In Chicago, in the early 1930s, gang wars are an everyday occurrence. Mobster Louie Carboni is used to such violence. But what can the hideous decapitation murders of seven college professors, courtesy of a maniac dubbed the Mangler, have to do with the Mob? Hosted by Malcolm McDowell and commissioned by Fangoria-America's number-one source for horror-this original short story is fully dramatized to thrill and chill you!
The sixties are dead...and so is Ginnie Mullens. She was many things - free spirit, flower child, entrepreneur, gambler - but first and foremost she was mystery writer Mallory's friend and confidant since childhood. So Mallory understands when Sheriff Brennan drags him out of bed in the dead of night and leads him to the last place he ever wanted to go: the scene of Ginnie's last breath. A dead woman clutching the gun that killed her may lead to an official ruling of suicide, but Mallory's not ruling out murder. Driven by a gaping hole in his heart and a fierce code of honor, he's willing to risk everything to close the book on this one. Then he'll throw the book with both hands at whoever wrote Ginnie's obituary in spilled blood. Once upon a time, Ginnie hurt Mallory deeply, and he wasn't the only one. But while he finally forgave her, the same can't be said for the trail of bitter lovers that stretches back to high school. Pounding the pavement from Port City to Iowa City to Vegas - with detours down memory lane along the way - Mallory is forced to pull back the shroud on a life he only thought he knew...and never realized he couldn't save.
Los Angeles. The City of Angels. The perfect place for a honeymoon...and the worst possible time for a murder. Vacationing private investigator Nate Heller finds himself a suspect in the LAPD's investigation of the notorious Black Dahlia murder case. Problem is the butchered starlet, Elizabeth Short, is an old Chicago flame of Heller's-and only the P.I. himself knows she was blackmailing him for abortion money. Classic noir at its finest blended to extraordinary effect with historical facts, Max Allan Collins' Angel in Black crackles with tight plotting and razor-sharp dialogue. With the help of a world-weary, alcoholic Eliot Ness, Heller links the murder to a notorious Cleveland serial killer...while doing his best to stay out of jail and salvage his already troubled new marriage. Along the way he encounters Chicago boxer Barney Ross, fellow suspect Orson Welles, and zany gangster Mickey Cohen.
New York Times bestselling author Max Allan Collins has won multiple Shamus Awards for his detective novels featuring Nathan Heller. The third book in his JFK trilogy, Ask Not finds Heller investigating a bizarre string of deaths among the witnesses to JFK’s assassination—and tracing blame to LBJ’s right-hand man.
The mob couldn't kill him, the cops couldn't catch him, and even time wouldn't slow him down.
His name's Nolan ... a shrewd, restless tough guy with a talent for theft. With a lifetime of heists under his belt and a bullet in his side, he's ready to retire. And the Mafia's eager to help him along ... permanently. They think he's got a debt to pay-with his life. But after all these years, they might be willing to settle for 100 grand instead.
Nolan's got to pull a bank job to try to save his ass. Trouble is, the only people willing to help him are a kid whose idea of danger comes out of comic books, a punk as green as the grass he smokes, and a sweet young thing who gets her kicks playing one man off another ... and another ...
It's a desperate gamble-for the highest stakes-and Nolan's down to his last chip ...
It's the early 1950's. Ju McCarthy is campaigning to rid America of the Red Menace. Nate Heller is doing legwork for the senator, though the Chicago detective is disheartened by McCarthy's witch-hunting tactics. He's made friends with a young staffer, Bobby Kennedy, while trading barbs with a potential enemy, the attorney Roy Cohn, who rubs Heller the wrong way. Not the least of which for successfully prosecuting the so-called Atomic Bomb spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. When famous mystery writer Dashiell Hammett comes to Heller representing a group of showbiz and literary leftists who are engaged in a last minute attempt to save the Rosenbergs, Heller decides to take on the case. Heller will have to play both sides to do this, and when McCarthy also tasks Heller to find out what the CIA has on him, Heller reluctantly agrees. His main lead is an army scientist working for the C.I.A. who admits to Heller that he's been having misgivings about the work he's doing and elliptically referring to the Cold War making World War II look like a tea party. And then the scientist gus missing.
