Posts Tagged ‘Reviews’

My Bestsellers, A Great Blue Christmas Review, and Quarry

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024

You may not know what my bestselling books actually are. And I don’t know for sure that these three novels have outsold everything else I’ve done – various editions of Road to Perdition for example – but they continue to sell and generate income.

They are on sale right now.

Supreme Justice cover
E-Book:
Executive Order cover
E-Book:
Fate of the Union cover
E-Book:

Supreme Justice, Fate of the Union and Executive Order will be $2.99 each starting 12/1/2024 and running through 12/31/2024. These are e-books not physical publications. (The physical editions are nice, just not on sale.)

The novels, the last of which was published in 2017, have some interesting themes, considering what has transpired in America since.

Supreme Justice dealt with a Conservative-stacked Supreme Court; Fate of the Union was about a multi-millionaire who runs for president and tries to overthrow the government; and Executive Order concerns a coup by the Secret Service to replace the President.

My co-author Matt Clemens and I have pitched several further Reeder-and-Rogers novels with Thomas & Mercer and have gotten nowhere, despite the strong sales of this (what now appears to be a) trilogy. As tumultuous as the politics are right now, Matt and I actually feel a little relieved not to be adding to the Reeder and Rogers canon. They take place somewhat in the future – not enough to be viewed as science-fiction certainly – and despite what some have posted on Amazon reviewing pages, the books do not take a political stand, at least not overtly. The politics of the two main characters are not the same, for one thing.

I mention all this because (a) you might have been unaware of them and that they are among my bestselling novels, and (b) they are on sale right now.

* * *
Blue Christmas banner

You’re going to have to put up with me talking about Blue Christmas for the next few weeks, since we need to encourage you to buy it on physical media or stream it on Amazon Prime (and a couple of other places) before Christmas 2024 is in the rear-view mirror. I encourage you to use Diabolik, but you can get it from Amazon, obviously. Don’t pay more than around twenty bucks, despite its official price of thirty or so.

We had hoped to do a few more Iowa advanced screenings of Death by Fruitcake, but that hasn’t jelled. We have not been helped by how late Thanksgiving came this year, and how suddenly we’re in December already.

I made a calculation that following Blue Christmas up with a second Christmas movie was the smart thing to do. I still think it was – particularly since the two movies are very different – but it made dealing with a limited theatrical release in our native Iowa become problematic. We did do very well with our Death by Fruitcake advanced screening in our native Muscatine, selling out the houses on the two nights we premiered the production.

We spent a little more money, and took a little more time, on Death By Fruitcake than we did Blue Christmas. I think it represents a step up. But I am grateful to the reviewers and, well, viewers who have been gracious about the micro-budget nature of Blue Christmas.

To all of you who have posted glowing reviews, positive Facebook posts and nice e-mails about our modest little effort, thank you so much…and merry Christmas.

One of the best reviews we’ve received is from the well-respected Douglas Pratt at his DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter.

Have a Blue Christmas!

We hate to spoil it, but it happens in the first few minutes anyway and it is just the very beginning of the film’s inspirations when you hear that the name of the grumpy detective’s dead partner, at the start of the VCI Entertainment MVDvisual Blu-ray, Blue Christmas), is ‘Jake Marley.’ It is 1942, and Marley was killed a year ago, of course, on Christmas Day. What happens when you take A Christmas Carol and cross it with The Maltese Falcon? Well, with a good-sized cast and the creative inspiration already in place, you get the most perfect community theater property to show up this side of Mamma Mia! That is how the very low budget film plays, but its imagination and wit are so compelling, and the Dickensian emotional hooks are so effectively preserved, that it can do no wrong. Written and directed by Max Allan Collins, Rob Merritt stars as a 4F detective who is running a reasonably successful detective agency in Chicago, even though he’s chintzy with his staff and blows off requests for charity. He falls asleep at his desk that night, and the visitors start coming, the first of which is his former partner, who needs him to find the killer. Everything else in the 79-minute feature is such a joy to discover, we will leave it to you with glad tidings.

