Nathan Heller!
I’ve long been a fan of the prolific crime author Max Allan Collins. I’ve probably read more of his books than any other author. But it’s only recently that I started binging on his Nathan Heller historic crime fiction series.
Collins is perhaps most famous for writing the graphic novel (and subsequent novelization) of the Oscar award-winning film The Road To Perdition along with completing 13 Mike Hammer novels from Mickey Spillane’s rough drafts and unfinished manuscripts.
Collins has published well over a hundred novels including several long-running series. My entree to Collins was his “disaster” series which put a renowned crime author against the backdrop of a famous historical disasters: The Hindenberg Murders, The Titanic Murders and so on. From there, I devoured his Mallory series (aspiring mystery writer turned detective) and that led to the Nolan series (hardboiled professional thief) and then Quarry (ex-Viet Nam vet turned hitman. Both the Nolan and Quarry series were later reprinted by Hard Case Crime and have expanded well beyond the original 1970s novels.
All of this to say, if you had to pick just one crime author to follow, Collins has produced an astounding range. The good news is even after I ran through so many of his series, I’ve managed to save the best for last: Nathan Heller.
The Nathan Heller series began in the 1980s and is perhaps the most ambitious of all. While his earlier series are fairly short paperback length novels, the Heller series is longer and richer, winning two Shamus awards. The series puts Chicago private detective Nathan Heller into some of the most famous crimes of the century: the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Black Dahlia, the death of Marlyn Monroe, JFK’s assassination, with appearances by historical figures like Eliot Ness, Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, mobsters Al Capone, Santo Trafficante, Sam Giancana and others.
They’re also available on Audible narrated by the fantastic Dan John Miller.
It’s a long running series and you can read the books in any order. Too Many Bullets, the most recent book in the series was published by Hard Case Crime. Set in 1968, Heller is investigating the RFK assassination up against the mob and the CIA. The stakes couldn’t be higher!