A must-listen collection of thirteen bibliomysteries by bestselling and award-winning authors
Bibliomysteries Volume 1 includes:
- 'An Acceptable Sacrifice' by Jeffery Deaver
- 'The Final Testament' by Peter Blauner
- 'What's in a Name?' by Thomas H. Cook
- 'Book Club' by Loren D. Estleman
- and many others
Presidential candidate - and force of nature - Huey Long, the "Kingfish," is in fear for his life. After Nathan Heller delivers the former Louisiana governor a bulletproof vest, the Kingfish hires the Chicago private eye to investigate death threats from political rivals. Soon Heller runs head-on into an IRS investigation seeking millions skimmed from state workers for Huey's "de-duct box"...and into the arms of the ex-governor's lovely ex-mistress. When the charismatic politician is shot down by a seemingly crazed doctor, Heller gets a new employer-the insurance agency fighting a double-indemnity claim from Long's widow. Was the Kingfish truly the victim of assassination, or accidentally killed by his own bodyguards? A classic P.I. thriller built on historical fact, Max Allan Collins' Blood and Thunder showcases Huey Long in all his gaudy glory, while delving deep into the heart of the deadliest swamps of Louisiana's mob-infested politics. "Collins's sense of place and time is unerringly acute, and he happily indulges in recreating Long's fiery stump style. Although Collins has carved out a mystery subgenre that he occupies nearly alone, he and his detective would be a tough act to follow." -Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
The mob couldn't kill him, the cops couldn't catch him, and even time wouldn't slow him down. Playing dirty isn't Nolan's style ... until he's taken to the cleaners.
Nolan was still alive; his wounds healed and his money was safe-all $800,000 of it. It was Nolan's birthday and he was sitting happy.
Until Planner was killed. Planner was an eccentric antique dealer; Planner had the $800,000 in his safe. But now he was dead and the money was gone.
Caught up in the sizzling crossfire of double-dealing, danger, and death, Nolan was up against the "Family" again. There was only one way out ... Blood Money!
In an attempt to soothe growing Cold War tensions between America and Russia, Premier Nikita Khrushchev visits the US to see all that his "enemy" has to offer. Top of his to-do list? A trip to Disneyland and an introduction to sexual icon Marilyn Monroe. Thanks to the impossible security requirements, Disneyland is out of the question. Marilyn, on the other hand, jumps at the chance to put on a show for the Russian official. During her appearance, she overhears the details of an assassination plot designed to spark an atomic holocaust and devastate both superpowers. When the Secret Service refuses to believe her, Marilyn risks everything to whisk Khrushchev away to safety - in the happiest place on earth. With US agents and the KGB hot on their trail, Marilyn and Khrushchev enjoy the thrills of the amusement park while fighting to stay one step ahead of the assassins and prevent the horrors of an unprecedented war that would annihilate millions.
Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate goddess of the silver screen, is at the peak of her popularity, internationally famous, universally admired by women and desired by men. But she's also famously insecure and temperamental and is being pilloried in the press for delaying the production of Something's Got to Give. When the head of Twentieth Century Fox threatens to cancel her contract, Marilyn hires "PI to the stars" Nathan Heller to tap her phones and record conversations that might prove to be important if there's a lawsuit. Less than three months later, Monroe is dead from an overdose and, officially, a suicide. But Heller isn't buying it. He knows that in the weeks before, the star was anything but suicidal. He knows, too, about her affair with JFK, about the secret connections between the Kennedys and the Mob...and about Bobby Kennedy's blood feud with Jimmy Hoffa. In short, Heller knows too much to accept this bum rap on a beautiful, gifted woman loved by the whole world...including Nathan Heller. So he investigates, though his efforts might enrage some very famous, very powerful, very dangerous people. But they can't keep Heller from finding out the astounding truth behind Marilyn Monroe's untimely demise....
In July 1943, Nate Heller flies to Nassau where multimillionaire Sir Harry Oakes wants dirt dug up on Count De Marigny, the playboy who has married Harry's beautiful, underage daughter, Nancy. But the investigation has barely begun when Sir Harry turns up dead in bed - burned to death in a real-life locked-room mystery - and Heller is soon working for Nancy, whose husband faces murder charges. Chicago P.I. Heller is on his most intriguing - and dangerous - mission yet in this devilishly clever thriller filled with surprising twists and sharp turns. With the world at war, the peaceful Bahamas provide an ironic, idyllic backdrop for Nazis, the mafia, and two lovely women: one a native girl, the other an aristocratic Englishwoman. Heller is aided by a certain British secret service agent ("Fleming...Ian Fleming"), and encounters along the way the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Meyer Lanksy, and Perry Mason's creator, Erle Stanley Gardner. "No one can twist you through a maze with the intensity and suspense of Max Allan Collins. A classic." -Clive Cussler, author of Raise the Titanic