The entire film was shot on a single set, mostly as the detective’s office, but redressed slightly for a few flashback scenes and the like. The one quibble we would have is that the film, shot on HD, is presented in widescreen format with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1. It is very clear in scene after scene that there is not enough decoration to support the framing and that blocking the movie in a squared, full screen image would not only have given it greater production value, but would have better captured the Forties tone the film otherwise so lovingly conveys. Nevertheless, the colors are bright and sharp, and the endless string of instrumental Christmas tunes playing on the soundtrack are well served by the modest dimensionality of the stereo sound. There are optional English subtitles, a trailer, an excellent 26-minute profile of the Iowa-based Collins that barely mentions his work as a film director as it focuses on his prolific writing career (nothing like the Iowa cost of living when you’re trying to get by as a writer…), and an extensive 102-minute collection of post-screening interviews with almost the full cast and crew at different locations, as they all share their eagerness for the project and the enjoyment they had putting it together. Although she only appears in one of the Q&A’s, it is worth noting that regional actress Alisabeth Von Presley is as captivating in person as she is in the memorable part she plays in the film as the specific and inspired ghost of Christmas Past. Scot Gehret, as another inspired ghost of Christmas Future, also has several crowd pleasing moments in the interviews.

Collins and producer Chad Bishop provide a decent commentary track, talking about each cast member (including how they were chosen, their working methods, their personalities and many other details), the technical choices, the adjustments when they decided to do the whole thing in one location (they shot it at a college theater in Iowa in 6 days), how the story was gestated, its previous iterations, and what their own working relationship was like.

Doug Pratt’s ability to take the production on its own (admittedly limited) terms is textbook Good Reviewing.

* * *

I have delivered Return of the Maltese Falcon to Hard Case Crime and sister company Titan Books.

Publisher/editor Charles Ardai got back to me lightning fast, as is his habit, so the book has largely been put to bed – though not due out till January 2026. My Mike Hammer editor Andrew Sumner, at Titan, will be giving it an editorial pass soon, which will really finalize matters.

That gives me a year to be ready for what I think will be a lot of praise but possibly as many attacks. For readers of hardboiled/noir fiction – or just great American fiction – my providing a sequel to a work of this stature – takes a good deal of nerve…and maybe reckless abandon.

But I’m something of an old hand at taking over for my heroes – scripting Dick Tracy for fifteen years, completing Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer over a period of seventeen years. It’s done out of love and respect, I assure you. And I consider it an incredible privilege to walk in such shoes, despite the unlikelihood of ever really filling them.

* * *
Quarry's Return audiobook cover
Quarry’s Return Audiobook Cover

Sample Audio:

Trade Paperback: Bookshop Purchase Link Amazon Purchase Link Books-A-Million Purchase Link Barnes & Noble Purchase Link
E-Book: Google Play Kobo
Digital Audiobook: Audible Purchase Link Google Play Kobo
Audiobook CD: Amazon Purchase Link Books-A-Million Purchase Link
Audiobook MP3 CD: Amazon Purchase Link Books-A-Million Purchase Link

With all the fuss over my little movies here of late, the new Quarry has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle, But we have 24 Amazon reviews currently, all five-star.

And Barb and I are listening to Stefan Rudnicki’s reading of Quarry’s Return right now, and he’s done usual terrific job – he really gets it.

In case you didn’t see it, here’s the Publisher’s Weekly review.

