sequel to another successful property of mine, which puts me in a limbo in which I am not comfortable. Ditto for Barb, as the book we recently sent in is the last on the current contract.

I guess Barb and I are in an uber-Spring Cleaning mode, as we have descended into our basement to thin my book and magazines and DVD collections into something that can reasonably be considered contained. It’s ain’t easy, kids. I am looking at close to sixty years (choke!) of collecting…no, let’s be frank: accumulating…and to give you an idea, we took seven boxes of magazines and books to the Source Bookstore in Davenport last week, and another seven to Half-Price Books in Cedar Rapids yesterday.

And we’ve barely made a dent.

Do not think that our basement will be empty when we are finished. The goal is to turn it from a hoarding nightmare into a curated dream, and it’s going to be a year-long job (in and around the books we both have to write).

Or at least I hope we’ll have books to write. That depends on editors and readers, and obviously that’s where you come in – it’s why I’m after you to write reviews, and why I hope you’ll consider ordering Death by Fruitcake from Amazon (Oldies.com has it, too, a little cheaper but with postage that will sting if you’re used to no postage charges as an Amazon Prime member).

The success or lack of it for Fruitcake will determine whether I can muster my aging body for another run at a micro-budget indie or two. I have a horror film next in mind, and would love to do another Antiques movie, if my cast will come back.

The crazy thing is this: I have three major movie options going right now (Mike Hammer, Eliot Ness and Nolan, with Ms. Tree bubbling), which stand to generate a hell of a lot more income than another homemade micro-budget movie. But here’s how I look at it: I have had probably twenty-plus Hollywood options over the years, and exactly two have come through (Road to Perdition and Quarry). And I don’t seem to be getting any younger. So I just stay at it.

And as long as I am here, and you are here, I will.

M.A.C.

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Happy Publication Day! And Conjuring Up an Injustice

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025

October 7 – the day this update appears – is the publication day of the new Trash ‘n’ Treasure mystery by Barb and me – Antiques Round-up!

Barb did a fantastic job on this one and I added my own touches, too. When she told me about some of the wacky things she was planning to do in this one, I had my doubts she – or anyone – could pull them off…but she did! “Yippee-ki-yay, Mother (and Brandy)!”


Hardcover:
E-Book: Nook Kobo Google Play

Barb is hard at work on her draft of the next book in the series, Antiques Web. She should be done by year’s end and I’ll saddle up for my draft come first of the year.

In the meantime, the movie that brings Brandy and her mother Vivian alive, Death by Fruitcake, should be available soon…we’ll let you know how, and where, to see it!

* * *

I have enjoyed the Conjuring movies, including the latest one (The Conjuring: Last Rites). I did wonder why in this latest installment nobody seemed to know how to switch on the lights when going into a room, but, hey – it’s a haunted house movie, so you need it dark.

The scariest thing about Last Rites is how cavalier Hollywood can be about giving credit where credit is due.

Before I get into this, let me say I am well aware that writers sometimes have to sign a work-for-hire agreement to get a gig. I signed plenty of those back when I was writing novelizations of movies and original novels based on TV shows. I get that.

But now and then something a writer has done as work-for-hire goes places nobody anticipated. For example, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel were screwed out of Superman because they had signed work-for-hire agreements when they were teenagers. It took decades – effing decades – for DC Comics to give anything to their estates and to include a “created by” screen credit for Siegel and Shuster on any new Superman movie.

Which brings me to Ed Gorman.


Ed Gorman (1941-2016) and his wife Carol

Ed was one of my two or three best friends in the writing business. He was probably the best short story writer in the genre. He was one of the best incredibly prolific writers of novels. I never read anything by him that wasn’t smart and engaging; he could be a little dark at times, but that was leavened with wry humor.

We used to talk on the phone, in those pre-social media days, for hour upon hour. He was incredibly affable and funny in those conversations, not only with me but in phone conversations with many others in the field. Nonetheless, he was notoriously a near recluse. I am one of the few people in mystery fiction who Ed spent time with in person. We even did some signings together, and he came to one of my band’s performances, at which he seemed loose and easy and to be having a great time. Later he told me he’d been terrified.

He was a unique person and a fine writer. I once told Barb that if I died before completing a novel to give it to Ed to finish. That’s how high my opinion was and is of him.

One of the ways Ed made a living was writing books for Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous psychic/demon-hunter couple whose “real” adventures are the “factual” basis of the Conjuring movies.

Has anyone who saw one of those movies – and, again, I am a fan – believed them to really be “based on the true story”? That the outlandish things that happen on screen really did in real life? I don’t hold that against the Warrens or those who’ve turned their tall tales into films. I like a good scary story.

Here’s another.

One of the books Ed ghosted for the Warrens was called The Haunted. It became a TV movie and he may have received some payment for that, though I’m not sure. Ed did not receive a byline on the book, but the first page says this:

Special thanks and acknowledgment
to Ed Gorman for his work on this book.

