Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins in 2002, at Comic-Con International.
Born	March 3, 1948 (1948-03-03) (age 63)
Pen name	Barbara Allan, Patrick Culhane
Nationality	American
Genres	Mystery in the following media: novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, short stories, and historical fiction.

Max Allan Collins (born March 3, 1948) is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition (which was developed into a film in 2002), created the comic book private eye Ms. Tree, and took over writing the Dick Tracy comic strip from creator Chester Gould and one of the Batman comic books for a time. He wrote books to expand on the Dark Angel TV series. He has also written books and comics based on the TV series franchise CSI. More recently, he has written a book, Buried Deep, based on the TV Series Bones.

He has also written two novel sequels to Road to Perdition, Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise. In addition to these, he also wrote three more graphic novels starring the characters from Road to Perdition. These graphic novels, called collectively On the Road to Perdition, form the basis of the film.

He also co-founded the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers with Lee Goldberg. The IAMTW is an organization for writers of tie-ins and novelizations.

Collins studied in the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Collins was a fan of the mystery writer Mickey Spillane from childhood and later became friends with him. The two collaborated on a comic book series in the 1990s called Mike Danger. Upon Spillane's death in 2006, Collins was entrusted to finish several uncompleted works by Spillane including, Dead Street, The Goliath Bone, and The Big Bang. Several other uncompleted works may be finished by Collins and published in the future.

Selected bibliography

Collins with Leslie Nielsen in 1982

Quarry series

• Quarry (a.k.a. The Broker) (1976)
• Quarry's List (a.k.a. The Broker's Wife) (1976)
• Quarry's Deal (a.k.a. The Dealer) (1976)
• Quarry's Cut (a.k.a. The Slasher) (1977)
• Primary Target (1987)
• Quarry's Greatest Hits (2003)
• The Last Quarry (2006)
• The First Quarry (2008)
• Quarry In The Middle (2009)
• Quarry's Ex (2010)

Nolan series

This series features a professional thief, similar to and apparently inspired by Richard Stark's 'Parker' character, who operates in the Midwest.

• Bait Money (1981)
• Blood Money (1981)
• Fly Paper (1981)
• Hush Money (1981)
• Hard Cash (1981)
• Scratch Fever (1982)
• Spree (1987)
• Mourn the Living (1999) (Max Allan Collins's first written novel, but not printed until 1999)
• Two for the Money (omnibus reprint of the first two books Bait Money and Blood Money) (2004)

Mallory series

The Mallory series is about a mystery writer in Iowa that solves crimes.

• The Baby Blue Rip-Off (1983)
• No Cure for Death (1983)
• Kill Your Darlings (1984)
• A Shroud for Aquarius (1985)
• Nice Weekend for a Murder (1986)

Nathan Heller series

Collins's longest running series and arguably his best known work is his Nathan Heller series. Heller is a Chicago private investigator who gets involved in famous crimes and meets famous people of the 1930s and 1940s, including Orson Welles, Frank Nitti, and Sally Rand. The first novel in this historical fiction series, True Detective, won the 1984 Shamus Award for Best P.I. Hardcover from the Private Eye Writers of America. Collins won his second Shamus in 1992 for the Heller novel Stolen Away, an account of the Lindbergh kidnapping. His 1999 novel Flying Blind sees Heller investigate the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, along the way becoming romantically involved with her. The most recent book in this series, Chicago Confidential, moved the action into the 1950s. Collins has recently announced that he has completed a new entry in the series, due out in June 2011, about Marilyn Monroe. He has begun research on a Nate Heller novel about the JFK assassination.^[1]

• True Detective (November, 1983)
• True Crime (December, 1984)
• The Million-Dollar Wound (February, 1986)
• Neon Mirage (February, 1988)
• Stolen Away (May, 1991)
• Dying in the Post-War World (October, 1991) - Short story collection
• Carnal Hours (April, 1994)
• Blood and Thunder (August, 1995) (about Huey Long's assassination)
• Damned in Paradise (October, 1996)
• Flying Blind (August, 1998)
• Majic Man (September, 1999)
• Angel in Black (March, 2001)
• Kisses of Deat pinto h: A Nathan Heller Casebook (June, 2001) - Short story collection
• Chicago Confidential (June, 2002)
• Bye Bye, Baby (August 2011)

Eliot Ness series

This series of novels is about real life Untouchable Eliot Ness's career as Director of Public Safety in Cleveland.

• The Dark City (1987)
• Butcher's Dozen (1988)
• Bullet Proof (1989)
• Murder by the Numbers (1993)

Dick Tracy series

• Dick Tracy (May, 1990), film novelization
• Dick Tracy and the Nightmare Machine with Dick Locher (January, 1991) - comic strip collection
• Dick Tracy Goes to War (February, 1991) - novel
• Dick Tracy Meets his Match (February 1992) - novel
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles, Vol. 1(October, 2003) - comic strip collection
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Volume 2 (October, 2004) - comic strip collection
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Volume 3 (January, 2005)- comic strip collection