QUARRY’S RETURN
Max Allan Collins. Hard Case Crime, $12.95 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-80336-876-4
Retired hit man Quarry returns to the killing business with ruthless efficiency in the highly satisfying 17th entry in Collins’s crime series (after Quarry’s Blood). When a journalist shows up at Quarry’s door searching for his daughter, bestselling true crime author Susan Breedlove, Quarry senses trouble. Predictably, the reporter turns out to be a hired assassin, and his expert knife skills make him more than a match for the 71-year-old ex-killer. Fortunately, Quarry’s former lover Luann Lloyd, who he believed was dead, arrives in the nick of time to rescue him. But Quarry’s daughter is far from safe; evidence suggests she’s been abducted while investigating a series of cold case murders, forcing Quarry to return to Port City, Iowa, where he met Susan’s mother and left contract killing, and where Susan had been conducting research. With Luann’s help, Quarry begins his own investigation into the killings Susan was writing about, in the belief that exposing the culprit will lead him to her. The fluid narration is better than ever, and Collins brings the proceedings to an exhilarating and unexpected conclusion. Fans will hope Quarry returns again soon.
* * *

I hope all of you had lovely Thanksgivings – we did, with a jaunt to the Amana Colonies for an incredible meal – and are dealing with the imminent arrival of Christmas.

Really comes roaring down the track this year.

M.A.C.

Being Thankful

Tuesday, November 26th, 2024

With a contentious election behind us, and an even more uncertain American future ahead, the arrival of the holiday season and those family-oriented juggernauts Thanksgiving and Christmas threaten to make not all of the noises joyful. But speaking from a strictly personal perspective, I have plenty to be thankful for, starting with my family – a smart supportive bride who was beautiful when we married in 1968 and still is, astonishingly so; and a great, talented son and a terrific daughter-in-law and two bright, funny grandkids (Sam 9, Lucy 6).

There’s more. Two Christmas movies, Blue Christmas and Death by Fruitcake, have been added to my list of indie productions I’ve mounted when I didn’t think it likely I’d ever do another project of that kind again. Barb worked on both and co-produced the second; our son Nate toiled on both as well, and grandson son made it into Blue Christmas (both Sam and Lucy are in Death by Fruitcake). As is always the case on a film, I worked with cast and crew both old and new, and my creative circle grew.

M.A.C. on set of Blue Christmas

Despite health issues, I have managed to stay not just active but prolific, if not as much so as in the past. Barb is writing her draft of our next Antiques novel, a series we began twenty years ago. Our son Nate’s career as a Japanese-to-English translator continues to flourish, though it’s hard, hard work. I’ve written a ten-part audio drama, in post-production now, True Noir (directed by new friend Robert Meyer Burnett) based on the first Nathan Heller novel, True Detective, with an all-star cast, and have another Heller to write for Hard Case Crime in the coming year – the 19th I believe. I have just completed a dream project, The Return of the Maltese Falcon, for publication by HCC/Titan in January 2026, and the final Mike Hammer novel, Baby, It’s Murder, comes out from Titan the day after my March third birthday, March 4 of 2025.

Regardless of how I might feel about the macro state of America, the micro world of the Collins family reminds me of Cary Grant being sent a telegram from a news service asking him, “How old Cary Grant?” And Cary Grant responded with, “Old Cary Grant fine. How you?”

At the age of 76, I face a future that remains uncertain in that inevitable certainty. But being alive (thank you, Sondheim) remains a trip I’m pleased to still be taking, and the specific life I’ve been living has largely been sweet. The bittersweet is in there, too, of course. Many of my best friends and valued collaborators are gone. But how wonderful it’s been to have them in my life. I’ve finally hung up my rock ‘n’ roll shoes, but the talented and funny people I’ve known, the gigs I’ve been able to enjoy (and sometimes endure), are something I’m delighted to have experienced.

It’s not all good, of course. Both the far right and the far left want to control my speech, in varying ways. As I have long said, where the far right and the far left meet is at a book-burning – they’re just bringing different books. I’ve been cancelled by both of ‘em at various times in my career, which starts to feel like a badge of honor.

But, hell – I’ve been able to make a living in the storytelling business. Telling lies for fun and profit, as Lawrence Block said. Doesn’t get better than that.

So you bet I’m thankful.

