Posts Tagged ‘Girl Most Likely’

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If Ms. Tree Falls in the Forest, Does Anybody Hear?

Tuesday, May 27th, 2025

My novel Girl Most Likely will be promoted via Monthly Deals: starting 6/1/2025 and running through 6/30/2025, the first of the two (thus far) Krista Larson novels, offered as a Kindle book at $2.49 USD.

I love the two Krista Larson novels, but they (this one and Girl Can’t Help It) are the only two of my books that haven’t earned back their advance. This stands in the way of Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer ever doing business with me again, despite the fact that I’ve sold over a million books for them in other series.

So if you are a Kindle reader, and a M.A.C. reader, now’s the time.

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Back before e-mail and social media, Terry Beatty and I ran a lively letter column at the back of each issue of our Ms. Tree (the comic book that ran from 1981 to 1993). Terry, of course did the art and I wrote the scripts, although he and I had story conferences frequently, so it was a co-creation in its purist sense. Actually, the feature began as a serial in Eclipse magazine in 1981 and began as a comic book in 1982, shortly after the original – surprisingly successful – serial ended its six-issue run. I also wrote several Ms. Tree prose short stories, one of which (“Inconvenience Store,” the basis of my film (Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market) was published in 1994. And my Hard Case crime Ms. Tree novel, Deadly Beloved, appeared in 2007.

We accomplished quite a bit, except for the making a living part. We were the longest-running PI comic book in history, at least up to that date (I haven’t kept track of those who came after). We slightly pre-date the craze for female private eyes initiated by Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. We survived despite changing publishers four times, winding up respectable (after our indie run) at DC itself.

The letters column, SWAK!, was lively and popular. Mostly I answered the letters myself, and Terry answered art-specific stuff. Just as the comic book covered controversial subjects, so did the letters column. When we moved to DC, editor Mike Gold insisted we bring SWAK! along.

A lot of people got mad at us and at each other, but nobody reading SWAK! got bored.

Last week we heard from a SWAK! correspondent, whose letter was both a surprise and quite interesting. Here it is.

Dear Max & Terry,

Max, it was so nice to hear from you. I was struck by your response when I suggested that you and Terry might do a MS. TREE special for Hard Case.

(This is what I told him: I doubt we’ll ever do another MS. TREE, as the character now seems so rooted in the ’80s and ’90s, that going forward, or for that matter backward, doesn’t hold much appeal.)

After 60+ years of collecting and 60+ boxes in my garage, I have stopped collecting comics for the most part, attempting to confine myself to rereading my favorite series, meandering from one part of my collection to another through free association.

One thing I really enjoy is getting a better understanding of the influences that guided the creators of some of the wonderful series in my collection. So, for instance, I recently reread one of my favorites, Mark Schultz’ XENOZOIC TALES. Besides seeing the obvious Wally Wood influence, I learned of Schultz’ admiration and later friendship with Al Williamson. I did pick up Williamson’s FLASH GORDON issues and learned how he in turn was influenced by Alex Raymond.

In a way, what Schultz was doing with XENOZOIC TALES was very similar to what you guys were doing with MS. TREE and your “experiment in coherence” (as you put it). You both took inspiration from pre-code, pre-Wertham EC and modernized it with an unwavering commitment to writing and artwork at the service of storytelling. Form follows function. You guys were swimming against the tide at the time where books like Alan Moore & Steve Bisette’s SWAMP THING, with heavy prose and dizzying page layouts, were the rage. I love those types of books too, but undeniably the test of time has shone very favorable on your “experiment” proving beyond any doubt to the nay-sayers that there was method to your madness.

A foray into my favorite BATMAN series led me to reread the Englehart/Rogers run recently, where I made the startling discovery of the Collins/Rogers newspaper dailies. This, in turn, lead me to reaching out to you, Max, and subsequently rereading the entire MS. TREE run, turning your words over in my head as I did.

I must say, it all holds up extremely well. It is astonishing that the treatment of contemporary subjects of the ‘80s still seems fresh even though major changes have occurred like the overturning of Roe vs Wade and the widespread legalization of gay marriage. It just goes to prove that the French got it right when they say “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

One of my favorite moments in the series was when Mr. Hand reveals to Mike Jr, that he had a gay lover when he was a mercenary. Mike Jr’s world view is imbued with a certain macho homophobia, presumably inherited from his father through hardboiled osmosis. Unable to express the cataclysmic shifting going on in his head in words, Mike Jr simple says to Mr Hand, “hey why don’t you stick around, we ordered pizza.”

Of course, readers of SWAK would remember how savagely you were criticized for casting the serial killer Billy Bob a “homosexual” predator. Of course, you could have worked Mr. Hand’s reveal into the series much earlier if you were solely concerned about being politically correct, but instead you waited for the right story and the right moment. As a result the moment has a lingering sweetness to it.