Novelizations

• In the Line of Fire (1993)
• Maverick (1994)
• I Love Trouble (1994)
• Waterworld (1995)
• Air Force One (1997)
• U.S. Marshals (1998)
• Saving Private Ryan (August, 1998)
• The Mummy (May, 1999)
• U-571 (2000)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• The Scorpion King (2002)
• Windtalkers (April, 2002)
• I-Spy (October, 2002)
• The Pink Panther (July, 2005).
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (July, 2008)
• The X-Files: I Want to Believe (July, 2008)
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
  • G.I. Joe: Above and Beyond (2009)

Road to Perdition series

Title	Author	Release Date
Road to Perdition	Max Allan Collins with Richard Piers Rayner	June 1998
Road to Perdition Movie tie-in novel	Max Allan Collins	June 2002
On the Road to Perdition Book 1: Oasis	Max Allan Collins with José Luis García-López and Josef Rubinstein	May 2003
On the Road to Perdition Book 2: Sanctuary	Max Allan Collins with José Luis García-López and Steve Lieber	December 2003
On the Road to Perdition Book 3: Detour	Max Allan Collins with José Luis García-López and Steve Lieber	July 2004
Road to Perdition: On the Road (*)	Max Allan Collins with José Luis García-López and Josef Rubinstein/Steve Lieber	December 2004
Road to Purgatory	Max Allan Collins	December 2004
Road to Paradise	Max Allan Collins	December 2005
Return to Perdition	Max Allan Collins	August 2011[2]

(*)Note: Road to Perdition: On the Road, is a single-volume collection of On the Road to Perdition Books 1-3.

Disaster series

• The Titanic Murders (April 1999)
• The Hindenburg Murders (June 2000)
• The Pearl Harbor Murders (May 2001)
• The Lusitania Murders (November 2002)
• The London Blitz Murders (May 2004)
• The War of the World Murders (July 2005)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation novels

Title	Author	Release Date
Double Dealer	Max Allan Collins	November 2001
Sin City	Max Allan Collins	October 2002
Cold Burn	Max Allan Collins	April 2003
Body of Evidence	Max Allan Collins	November 2003
Grave Matters	Max Allan Collins	October 2004
Binding Ties	Max Allan Collins	April 2005
Killing Game	Max Allan Collins	November 2005
Snake Eyes	Max Allan Collins	September 2006
Mortal Wounds (**)	Max Allan Collins	October 2006

(**)Note: Mortal Wounds, is a trade paperback omnibus which collects Double Dealer, Sin City, and Cold Burn into a single volume.

CSI: Miami novels

Title	Author	Release Date
Florida Getaway	Max Allan Collins	August 1, 2003
Heat Wave	Max Allan Collins	July 5, 2004 // Exotic Racing Bombers Of Death// June 19, 2003

Criminal Minds novels

Title	Author	Release Date
"Jump Cut"	Max Allan Collins	November 6, 2007
"Killer Profile"	Max Allan Collins	May 6, 2008
"Finishing School"	Max Allan Collins	November 4, 2008

Jack & Maggie Starr series

• A Killing in Comics (May 2007) - A murder mystery set around a fictionalized version of the Superman ownership dispute
• Strip for Murder (May 2008) - A fictionalized version of the Al Capp/Ham Fisher feud and Fisher's suicide

Writing as Barbara Allan: Trash & Treasure series

(writing with wife Barbara Collins as Barbara Allan)

• Antiques Roadkill (August 2006)
• Antiques Maul (August 2007)
• Antiques Flee Market (September 2008)
• Antiques Bizarre (March 2010)
• Antiques Knock-Off (March 2011)

Writing as Patrick Culhane

• Black Hats (April 2007) - A novel featuring Wyatt Earp and Al Capone in 1920s New York
• Red Sky in Morning (August 2008) - A historic mystery set in San Francisco during World War II, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Miscellaneous

• Midnight Haul (1986)
• Protect and Defend (1992)
• Blue Christmas and other Holiday Homicides (2001)
• Deadly Beloved (2007)

Comics

• Wild Dog #1-4
• Batman #408-412
• Johnny Dynamite: Underworld (2003)
• Ms. Tree

Movies and music

In addition to his work as a writer, Collins has also written and directed four movies: Mommy, Mommy 2: Mommy's Day, Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market, and Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life (based on his Edgar Award–nominated play). All four were produced independently on location in Collins' hometown of Muscatine, Iowa. The first three are available on DVD — separately or in the Black Box set — from Troma Team Video, and the Ness film is distributed by VCI Entertainment.

Collins has also written and performed music with his rock band, Crusin'.

References

1. ^ "Max Allan Collins: The Monday Interview". Things I'd Rather Be Doing. http://tirbd.com/2010/07/max-allan-collins-the-monday-interview/. Retrieved July 24, 2010. 
2. ^ "Books to look for summer 2011". Vertigo Comics. http://vertigo.blog.dccomics.com/2010/09/29/books-to-look-for-summer-2011/. Retrieved April 28, 2011. 

External links

• Official website
• Article about Max Allan Collins at Thrilling Detective
• Pierce, J. Kingston. "Killers, Cover-ups and Max Allan Collins." The Rap Sheet, July 29, 2009.
• Shotsmag Ezine Interview November 3, 2011
• The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, which he co-founded with Lee Goldberg
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Collins, Max Allan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 3, 1948
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death