And a lot of that is due to those of you who drop by here regularly who have supported my life-long journey to avoid actual work.

So on this contentious year at this wonderful, difficult time of year, let me say this: let’s put the “Thanks” into Thanksgiving. Corny, I know. But as my late friend, filmmaker Steve Henke, once said of me, “Max will write something nasty but then ruin it with something sentimental at the end, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

So thank you.

* * *

Quarry’s Return from Hard Case Crime is out right now, and a few reviews have rolled in. This is a particularly nice, smart one.

And this one’s nice, too.

Looks like the old boy has some life left in him. I started the series in the mid-1970s and against all odds it is still kicking.

Same could be said of its author.

* * *

Speaking of reviews, scroll down and read a nice one of Blue Christmas.

And this one.

And some nice Blue Christmas coverage is here.

And how about this terrific Blue Christmas review?

We’ve received a few negative ones, anyway two that I know of – one flat-out mean, another basically dinging us for being so low-budget, a hurdle the reviewer can’t get over. He’s been served a hamburger and, damnit, he insists on steak.

I get it. Doing a micro-budget indie film is a challenge, and the result is so different from the Hollywood variety – where millions of dollars can be spent on a movie called “low-budget” – that a little production like Blue Christmas requires understanding that a budget under $10,000 isn’t going to produce Gladiator 2.

I’m a big believer in meeting art (if I may be so bold as describe what I do as “art”) on its own level. What is it trying to do, and what were the obstacles that may have had to be overcome? That said, some of you may find Blue Christmas a bridge too far, and that frustrates me but I do understand. It’s very low-budget, and the reviewers (including the positive ones) often compare us to a community theater production (not always in an unflattering way). If you can’t meet a book or movie on its own terms – or if you feel those terms are at odds with your point of view, your tastes – I understand.

To put it in perspective, we couldn’t afford licensing a version of the song “Blue Christmas” for a movie called Blue Christmas. That would have taken ten times the budget we had for the whole flick.

But I will say this. As some of you know, Blue Christmas was written to be a bigger budget movie (by “bigger” I mean half a million dollars) back in the days when we did the two Mommy movies. But we weren’t able to make that happen. Periodically over the years, I tried to mount it, including as a stage play with Iowa PBS in mind, but never could get the job done. When I had the opportunity to do a rewrite for a micro-budget version and actually produce it…actually have it exist…I couldn’t resist. And I like this version just fine, and the way it works on (basically) a single set, emphasizing the Christmas Carol-like visions of private eye Richard Stone.

I’ll remind you Blue Christmas is available on Amazon Prime for under three bucks, on Blu-ray and DVD from VCI and MVD (available at Amazon and Diabolik and elsewhere), and on a few streaming channels for free but with commercials.

Now I’ll wind up this commercial and get back to the main attraction: me wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving.

M.A.C.

Kindle Deals, a Spillane Nom, A Beck & Woods Blurb, New Reviews of Old Movies, and More!

Tuesday, June 4th, 2024
Supreme Justice cover
What Doesn't Kill Her

Supreme Justice will be promoted via Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle book deals in the US marketplace, starting 6/1/2024 and running through 6/30/2024. The book (topical as hell right now!) will be offered at 2.99 USD during the promotion period.

What Doesn’t Kill Her will be promoted via Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle book deals in the US marketplace, starting 6/1/2024 and running through 6/30/2024. The novel will be offered at 1.99 USD during the promotion period.

Both are written by Matt Clemens and me.

* * *
Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction cover

Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by James L. Traylor and me has been nominated for the Macavity Award in the
Best Mystery-related Nonfiction/Critical category.

The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories.

I am not sure when or where the winners are announced. We were up for the Edgar, and lost, as you might recall; and are up for the Anthony, which will be announced at this year’s Bouchercon (which we will not be attending, as I will be shooting an indie movie then). If you are an eligible voter in the Macavity Awards or the Anthony Awards, please keep us in mind.