I watched a couple of the Youtube interviews you did to promote the Hard Case collections with much interest. However, it pains me a little bit, Terry, that you still have some reservations about your early work in Eclipse Magazine. I think it is stunningly gorgeous. I can understand from a technical point of view that it is not as polished as the later DC work. But there is an infectious energy. The fact that the series starts out cartoony, then, little by little, adopts a more realistic style is entirely fitting for a character who bursts forth on the scene straight out of the newspaper dailies of DICK TRACY and MIKE HAMMER. If Alan Moore or Ed Brubaker thought of that, the critics would have said it’s brilliant and shoved an Eisner award in their hands. By the way, I love how fast things moved in the Eclipse Magazine strip. In one panel Mike Tree is getting married and then two panels later he is shot dead. What economy of premise!

I’ve gotten to the point where I can spot Gary Kato’s handiwork pretty easily since his figures and backgrounds are clearly influenced by Ditko. Back in the ‘80s, I was always scouring the back issue bins for Ditko’s early Charlton & Marvel work. Terry, when you ink your own figures and backgrounds like you did on the DC run, I don’t see a Ditko influence the way I now see the Johnny Craig influence. Of course, I preferred when you were doing your own full pencils and inks. Gary did a fine job and it was fascinating seeing how you worked with him to keep on schedule while maintaining your look and feel for the book. I assume you met Gary back in your underground days, perhaps on MOD (NOTE: Terry’s underground comic for Kitchen Sink). It must have been complicated and nerve-racking sending the artwork back and forth to Hawaii.

By the way, Terry, in the end, I really started appreciating and enjoying what you did with the duotone. I noticed you picked different color separation strategies for each color such as the subtle facial shading for the blues. And now I get it that it gives the book a kind of Japanese newsprint feel.

In rereading my MS. TREE collection, I am struck by what a strong body of work was completed. I see it as a three act play with a beginning (Eclipse), middle (Aardvark/Renegade) and end (DC). Each run is done with love, enthusiasm and craftsmanship. The characters mature and develop in a grand arc. Ms. Tree begins almost naively as a meter maid and she ends as a giver of life, the mother of Melody.

So in this sense, Max, I think you are right, there is no need for a new chapter in that the work is really perfect in itself. It’s really a monument to the ambition you had and achieved really against all odds. What is particularly endearing about MS. TREE is how completely faithful you guys were to your vision while at same time completely prepared to make any compromises necessary to keep the book on some sort of workable production schedule. Terry, I can’t help imagining while you were hunched over your drawing board, that you had Frank Sinatra blaring “My Way” in the background. I hope you guys have forgiven us so-called “gentle readers” for our constant whining and second-guessing in SWAK because really what made MS. TREE so great was your vision and your willingness to carve it out of the block of marble despite the overwhelming odds against you.

If you ever do decide to revisit MS. TREE one day, as a kind of coda, of course, I’ll be along for the ride. However, upon mature reflection, I have come to realize that MS. TREE is a wonderfully complete body of work unto itself. After completing my MS. TREE read-through, I took a spin through SIN CITY. Although also a wonderful and seminal work, it can’t be denied that the last couple story arcs were comparatively mediocre in both writing and art. Miller seemed to run out of ideas and enthusiasm [or perhaps he was simply consumed by some other project]. How much better to end on a high note as you guys ended MS. TREE, at the top of your game.

And where could you go, if you brought MS. TREE back for an encore performance? Terry, as you pointed out on Lonely Planet, MS. TREE would be a grandmother by now. Following the logic of consequences, would it not be likely that Ms. Tree who lived by the sword must die by the sword leaving Melody Tree to pick up the mantle (or trench coat) to avenge the death of her mother?

That would be a fine story, but perhaps a bit predictable. After all, long before Batman, Superman and Captain America “died,” you guys had already done the “Death of Ms Tree” in the Renegade run. It would be far more interesting to hear what you have in mind, in rooting Ms. Tree in the 1980s. I really like what Hard Case did with NORMANDY GOLD (‘70s) and PEEPLAND in that 1980s space. I’m a big fan of period pieces and I know you guys are experts in that. Max, your effort to slightly update Ms Tree in the Hard Case novel were reasonable, but, for my money, it didn’t add anything. Ms Tree doesn’t need cell phones or the internet to properly deliver a 9mm bullet.

If one day you do decide it’s time for Ms Tree to dust off her trench coat the only thing I ask is you do it with the same uncompromising relish and enthusiasm that you’ve put into the other 60+ issues. But if you don’t, the work is perfect as it is.

