Back in April, I interviewed Max Allan Collins about his historical crime thriller The Big Bundle in my On Crime column in the Washington Times.
The Big Bundle is the 18th novel in the series featuring Nathan
Heller, a Chicago private detective who interacts with historical figures and
becomes involved in actual crimes and scandals.
I asked Max Allan Collins to describe The Big Bundle.
“In many respects, it’s a private eye thriller in the tradition of
Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane,” Mr. Collins replied. “I was moving to a new
publisher, Hard Case Crime, and knew their audience was steeped in hardboiled
fiction and might be put off by the famous crimes I usually look at in a Nathan Heller novel. The real-life case
in ‘The Big Bundle,’ quite well known in the 1950s but forgotten now, allowed
me to put the emphasis on the noir aspect of the Heller novels and not be accused of
teaching a “history lesson.”
I also asked him how he would describe Nathan Heller.
“Heller is a businessman who starts out in a small office where
he sleeps on a Murphy bed and winds up with a coast-to-coast detective agency.
He is not the typical Phillip Marlowe-style modern-day knight who would never
take a bribe or seduce a virgin — Heller has done both and often indulges in
situational ethics. Unlike most fictional private eyes, he marries (more than
once) and is a father and had a father and mother and even grandparents. He
ages with the years. At any age, Heller recoils at injustice in society
and serves up rough justice when he feels it necessary. He not only knows where
the bodies are buried, he has buried more than his share.”
I had not read any of Max Allan Collins previous Nathan Heller
novels and I mentioned to him that I’d like to read the first one in the
series, True Detective (not to be confused with the HBO series with the
same name).
He mailed me a copy and I read the novel and thoroughly enjoyed
it.
True Detective opens with Heller working as a young police
detective in Prohibition-era Chicago. He quits the force and becomes a private
detective. He becomes involved with Frank Nitti, Al Capone and other gangsters,
as well as professional boxer Barney Ross, actor George Raft and federal agent
Elliot Ness of The Untouchables fame.
The plot revolves around the assassination of Chicago Mayor Cermak
while he was on stage with President Franklin Roosevelt.
"I knew Chicago during Prohibition was supposed to be both dangerous and exciting, and now I know why. . . A terrific read," wrote Donald E. Westlake
"One of the best stories I have ever read," wrote
Mickey Spillane.
Like those two legendary crime writers, I too found True
Detective to be a fine crime novel. I plan to read more of the Nathan
Heller novels in the future.
You can purchase True Detective via the below
link:
True Detective: Collins, Max Allan: 9780312820510: Amazon.com: Books
And you can read my On Crime column on The Big Bundle via the below link:
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