Our dashed hopes of winning the Edgar (I never really thought that was a possibility, frankly) have been soothed by the knowledge that we are a thrice-nominated book in our category. If we can just win one, Spillane will be an award-winning book; but even short of that, these multiple nominations are a nice validation of the decades of work by Jim and me that went into a book for which I feel a good deal of pride and accomplishment.

One of my missions in life has been to get Mickey Spillane some of the recognition denied him by the mystery community over these many decades, despite the boost he gave to the genre as a whole. The number of careers in mystery fiction that Mickey made possible with his success is difficult to overstate – the entire genre got a shot in the arm (and elsewhere).

* * *

Barb and I celebrated our 56th wedding anniversary on June 1. We had a nice overnight getaway at Galena, Illinois, a favorite haunt of ours. Here’s Barb and me (with one of us looking radiant and young) (hint: not me) at a restaurant we adore, Vinny Vanucchi’s.

Max Allan and Barbara Collins at Vinny Vanucchi's

Even an overnight trip, however, can be a little daunting these days. We feel much more comfortable at home, the familiar surroundings encouraging both work and play. I have sleep issues that staying in a hotel acerbate. This is why you don’t see us doing book signings, attending conventions, and doing other public appearances very often. As much as we like interacting with readers/fans/friends, it’s a dicey proposition, leaving our little cave.

We are extremely lucky to have our son Nate and his family (wife Abby and grandkids Sam and Lucy) just up the street from us, making the households mutual support systems. As you know, if you follow these updates at all, I even managed to write and direct a movie not long ago – Blue Christmas – which will be distributed on home video by VCI and MVD, who will also be marketing it to streaming services.

We have even received a lovely blurb from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the talented creators of A Quiet Place: “Collins is a master of noir and activates a deep reservoir of affection for the genre in his latest noir chamber piece.” This is incredibly generous of Beck and Woods, who have been kind enough to single out my frequent cinematic collaborator Phil Dingeldein and me, as mentors.

Exciting (at least exciting to me) news about another indie feature film project will be announced here soon.

Also, the Nathan Heller audio production, True Noir (based on the novel True Detective) written by me and directed by my pal Robert Meyer Burnett, continues apace. I have completed and delivered the ten-episode script of the production to Rob, and the reviews from him and our distinguished cast members (we’ll be revealing more of them soon) have been wonderful. Unfortunately, our announced star Todd Stashwick had to step down, and we are in the process of recasting now.

* * *
Strawberry Blonde poster

It’s no secret that I am as much a film buff as I am a bibliophile. And I have viewed a ridiculously large number of films in my time on Planet Earth, from the worst to the best. But a few classic films have, for no good reason, remained unwatched by me. I caught up with two recently: Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland and Rita Hayworth, directed by Raoul Walsh, written by the Epsteins of Casablanca fame; and Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck directed by Frank Capra and written by Robert Riskins.

Where to start? Both are 1941 films – in that sweet spot that began around 1939 and continued till World War Two kicked in, where Hollywood seemed to be at its creative zenith. The number of great character actors assembled for these two films is staggering: Jack Carson, Alan Hale and George Tobias, with future Superman George Reeves thrown in for good measure, in Strawberry Blonde; and Edward Arnold, James Gleason, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, and Gene Lockhart in Meet John Doe. And a lot of others in both.

Let me interrupt myself to say that Barb and I, staying overnight in Galena at the Irish Cottage hotel, tried to watch a pay-for-view movie on the evening of May 31. The film we chose was Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. How might I best describe this movie? Childish nonsense, poorly acted, although Rebecca Hall is actually pretty good, whereas Dan Stevens embarrasses himself and Bryan Tyree Henry is, as an African-American, saddled with a stereotypical role that Mantan Moreland would have rejected as beneath his dignity. We bailed half an hour into this CGI fest in which the best that could be said for the monsters is that they come off as more human than the humans.