The only thing remaining to say, gentlemen, is, as the French say, “Chapeaux”: “Hats Off”. You guys really pulled it off. “Chapeaux” to you and “Chapeaux” to Gary Kato and Barb and Dean Mullaney and Dave Sims and Leni Loubert and Mike Gold and Charles Ardai and all the other people who believed in you.

Regards,
Paul Linhardt
Monterey

This was my response to this fine missive:

Paul, I would say in the past that the only gratification came from doing the work itself. And speaking of gratification, Titan finally collecting the “complete” run is what I always wanted. Like you, I thought it was a body of work with a beginning, middle and end. I can take little credit, though, for how nice those volumes are — Terry did an enormous amount of unpaid work on it despite his comic strip workload.

I share your love of his initial Eclipse work. It indicates what a MS. TREE comic strip would have looked like, at least for a while.

We have a new edition of our JOHNNY DYNAMITE mini series coming out, a nice collection that should be an improvement on the slightly compromised one before.

I would say only about the MS. TREE novel (Deadly Beloved) that it is a rather typical example of me recycling material and not letting it die in a drawer. It’s a novelization of the unproduced script I did for Oxygen when they optioned and had the rights to MS. TREE for a while. Here’s the reality — I insisted in the contract that they had to let me take a pass at the screenplay, and that I had to be paid for doing so. They did that. In meetings with Oxygen folks later, I learned they had never read my script. I was a box that was checked off. Their script was better than the horrendous one Dick Wolf’s writer did when Wolf had the option. I’ve tried to forget it, but I think maybe Ms. Tree had a pet monkey. Or maybe that was a Johnny Dynamite option and Johnny had the pet monkey. Terry is the partner with the good memory. My imagination remains pretty good, though.

The other function of the novel was to reach out to my mystery novel audience. Terry and I always had readers who loved the comics but never got near my novels. I was trying to get them to cross over, and it worked. A little.

I asked Paul’s permission to publish his fine letter here. MS. TREE has become something of a footnote in both my career and Terry’s, as Terry graduated to BATMAN and syndicated comic strips THE PHANTOM and REX MORGAN, M.D. But the truth is, we always thought of MS. TREE as the comic strip we wished we’d been hired to do. (Prior to MS. TREE, we did THE COMICS PAGE, a weekly page of comics syndicated to a handful of “shoppers,” and attempted to sell my DICK TRACY bosses at the Trib updates of both HAROLD TEEN and LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE. They loved the latter, but didn’t hire us to do it.)

Both Terry and I are very grateful to Charles Ardai, the editor of Hard Case Crime, and my Titan editor Andrew Sumner, as well as publishers Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung, for bringing out the “complete” Ms. Tree. (I put “complete” in quotes because a few odds and ends, in particular THE P.I.’s, our crossover at First Comics with the Mike Mauser character, were not included in the six MS. TREE volumes from Titan.)


(image from https://popculturesquad.com/)

I guess I’ve given somewhat short shrift here to those six volumes, and I shouldn’t have – for decades, actually, I’ve dreamed of having archival editions published of the work Terry and did on the feature, and now all six have. If you’re a fan of mine, and came in the Nate Heller door (or maybe through a window with Quarry, or by dropping into the Trash ‘n’ Treasures antiques shop) (among other entries), you may never have encountered Ms. Tree.

It’s one of my proudest achievements and I hope that statement will be enough to encourage you to pick up all six volumes.

M.A.C.

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The Noir Musical, A Fairy Godfather With a Cigar and More

Tuesday, March 25th, 2025

My last several Update/blogs have been to promote this and that of mine. Plus, I was deep in the writing of a screenplay and couldn’t come up for much air. You deserve better.

On my plate this week, among other things, is doing a commentary track with Heath Holland of Cereal at Midnight for the 1932 western, Law and Order, from a W.R. Burnett novel about Wyatt Earp. I’m also doing a podcast with my old buddy Matthew Clemens, and have several business calls on Zoom.

So there will likely be some follow-up on some or all of that here next week. What now, then? Well, the questions I continue to be asked most often are (a) what have you read lately, and (b) what have you seen?

As for what I’ve read, the two most current books are:

Barnaby Volume 5

Barnaby Volume 5 () from Fantagraphics, the final volume of the complete daily strips of this classic, too little-known comic strip, which (with Dick Tracy, Li’l Abner and Terry and The Pirates) is among my top favorites. Written and drawn (sometimes with Jack Morley’s help on art) by the great children’s book author, Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon), Barnaby is a deceptively simple strip of the ‘40s and early ‘50s that details the whimsical adventures of a five-year-old boy (Barnaby) and his Fairy Godfather (Mr. O’Malley). O’Malley is just as short as the child Barnaby and is a pleasantly pompous little pixie who looks like a middle-aged man with a fedora and, of course, pink wings.