Ed developed The Haunted from 40 pages of notes provided by a reporter working with the Warrens, and spoke with both the Warrens and the Spurl family (who lived in the “haunted” house). I remember Ed telling me he didn’t have much to work from, and didn’t believe any of it anyway. So he just wrote a horror novel, he said, which would be sold as “non-fiction” (his quotes). He was clear about creating much of it out of whole cloth.

Ed was good at horror novels. Very good. He did most of them under the name “Daniel Ransom.” So the Warrens chose wisely.

The Conjuring franchise has made two billion dollars. The Conjuring: Last Rites had grossed over $187 million worldwide by September 7, 2025. The film’s debut included $83 million domestically and a record-breaking $104 million internationally.

The movie is based on The Haunted, which Ed Gorman wrote.

His estate has been paid not one cent.

He receives no screen credit, not even the acknowledgment that the original book carried on its first page.

It’s possible, maybe probable, that Ed signed a work-for-hire contract. It’s also likely he was paid only a few thousand dollars for the work. So maybe Warner Bros/New Line doesn’t owe him anything, legally. But I am of the opinion that, even so, his estate deserves a taste, and Ed deserves screen credit.

But that seems unlikely to happen.

As Count Floyd would say, “Scary, kids, scary!”

M.A.C.

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The Writing Life

Tuesday, September 16th, 2025

A box arrived from the UK with a few advance copies of our new Antiques/Trash ‘n’ Treasures mystery, Antiques Round-Up. When I say “our,” of course, I mean Barb and my latest novel in the now long-running series.

Barbara Allan and Antiques Round-Up

I have watched, I guess it’s been for decades now, Barb developing into a terrific writer. She was good out of the gate, and like most of us, her improvements are somewhat incremental and don’t make themselves clear until some time has passed and those improvements have accumulated.

I know I still think I’m improving as a fiction writer even at this late date. I’ve been writing long enough to have no doubt lost my fast ball here and there, but certain craft things have improved. Or at least I’m still trying to have them improved.

Barb and I have different approaches. She is slow-and-steady wins the race. Even now, I may not spend more than two months writing a novel (depends on the novel of course), but she spends most of her writing year on one book in the series. Fiction writing is a love/hate affair, but I have always loved it more than hated, and often Barb seems to be the other way around. She always talks about the current book being the last one she’s willing to do, while I’m always looking for more books to write, as if as long as I have a book contract, that God or the Grim Reaper or whatever will wait for me to finish the current novel.

If there’s a point to this ramble, it’s how proud I am of the way Barb has risen to a truly professional level, and this latest book – which will be published a couple of weeks from now – is evidence of that.

We were published for years by Kensington, but our current home is Severn House, a UK publisher that puts a lot of their emphasis on the United States market. But we do hear from readers who dropped away at the point Kensington stopped publishing us, largely because – thus far – the series has been tricky to find in Barnes and Noble, and BAM and other of the surviving brick-and-mortar book stores.

Some of these readers don’t even know the series is continuing, and when they find out it is, want to know where they can get back onboard. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have the Severn House books in hardcover and e-book; and all of them eventually become available from those sellers in handsome trade paperback editions.

We have had a lot of Hollywood interest in the Antiques novels – specifically for TV – over the last fifteen years. It’s gotten very close – very – but as yet no cigar. That’s why we made an Antiques movie ourselves, Death By Fruitcake, with Paula Sands (legendary Midwestern broadcaster) as Vivian Borne and Alisabeth Von Presley (Midwest pop superstar) as Brandy Borne. We’re proud of our little movie – I scripted it from a Barbara Allan novella (Antiques Fruitcake) and Barb co-produced and served as production manager.

This past week Chad Bishop, our co-producer (and Director of Photography and Editor) and I began dealing with the “deliverables” (the things a distributor requires) for Twin Engines Global. This ranges from getting trailers and the film itself to them and making closed-captioning happen and taking lawyer meetings about getting an LLC put together and a hundred other things.

Certainly easier to just write a damn book. It was however a fun, hard, unforgettable experience, shooting and editing it and all, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Meanwhile, I am almost half-way through the new Quarry novel, Quarry’s Reunion, which will be the 50th anniversary book in a series that I thought Berkley Books had killed 49 years ago…but thankfully Hard Case Crime unexpectedly resuscitated it in 2006 with the help of filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman, who made a short film from my script (A Matter of Principal) and a film version of The Last Quarry (The Last Lullaby). Fans also helped keep it alive.

I mentioned that fiction writing is a love/hate affair. Though she seldom grouses, I know Barb finds writing difficult. Funny thing is, after all this time, so do I.

I will spend a full day writing two or three pages of description and set-up for a chapter, or an hour on one paragraph; fortunately for me, the rest goes a lot faster, and dialogue scenes fly, as they need to when readers encounter them. Most of my novels are mysteries, obviously, and I re-plot them constantly as I go. Quarry’s Reunion had five or six preliminary overview outlines, and I’m on the fifth or six chapter breakdown now.