Meanwhile, back in 1941, Warner’s is giving us Jimmy Cagney in a charming role that because of his artistry overcomes the character’s boorishness, with Oliva De Havilland etching a modern young woman (at the turn of the Twentieth Century) with humor and deftness, and the comic figures (Alan Hale, George Tobias, Jack Carson) all show considerable humanity and growth. I think I’d avoided this film because of its reputation as an Americana valentine to the “Band Played On” early 1900s; but there’s a lot of skill and surprising depth to what at first seems a nostalgia trifle. What comes across as wistful seemed to me, at a distance, as something saccharine. I was wrong. Warner Arcives has a Blu-ray out of this right now.

Meet John Doe poster

As for Meet John Doe, I had expected to encounter Frank Capra at his most populist excessive, and while I wasn’t entirely wrong, I also encountered a skewering of corporate America and a cynical MAGA-style movement taking advantage of its members shamelessly. The dark side of Meet John Doe is plenty dark, and the artistry of a great cast is plenty great. James Gleason (the unforgettable Corkle of Here Comes Mr. Jordan) does a drunk scene in medium close-up, seen past a mostly silent Gary Cooper, that may be the best single piece of screen acting I’ve ever witnessed. After a few comic moments – not overplayed, but broad as drunk scenes often were in those days – Gleason talks about enlisting to serve in the Great War and how his father enlisted, too. The emotions that play over his face are sublimely, subtlely rendered; and this comes from a character who has, till now, been perhaps the most cynical in the piece.

And Cooper’s character is at times the “yup”/”nope” creature he’s known for, but other times is talkative and even spechifying without betraying the simple roots of his character. He’s remarkable as is Barbara Stanwyck, who – like Gleason – travels from cynicism and self-interest to a realization of how she’s betrayed her journalistic goals, feeling her guilt in what was a terrible, hurtful hoax at heart.

Meet John Doe – which has just become available from Classic Flix on Blu-ray (the people who brought you I, the Jury and The Long Wait on Blu-ray!) in a beautifully restored edition – is a kind of pre-war rough draft of It’s a Wonderful Life, which is definitely a post-war take on the same (or similar) material. People don’t think of Meet John Doe as a Christmas movie, in the manner of It’s a Wonderful Life, but both films use Christmas as a powerful climax to stories that otherwise are not holiday-themed.

For a film buff, seeing a James Cagney picture by a great director with a fabulous supporting cast, or a Frank Capra movie starting Gary Cooper and other legendary supporting players, as if they are brand-new items, is frankly thrilling.

Also depressing, in the wake of such travesties as the Godzilla/King Kong rematch. Stick with the Japanese alternative.

By the way, Furiosa is excellent. And yet it’s the poster child for Hollywood’s inability to get in step with itself.

Get Meet John Doe here.

Get Strawberry Blonde here.

* * *

The Big Bundle, a Nathan Heller novel, is out in trade paperback now. Here’s a nice review.

M.A.C.

Two Events, A New Movie Script, Nate Heller News and More

Tuesday, February 13th, 2024

Two events are coming up that Iowa residents, particularly those in (or near) Des Moines may wish to attend.

The Fridley Theatre chain has reopened the great Fleur Theater and have booked me in for two events. Coming up this weekend (Saturday February 17) is a presentation of Chinatown that I will introduce. I will be discussing the importance of the film and how it has been a key influence on me and my work.

Then, just a week later on Saturday February 24, I will be there with a number of cast and crew members for the World Premiere of Blue Christmas.

Advance tickets for both events are available at the links.

As you may know, three more premiere events will present Blue Christmas to the public for the first time; it will not be made available (at least nothing is planned yet) until the Christmas season of this year:

Fleur Cinema/Des Moines, World Premiere; February 24th
Collins Road Theater/Cedar Rapids Premiere; March 13th
Palms 10/Muscatine Premiere; March 16th
Last Picture House/Quad Cities Premiere; March 22nd

I will be attending all four and at least some cast and crew will be at these events as well (with Q and A after).