Barbaby’s parents are distressed by their little boy’s insistence that his Fairy Godfather is real. A lot of the gentle humor comes from the reality of Barnaby’s opinion on this matter being true. Mr. O’Malley frequently almost meets one or both parents, and that becomes the chief running gag of the strip. The other is Mr. O’Malley’s cheerful incompetence, his magic wand (a cigar) frequently accomplishing nothing at all.

O’Malley’s friends and associates are fellow pixies and supernatural types, like Gus the Ghost, who wears glasses and is easily spooked; Atlas the Mental Giant (also no taller than Barnaby), McSnoyd the Invisible Leprechaun (who speaks in a Brooklyn accent); Barnbaby’s talking dog Gorgon (who never speaks around Barnaby’s parents); and many more. Johnson’s “clear line cartooning” is the most deceptively simple aspect of all: oddly elegant, beautifully understated, and unmistakably Crockett.

In this final volume, Barnaby turns six and must say farewell to Mr. O’Malley. It’s a sad moment, bittersweet but just another day in the life of a Fairy Godfather, who is definitely not imaginary and as real as anybody in the comic strip canon.

Round in Circles: The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Round in Circles: The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel () by Barry Kester takes an in-depth look at one of the greatest musicals ever written, and in my view (and that of many) the finest work by Rodgers (music) and Hammerstein (book and lyrics). From the 1901 play Liliom by Ferenc Molnar, fairly faithful but with a much less dark conclusion, Carousel focuses on the sudden romance between a carnival barker and a young mill worker lass; the latter’s friends in a New England fishing community provide a backdrop and counterpoint.

It’s most overtly noir musical I can think of, with its emphasis on crime and its tortured central lovers. Modern audiences – or at least those mounting this great work of art for those audiences – have problems with the thematic content of the play. Billy Bigelow is a roustabout roughneck who has, at least on one occasion, “hit” (probably slapped) his gentle wife, who puts up with her husband’s jobless state and foul temper. In modern terms, this is viewed as an abusive relationship, and Round in Circles explores that subject thoroughly and well. Author Kester makes the point that the year the play was produced (1945) was toward the end of the Second World War, when men were starting to return from combat in a traumatized state and sometimes had difficulty into getting back into a peacetime grove. Some brought violence home with them. This is probably why audiences of the day had little if any problem with the overstated “wife-beating” aspect of the narrative.

Today, people are liable to read in contemporary values and beliefs, and somehow ignore the tragic aspects of the story, growing from flaws in both characters, the volatile Billy and the passive Julie. But Oscar Hammerstein knew what he needed to do with this tragedy. In both Liliom and Carousel, the roughneck gets a chance to redeem himself by getting another day – a single day – back on earth. Liliom is the story of man who blows his chance to redeem himself; Carousel is about a man who does, ultimately, in the nick of time redeem himself.

The film version is often dismissed, but it has rewards; and the play itself appears to be a major influence on It’s A Wonderful Life with its angelic conceits.

Additionally, the play has some of the most beautiful words and music ever written for the musical stage – from “The Carousel Waltz” to “If I Loved You” and finally “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” few scores rival it.

Carousel has a particular resonance for me. My father, in the early 1950s, when he was a high school music teacher, mounted the first high school production of Carousel. I was very young but I was spellbound – my father had a working carousel on stage for the opening of the show! Amazing. What a showman my pop was – imagine getting a wonderful performance in a play this difficult from a bunch of high school kids in the early fifties. And as I witnessed my dad’s hometown triumph, those beautiful songs crept into my brain and made a permanent home there.

If you are interested in musical theater at all, Carousel is the ultimate noir musical, and Barry Kester’s Round in Circles does it justice.

Here’s what Barb and I (and sometimes Nate) have been watching (some of these remarks will be brief):

Black Bag – a solid, well-acted espionage tale in the John Le Carre vein, starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp. This we saw at a theater.

Zero Day – a good but not great six-part mini-series starring Robert De Niro as a former president recruited from retirement to head up a commission into a devastating cyber- attack. Netflix.

Reacher Season 3 – a meat-and-potatoes series with a fine central performance by Alan Ritchson. The weakest of the three seasons so far, and at times painfully predictable and occasionally plot-hole-riddled, it’s nonetheless a fun watch. Amazon Prime.

Paradise – somewhat overrated but with a brilliant seventh (of eight) episodes. I just wish every character wouldn’t have a monologue about their back story delivered to some other character. I am interested to see where they go next, because the series seems to have painted itself into a corner. Hulu.

