Max Allan Collins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Max Allan Collins (born March 3, 1948) is a prolific American mystery writer who has been called "mystery's Renaissance man". 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 served as the creative consultant for a number of major productions, and has 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.
Contents |
[edit] Mallory and Ness
His other works include his Mallory series about a mystery writer in Iowa that solves crimes. There are five books in this series, the best of which might be A Nice Weekend for a Murder. He also wrote a series of novels about real life Untouchable Eliot Ness's career as Director of Public Safety in Cleveland. The best of these might be Butcher's Dozen, a fictionalized account of the investigation of the Cleveland Torso Murderer.
[edit] Heller
His 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 is working on a new entry in the series.
[edit] 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'.
[edit] Selected bibliography
- Midnight Haul (1986)
- Protect and Defend (1992)
- Blue Christmas and other Holiday Homicides (2001)
- Johnny Dynamite: Underworld (2003)
[edit] Nolan series
- 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 first written novel, never printed until 1999)
- Two for the Money (omnibus reprint of the first two books Bait Money and Blood Money) (2004)
[edit] 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).
[edit] 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
[edit] Mallory series
- 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)
[edit] Eliot Ness series
- The Dark City (1987)
- Butcher's Dozen (1988)
- Bullet Proof (1989)
- Murder by the Numbers (1993)
[edit] Nathan Heller series
- 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)
- Damned in Paradise (October, 1996)
- Flying Blind (August, 1998)
- Majic Man (September, 1999)
- Angel in Black (March, 2001)
- Kisses of Death: A Nathan Heller Casebook (June, 2001) - Short story collection
- Chicago Confidential (June, 2002)
[edit] 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 |
(*)Note: Road to Perdition: On the Road, is a single-volume collection of On the Road to Perdition Books 1-3.
[edit] 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.
[edit] CSI: Miami novels
| Title | Author | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Florida Getaway | Max Allan Collins | August 1, 2003 |
| Heat Wave | Max Allan Collins | July 5, 2004 |
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Article about Max Allan Collins at Thrilling Detective
- The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, which he co-founded with Lee Goldberg
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