* * *

After delivering the new Trash ‘n Treasures novel, Antiques Slay Belles, to our publisher Severin (who we are pleased to say loves it), Barb and I began work on a film script based on the novella “Antiques Fruitcake,” seen in our collection of three Antiques Christmas novellas, Antiques Ho-Ho-Homicides.

Even before the script was started, we had approached with some success several key actors (mostly from Blue Christmas) as well as secured the primary location for the shoot, which we project for late July or early August (that, of course can change).

Working from the novella, with Barb consulting and editing everything I wrote, I’ve produced a screenplay called Death by Fruitcake which I think successfully captures the feel and approach of the books. For one thing, it has a lot of talking to the camera by Brandy and Mother, breaking the fourth wall. The goal was to be very funny and yet a legit mystery (the way the book series does, at its best anyway).

Why another Christmas movie?

Well, the warm reception we got from not only the home video distributor but a major film chain in Iowa, and several independent theaters, showed the holiday aspect of Blue Christmas was hugely beneficial. We’d been looking for another low-budget film project to do, and doing Christmas again but in a completely different fashion made sense.

This project will be in process all year, so you’ll be hearing about it here.

* * *

I am pleased to announce what is almost certainly going to be the last Nathan Heller novel, The One-Way Ride, which I’ll be writing this year for Hard Case Crime. God willin’ and the crick don’t rise, it will appear in late 2025.

This will, at long last, tell the story of Heller, RFK and Jimmy Hoffa, which takes place in the ‘60s but with first and last sections that feature Heller at the end of his career – chronologically the farthest up I’ve gone (other than brief sections of the whatever-happened-to chapters in various of the books).

I both hate and love the thought of doing a final chapter in Heller’s saga. The love part is (a) getting to do another one, and (b) knowing that this saga has a definitive ending. The hate part is that I love to do them and consider Heller my key work (Quarry would disagree, but I’m not giving him a vote).

Several realities are at play here. First, at my age and with my health issues (which for now I’m keeping in check), doing a massive project like a Heller novel, with its soul-crushing research, is best put behind me. I have several other things I want to do, and speaking of Quarry, I may do more with him. I might also do an occasional Heller short story for the Strand and/or Ellery Queen.

Other factors are the way sales got impacted by the way a UK dock strike screwed up the publication of Too Many Bullets, which I consider to be a major book in the saga. That strike, as I’ve outlined here before, meant the 2022 publication of The Big Bundle effectively got pushed to the first quarter of 2023. That had the novel careening into Too Many Bullets, published early fall 2023, meaning two Hellers were published in one year (effectively). It led to the major trade publications (Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal) not reviewing Too Many Bullets (and in the past they have almost always reviewed the Heller novels). That cost us bookstore and library sales.

And it made getting Hard Case Crime to do another book in the series required a real sales job from me.

On the other hand, we’ve had several really terrific reviews lately for Too Many Bullets. Check out this one from the fine fanzine Deadly Pleasures (who tabulated how many “Best of the Year” lists various books appeared on – Too Many Bullets appeared on five):

Too Many Bullets
by Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime, $26.99, October 2023
Rating: A

Nathan Heller is body-guarding Robert (“Bob! Not ‘Bobby!’”) Kennedy on June 5, 1968, the night he won the California Democratic primary. As they walk through the crowded Pantry in L.A.’s Ambassador Hotel, a dozen or more shots ring out. Kennedy falls, as do five others, but he is the only one to die. A dazed Sirhan Sirhan, gun in hand, is slammed down by Roosevelt Grier, Rafer Johnson, and Heller. The LAPD muscles the FBI out of the investigation of the assassination, since it’s clearly an open-and-shut case against Sirhan. But months later, a now skeptical Heller undertakes his own investigation, first at the behest of columnist Drew Pearson, then Time/Life after Pearson’s death. After all, there weren’t enough guns and there were too many bullets in that room. And what of the mysterious woman in the polka-dot dress that several witnesses saw fleeing the scene?