Adolescence – a four-episode limited British series that is one of the best things I’ve seen in years. Be forewarned: it’s harrowing, not so much for on-screen violence (which is limited) but for emotional impact. A young teen is accused of murder and we follow from the procedural end through the impact on the parents. Remarkable in approach, every episode is shot in a single unbroken take; how this was accomplished required a degree of difficulty I can barely imagine. The third episode, the least flashy in filmmaking terms, is a masterpiece thanks to the performances of Erin Doherty as psychologist Briony Ariston and Owen Cooper as young accused murderer Jamie meeting at a youth detention facility to prepare a pre-trial report on his mental health. Netflix.

The Thief of Bagdad – This 1924 film starring Douglas Fairbanks is one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. Barb loves silent movies and this one is terrific, with a wonderful orchestral score. The effects are mind-boggling. Eureka! Home Video.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – We decided to revist this before Part Two (no longer labelled that way) comes out. Underrated on its release, with an A-1 “bad guy” that seems more current now than when the film came out, this entry in the long-running series is a succession of over-the-top (in a good way) action sequences, often hilarious in their shameless excess. Paramount Home Video.

The Golden Buddha – From the boxed set Super Spies and Secret Lies, this is an Asian James Bond-era knock-off with eye-popping art direction and an amusing storyline anticipating Austin Powers. My son Nate and I watch one or two Asian movies every week, seldom artistic masterpieces but great fun. Eureka! Home video.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – We went with the (nearly) entire family to this one at the local theater, and it’s a blast – traditional animation that seemed more Ren & Stimpy than Warner Bros, but I was fine with that. Word is this was dumped by Warner’s (as was a Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote movie) and that’s a disgrace. Very funny.

Okay that’s what I’ve been reading and watching. It’s an eclectic bunch of stuff, but that’s how we roll around here. I don’t read as much fiction as I once did – particularly not mysteries – but I take in a lot of physical media and streaming shows/movies. It’s how I relax and put fuel in the boiler.

There’s a lot to dislike on TV and on the movie screen these days, but plenty’s still out there to enjoy.

* * *

This very nice, smart review popped up this week at Do Some Damage – it’s detailed and (to me) gratifying. I happen to think the two Krista Larsen books are top-notch Collins, but I got a lot of heat from some reviewers (mostly in the UK) and, frankly, from my Thomas & Mercer editor. The big complaint was too much clothing description, something that goes unremarked upon in this extended lovely review. I had hoped to do at least a third Krista novel, but Thomas & Mercer wasn’t interested. It is, admittedly, the only book of mine there that hasn’t “earned out” yet; but in my defense they’ve given that title zero support.

If you haven’t read Girl Most Likely, check out this review.

This is a very good article on Road to Perdition as a comic book movie that is also a masterpiece. Oddly, neither I nor Richard Piers Rayner are mentioned. But it’s nice,
just the same.

* * *

We have been getting complaints from a handful of you fine folks that the link to this page from Facebook listings doesn’t always work. We (that is, son Nate) are (is) looking into it.

For those of you who can get here, we will have a book giveaway next week.

True Noir Poster

In the meantime, True Noir: The Assassination of Mayor Cermak is winding down – the last couple of the ten episodes will drop any moment now. Director Robert Meyer Burnett continues to do a great job.

If you order now, at least the first eight of ten episodes are available. Episode eight is, as Rob would say, “a banger.”

And this just in!

M.A.C.

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Another Book Giveaway, An E-Book Sale & Major Announcements

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

A limited book giveaway kicks off this Update.

I have only five copies I can share with you of the new Mike Hammer novel, Dig Two Graves. So move fast.

[All copies have been claimed. Thank you for your support! –Nate]

IMPORTANT: If you recently won a copy of Too Many Bullets, please don’t enter. If you’re not sure whether you were a winner in that giveaway, e-mail me at the above address and I’ll let you know. But before you do, keep in mind that I contacted everyone who entered who did not win and informed them of it. And please don’t tell Nero Wolfe I used “contact” as a verb.

You agree to write a review (or reviews) at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and/or Goodreads, or your own blog.

* * *

Speaking of Dig Two Graves, the great Andrew Sumner of Titan interviewed me about it recently, and you can watch it right here.

Dig Two Graves will be available from Amazon and others a week from today (Sept. 19).


Hardcover:
E-Book: Amazon Google Play Nook Kobo iTunes
Digital Audiobook: Google Play Nook Kobo iTunes Chirp
Audio MP3 CD:
Audio CD:
* * *

Two of my novels are on sale right now (and until 9/30/’23) at Amazon, e-book editions of Executive Order ($2.95 Amazon) and Girl Most Likely ($2.49 Amazon). Exec is co-written by Matthew Clemens and is a Reeder and Rogers political thriller. Girl is one of my personal favorites.