Part of this is my approach being half planning, half improvisation. I try to know enough about the story I am about to tell without mounting my horse and riding in all directions. So I know major things – like who-dun-it and why. Then I come up with a plan, a road map, a structure, that may be twenty pages long. But I try to keep it loose enough to make discoveries as I go. This has me revising the plan, changing and tweaking the trip I’m taking, as I go.

Here’s another difference between writers. Though we come up with the “Barbara Allan” basic ideas together, Barb rarely asks me for an opinion or plot help or anything while she’s writing her draft. I’m willing to help, and often offer – but I have too many ideas, too many ways to solve a problem, to do anything but frustrate her, throw her off-track. So except in cases of emergencies, I keep tabs on what she’s doing on her draft, but don’t interfere. And when I do my draft, she gets out of my way. She does read my chapters as I go, so can catch anything I’m doing that will upset the plot applecart.

I mentioned above that I sometimes spend a day on a few scene-setting opening paragraphs, or an hour or more on a transitional paragraph between breaks within a chapter. And in recent years – due, I’m afraid, to all the media around us dumbing everybody down – I get some (not a lot) of readers and reviewers complaining about what they see as needless description. I will defend that only with this: I have to see a scene in my mind before I write it; and in description – yes, even clothing – I am writing about character as much as anything.

Still, as I said to Barb the other day, “It’s frustrating to spend so much time on the stuff some readers skip.”

Here’s where you can pre-order Antiques Round-Up; it’s out on Oct. 7. It’s likely also available via the Net at anywhere else you like to buy your books.


Hardcover:
E-Book: Nook Kobo Google PLay
* * *

Here’s a review of The Two Jakes 4-K Blu-ray (from Kino Lorber) that is a comprehensive look at the film and the disc, and includes the commentary by Heath Holland and myself about the film. You have to scroll down to read that, but the whole review (my opinion is higher than the reviewer’s of the film itself, but the review is thoughtful and fair, even when I don’t entirely agree with it).

The Two Jakes poster excerpt

This a new bio of me at a Dick Tracy Wiki site. Looks extensive, though I admit not reading it yet.

M.A.C.

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Happy 2025

Tuesday, December 31st, 2024

This will be brief, but I want to acknowledge a few of the people who have made 2024 so rewarding for me.

First, Charles Ardai at Hard Case Crime continues to give me and Nate Heller and Quarry a showcase for our wares.

Second, the whole group at Titan Books, including Nick Landau, Vivian Chung and Andrew Sumner – these three made the continuation of Mickey’s Mike Hammer novels, all based on material from Mick’s files, with Jane Spillane’s blessing, a reality, right up to the coming year’s Baby, It’s Murder. That whole bunch, with Charles Ardai added in, and my agent Dominick Abel, made my forthcoming Return of the Maltese Falcon (a year from now) possible.

Third, my producer on Death by Fruitcake, who also shot and edited the feature film, Chad Bishop. A one-stop-shopping moviemaker, Chad was also instrumental in getting Blue Christmas out there.

Fourth, the cast of Death by Fruitcake, every one of ‘em, but a special shout-out to our leads, Paula Sands, Alisabeth Von Presley and Rob Merritt. These three brought the principal players of the Antiques mystery series (by “Barbara Allan”) to credible, incredible life.

Fifth, the production manager and exec producer on Death by Fruitcake, who made the entire thing possible and even kept me alive – the love of my life, Barbara Collins.

Sixth, the incredible Robert Meyer Burnett and a phenomenal name cast for turning my script, based on True Detective, into the ten-part, immersive audio drama, True Noir: The Assassination of Mayor Cermak (available at truenoir.co). Big thanks also to producers Mike Bawden, Christine Sheeks and my longtime collaborator, Phil Dingeldein, who is directing and producing our History Behind the Mystery video series that accompanies each episode of True Noir.

Seventh, the members of my band Crusin’ (established 1974!) – Bill Anson, Scott Anson and Steve Kundel. We are now officially defunct, but you never know – a reunion could happen.

Eighth, my son Nathan who runs this website and posts these blog/Updates and does a fantastic job.

Ninth, thank you to everyone who reviewed Blue Christmas, even those of you (very much in the minority) who gave us bad reviews. All of you helped us get the word out that our little Christmas noir existed. Positive Amazon reviews still appreciated.

I know I have left people out. I did the best I could with my ancient brain. My apologies.

This year-end wrap-up ends a productive, exhausting 2024. A lot is coming up, including the last Mike Hammer novel and the 50th anniversary of Quarry, not to mention a certain Sam Spade book. We’ll be promoting Death By Fruitcake, entering a few film festivals and competitions, and we’re discussing a Quad Cities premiere with the Last Picture House in Davenport. I will be starting my draft of Antiques Round-up in January – Barb is wrapping her draft up now. And God willin’ and the crick don’t rise, we’ll be doing at least one more of the Antiques novels. A lot else is in discussion, but we’ll wait till 2025 to get deeper into any of that.

People always ask me one of two questions – are you still writing? The answer: Yes, nobody sends money to my house if I don’t. The other question is, why at your age are you working so hard on so many projects? Because at my age, the clock is not my friend.

But all of you are.

M.A.C.



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