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement “Eye” Award recipient Max Allan Collins’ first Nathan Heller novel, True Detective, was published in 1983. This latest novel marks forty years of some of the very best and most cohesive historical detective fiction ever written. Each book in the series has been meticulously researched, down to the smallest factual details, then tied together with a cleverly plotted and convincing fictional re-examination of events surrounding a murder, a kidnapping, a disappearance, extortion, assassination or other well-known crime. What’s more, there is a well-reasoned solution to previously unsolved or questionable cases. Collins uses real names whenever possible, adding to the authenticity. Each book also contains a wrap up of what happened to characters after the story has concluded.

Too Many Bullets follows that established pattern. Collins presents little known facts gathered from autopsy and police records, things that were conveniently overlooked in a rush to judgment. But it is the reasoned conjecture that he wraps around those facts that make for fascinating reading. Further, he faithfully recreates the politics of the late 1960s. Readers will almost come to believe that they were caught up in the panic in the hotel’s Pantry, so realistic is the writing. In today’s world, with crazy conspiracy theories abounding, this novel takes a deep dive into one that just might not be so crazy.

The author has previously explored other Kennedy family assassination (and near assassination) stories, but this may just be one of his best. No need to have read any of the previous novels in the series, since Collins doesn’t write them in chronological order anyway. The final two sentence paragraph sums up Heller’s dedication to the job perfectly. If this is the final Heller (and I sincerely hope it is not), the detective goes out on a very high note.

Well, Too Many Bullets isn’t the last Heller, if I can get The One-Way Ride written. But that’s a fine review.

As I’ve said here before, it’s no picnic for an old white guy to get a book sold in a marketplace filled with young Woke editors who have apparently slept through the history of noir fiction. I am lucky to still be in business at all.

For example, I have pitched (sometimes with Matt Clemens and sometimes on my own) half a dozen projects (full book proposals) to Amazon’s Thomas and Mercer, where the Reeder and Rogers trilogy sold hundreds of thousands of copies and my back list has flourished for over a decade. And they haven’t gone forward with a thing. In fairness, the second of my two Krista Larsen novels (Girl Can’t Help It, a book I love) has not earned out yet and maybe never will. Still, the royalties on that title and several dozen others keep coming in and I’m grateful to them (particularly to the initial editors at Thomas and Mercer who made Ian Fleming and Max Allan Collins among their first buys).

I am not complaining (exactly). I have a full plate of work for 2024. But with both Nathan Heller and Mike Hammer getting their series wrapped up, I have to be resilient and creative. (Hammer was always planned to be finite – no new novels written solely by me, strictly M.A.C. finishing up Mickey’s works-in-progress.)

That’s why I’m directing and writing indie movies again. It’s why I’m developing a Nate Heller podcast, bringing the books to life, collaborating with my buddies Phil Dingeldein, Mike Bawden and the great Robert Meyer Burnett, a genuine YouTube star. Recently Rob did a blisteringly funny, wickedly sharp takedown on Amazon (don’t mean to pick on them, and this isn’t Thomas & Mercer) putting out a statement with advice to writers (particularly screenwriters) that is so D.E.I. (Diversity Equity and Inclusive) as to be absurdly hilarious. Take a look. (His Robservations episodes always begin with promos for other stuff of his, so be patient. It’s worth it.)

Also worth a watch this week is Heath Holland and me talking about the latest Kino Lorber film noir Blu-ray boxset on his fine podcast, Cereal at Midnight.

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Here is another lovely Too Many Bullets review.

This article discusses why Tom Hanks decided to do Road to Perdition.

Finally, Ron Fortier is back with a retro review of my The Hindenburg Murders.

M.A.C.