* * *

Robert Meyer Burnett, You Tube’s finest commentator on pop culture and physical media, made an interesting announcement on air last night (Sunday Sept. 10). All of a sudden he was talking about me! Hearing my name invoked was startling and, I’ll admit, a little thrilling, because I respect this man’s opinions and admire his uncanny ability to hold my attention for literal hours with his good-humored brilliance. But I wasn’t entirely surprised, because he and I (and our mutual friend Mike Bawden, who is the producer of the Burnett podcasts, and happens to be located near me in the Quad Cities) are embarking on a project together.

We are setting out to do a podcast series based on the Nathan Heller novels. Each multi-episode podcast would take on a single book. I will write these adaptations myself. Rob Burnett is, among other things, a Hollywood director (Free Enterprise, Femme Fatales, The Hills Run Red). There will be a crowd-funding effort to get the first podcast off the ground, and I’ve written a 10-page self-contained script (based on the opening of Stolen Away), to be presented as an example of what we’re up to at the crowd-funding site.

These are early days, but I think we’ll be moving fast. We are talking to several terrific name actors about playing Heller on the crowd-funding pilot, and when we’re a go for the podcast (likely six episodes – we’re considering several titles, including Carnal Hours), other name actors will be cast as well.

Since we haven’t had a Heller movie in all these years, despite continued Hollywood interest, I think a superior podcast could really jump start things on that end.

But the podcast on its own will be great fun, and producer Bawden is a genius at promotion and utilizing You Tube. Not surprisingly, my longtime movie collaborator Phil Dingeldein is involved in the project, and we’ll be making behind-the-scenes and behind-the-story “true crime” videos. That, at least, is the plan.

* * *

Meanwhile, work on Blue Christmas continues apace.

We are trying to secure Gary Sandy, but he has several prior commitments we have to find a window between. If we don’t land him, he has nonetheless been a friend to me and my work, and incidentally a fan specifically of Blue Christmas. His taking on Mike Hammer for our Golden Age-radio style local production made recording it (and turning it into a modest but fun little movie) possible.

We are having auditions this week for the rest of the Blue Christmas cast, and I intend to use as many of the players from Mickey Spillane’s Encore for Murder as possible. I was very pleased with their work.

Both the Blu-ray of the expanded Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane documentary and a DVD of Encore for Murder will be out in December (exact date TBA). Here is the trailer for Encore.

We are on a very fast track for Blue Christmas – the shoot is toward the end of October.

* * *

Yesterday afternoon/evening (Sunday Sept. 10), my band Crusin’ made its last appearance of the summer. Rain kept threatening but never happened, and a large appreciative crowd seemed to have a great time.

Crusin' September 10, 2023
Crusin' September 10, 2023

Barbara and Samuel dance to Crusin’

I had to postpone this from a scheduled August appearance, due to my health stuff; but I was pretty much fine for this performance, although I admit to tiring easily. It’s becoming obvious that I’m near the end of my rock ‘n’ rolling days, and I think next summer (if the rest of the band is up for it) we’ll do a Farewell Tour of three gigs here in Muscatine.

We’ve been preparing new originals for one last CD, which would include the Crusin’ originals from Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market.

This version of the band has been very gratifying. This is the line-up, basically, that appeared at the 2018 Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction concert. Our late bass player, Brian Van Winkle, appeared with us there. He passed away not long after, most unexpectedly, and his sunny presence and self-deprecating humor is sorely missed – in many respects he was the heart of the band. His replacement – our guitarist Bill Anson’s son Scott – is one of the best bass players I’ve been privileged to appear with. He has his own sly sense of humor, too. By the way, Bill Anson came aboard just to fill in for a while – that was seven years ago.

I hate to hang it up, but I figure I’ve accomplished everything I ever will in this artistic/performing arena, and will concentrate whatever time is left to writing novels and working on movies. Blue Christmas is, in part, an experiment to see how I do directing a movie at this rarefied age.

I have designed it to be low-budget – a necessity, particularly since we didn’t get the expected Greenlight grant – and wrote it to be shot on a single set in a studio-style setting. I will have some wonderful actors lined up (with or without Gary, though I sure hope he’s able to do it) and great collaborators in Phil Dingeldein, Liz Toal and Chad Bishop.

Since Encore came out well and the filming of it was something of a last minute, impulsive decision, I had originally conceived Blue Christmas to be presented as a play that we’d shoot. There are advantages to that approach, but also disadvantages – shooting it film-style, without an audience, will broaden our market, and be more artistically satisfying to boot.

Wish us break a leg and stay tuned for reports from the front lines.

* * *

Here, from the Pulp, Crime & Mystery Books site, is a nice review of Dig Two Graves.

Finally, here’s a short but great write-up on Too Many Bullets from Craig Zablo.

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The Awesome ‘80s Prom & Memorial Day Thoughts

Tuesday, May 30th, 2023

This past Saturday evening (May 27) Barb and I attended the Awesome ‘80s Prom put on by my buddy Chad Bishop, who is the producer of the Blue Christmas project. Chad is a fun, funny, gifted guy and the evening he put together was a blast. There were Arcade games (a whole room of ‘em), New Wave music, food and (spiked) punch, and potential prom kings and queens trolling for votes. It’s one of those almost-a-plays that have structured elements but also have a large cast circulating as characters (prom attendees) and make it an interactive event.

We were accompanied by Barb’s sister Judy and our brother-in-law Gary, who admittedly looked a little more like he was attending the Manson Family Reunion than the Awesome ‘80s Prom.

Max and Barb at the Awesome '80s Prom
’80s Prom Goers!
Manson Family Reunion?
Manson Family Reunion?
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J. Kingston Pierce, who for my money is the best friend the mystery/crime genre has here in the 21st Century, has posted info about the Blue Christmas crowd-funding effort – now in its final few days – that is better and more complete than I ever could:

Efforts by Iowa novelist Max Allan Collins to raise the money necessary to turn his A Christmas Carol-like detective short story, “Blue Christmas” (published in a 2001 collection), into a movie seem to be going well. With less than two days still to raise $5,000 through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, he’s already brought in … $5,750!

Contributions are still being accepted here. As an incentive, if you pony up $25 to $500, Collins says you can write him at macphilms@hotmail.com to request copies of his older books to add to your collection. Click here to learn more about that offer.

Meanwhile, the author is hoping to score matching funds for this endeavor from the Produce Iowa-State Office of Film and Media’s Greenlight Grants program, which is designed to “support entrepreneurial projects that can accelerate business and careers in film.” Collins acknowledges, however, that there’s no guarantee he will succeed in this second venture, given the caliber of rival proposals. If Produce Iowa turns him down, he says he’ll mount a live production of Blue Christmas, which will be recorded.

More news on this matter to come.

Here is a link for the Rap Sheet post that includes this write-up.

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Girl Most Likely will be promoted via Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle book deals at Amazon, starting 6/1/2023 and running through 6/30/2023. The novel will be offered at 2.49 USD during the promotion period. If you haven’t tried one of the two Krista Larson novels, now is the time!

Fate of the Union (the second Reeder and Rogers thriller) is being offered during this same period at $3, and Flying Blind – one of my favorite Nate Heller novels – will be available at $1.99. The first of the three Reeder and Rogers novels, Supreme Justice, will be available at $2.99 for one day – June 3rd.

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The great Paperback Warrior has posted a terrific review of Double Down, focusing on one of the two Nolan novels therein: Fly Paper.

Nolan #03 – Fly Paper

Max Allan Collins’ Nolan series is his pastiche of Richard Stark’s Parker series. The third novel in the chronology was Fly Paper written in 1973 but not published until 1981. The book has recently been repackaged by Hard Case Crime in a twofer marketed as Double Down.

For the uninitiated, Nolan is a hard-nosed thief who makes a living pulling heists that inevitably run into problems. Much of this book’s focus is on Jon, Nolan’s comic book collecting sidekick. The action kicks off with a colleague named Breen, who has a good thing going with a parking meter rip-off scam. Breen was working the coin theft organized by the redneck Comfort family before those hillbillies shot and double-crossed Breen landing him squarely in Nolan and Jon’s orbit.

This leads to a plan to rip off the Comfort family in a heist-the-heisters kinda deal. The action moves from Iowa to Detroit in the shadow of a large comic book convention. The heist itself is really a side-dish in the paperback with the main course being the commercial airline getaway that is interrupted by a skyjacking.

Between 1961 and 1972, there were 159 skyjackings in American airspace with the majority between 1968 and 1972. It was a vexing criminal social contagion without a clear solution – similar to the problem America currently faces with mass shootings. Collins draws upon this phenomenon as the backdrop of Fly Paper when a married guy plans a D.B. Cooper style airplane heist with a parachute getaway.

When Nolan and Jon are coincidentally on the plane as the dude takes control of the jet, the plotting and action soar. These are the best scenes in a book I’ve read in ages. The creativity at work with the dilemma facing Nolan and Jon sets Fly Paper apart from other heist novels of the paperback original era.

Fly Paper is also unquestionably the best of the first three Nolan novels. The inclusion of Jon as a sidekick gives the book its own identity rather than just being a cover song from a Richard Stark Tribute Band. The skyjacking storyline was brilliant, and everything about his slim paperback leaves the reader wanting more. Highest recommendation.

I would take slight issue with this review only in that it describes the Nolan series as a “pastiche” of Westlake’s Parker series. I usually describe it as an homage, but Westlake himself said that the series was distinct from its inspiration by the inclusion of the surrogate father-and-son relationship of Nolan and Jon, which humanizes Nolan in a way Parker never approached (nor wanted to).

The review got me to thinking, though. The first Nolan and Jon novel, Bait Money, was designed as a one-shot and really was me trying out everything I had learned from the Parker novels – not just the heist artist aspect, but the strict Point of View approach. As some of you already know, my original version of Bait Money had Nolan dying at the end. My then-agent Knox Burger, who had always disliked that ending, encouraged me to do a different ending in which Jon came back and rescued Nolan. After the original version got six or seven rejections, the new version sold first time out.

The second Nolan novel, Blood Money, was a direct sequel to Bait Money, really the second half of the first story. The two novels have been reprinted in the single volume, Two for the Money, by Hard Case Crime.

So in a very real way, Fly Paper was my first shot at doing a Nolan novel in a series format. I would always leave dangling aspects to be picked up in later novels; but this was nonetheless a self-contained series entry. More would follow.

Don Westlake and I made several appearances together, notably at Mohunk Lodge mystery weekends (see Nice Weekend for a Murder), where in my speech to the assembled fans/mystery gamers I shared the fact that Don referred to me as the Jayne Mansfield to his Marilyn Monroe, and I corrected him, saying I was the Mamie Van Doren. I remember seeing him laughing his generous laugh in the audience upon hearing that.

Don is a friend who is gone, however vividly he lives in my memory. Mickey Spillane is gone, too, of course, though he is with me every day. So many writers I’ve known and read and liked, who I’ve gotten to know personally, are gone now – one of the aspects of being 75 that never occurred to me till I got here.

On Memorial Day I reflect on my Dad, who served in the Navy as described in USS Powderkeg, and my Uncle Mahlon and Barb’s dad Bill Mull, who both endured horrific combat and came home with memories that must have been a burden.

It’s risky for me to do this, but as I write this Update on Memorial Day, friends who have passed seem to be looking over my shoulder. I will cite some, but not all of them. A good number were in either of my two bands, the Daybreakers and Crusin’ (or both), starting back around ‘65.

Paul Thomas was my chief musical collaborator for decades in both the Daybreakers and Crusin’. He came in as a tech wizard who ran sound, developed into a fine bass player and later was our lead guitarist. He was funny as hell and it’s a rare day when I don’t think of him.

Others of my bandmates have passed and yet remain vivid in my mind. Bruce Peters, the troubled genius who was the best showman, the finest guitar player, the most incredible songwriter, and the single funniest human being I ever knew. I quote him regularly.

Terry Beckey was a great singer and bass player and also very, very funny – murdered, goddamnit, on the road. Like Paul Thomas, he came into the Daybreakers as the sound man and worked his way up to front man.

Chuck Bunn was our first real bass player, a guy who didn’t hold grudges, he cherished them. But no one was ever a better band member, putting together lighting systems and other gizmos for us in his spare time – he lived for the band. He died shortly after this appearance at Bouchercon.

Brian Van Winkle came in as the brother of our then guitar player Jim after Chuck passed. He developed into a fine bassist and performer, and was incredibly fun to be around. Like so many of my bandmates, he had a wonderful if unprintable sense of humor. He also was the gentlest and sweetest member either band ever had. He appeared with us at the Indication Concert at the Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Most of my best friends – maybe all of them – have been creative collaborators. People like Phil Dingeldein, who is alive and well. But some of our film collaborators are already gone, like Steve Henke, the skinny, cranky pro who kept us honest. Steve was my chief collaborator on Caveman: V.T. Hamlin and Alley Oop.

Probably the loss among my Film Family felt most deeply is Mike Cornelison, the actor who guided me through all of my indie projects. Mike appeared in Mommy, Mommy’s Day, Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market, and of course Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life. He also took the leads in four short films of mine and was the narrator of both Caveman and Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane. He played Pat Chambers in both of Stacy Keach’s audio productions of my scripts, The Little Death and Encore for Murder.

Mike had spent almost a decade in Los Angeles appearing on top TV shows and movies as well as starring in a trio of pilot films. He was knowledgeable in ways that turned me from a rank amateur into, well, an amateur who knows a little about what he’s doing.

On the Mommy movies, when Mike wasn’t working as an actor, he was my right-hand man, whispering in my ear when I got something wrong or needed to be doing something. He was also a pop culture expert and our conversations in that area were more fun than should be legal.

These are the friendly ghosts who walk with me through the remainder of my Act Three.

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The Dave Thomas/Max Allan Collins episode of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast got rerun recently, and has generated some nice buzz for our novel The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton (have you read it yet?). And let’s raise a glass to Gilbert, as well, gone way too soon.

M.A.C.

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