Manhattan, 1953. Hal Rapp's Tall Paul, one of America's most popular comic strips, is now a Broadway musical, infuriating Rapp's long-time rival Sam Fizer, creator of the once beloved boxing strip Mug O'Malley. Adding insult to injury is the casting of Misty Winters, Fizer's wife, as one of Rapp's hillbilly gals. Then Fizer is found murdered--with all evidence pointing to Rapp.
Starr Syndicate has distribution deals with both cartoonists, but V.P. Jack Starr and his stepmother (and company president) Maggie believe Rapp's been framed. Between loan sharks, jealous husbands, bitter artists, and Fizer's widow, there are more colorful characters with murderous motives than in a month of Sunday funnies.
Max Allan Collins was hailed in 2004 by Publisher's Weekly as "a new breed of writer." A frequent Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" nominee, he has earned an unprecedented fifteen Private Eye Writers of America "Shamus" nominations for his historical thrillers, winning for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991).
His graphic novel Road to Perdition is the basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks, directed by Sam Mendes. His many comics credits include the syndicated strip "Dick Tracy"; his own "Ms. Tree"; "Batman"; and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, based on the hit TV series for which he has also written video games, jigsaw puzzles, and a bestselling series of novels (for Pocket Books) that has sold over 1.5 copies in America alone.
He has been termed "the novelization king" by Entertainment Weekly, with tie-in books on the USA TODAY bestseller list nine times and the New York Times list twice. His movie novels include Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers, Waterworld, I Love Trouble, Daylight, I Spy, U.S Marshals, Air Force One, Maverick, U-571, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and The Pink Panther. He even wrote the prose version of the film script based on his own Road to Perdition. His TV tie-in work includes two NYPD Blue novels, a trio of DARK ANGEL books and the current BONES novel, Buried Deep.
An independent filmmaker in the midwest, he wrote and directed the Lifetime movie "Mommy" (1996) and a 1997 sequel, "Mommy's Day." He wrote "The Expert," a 1995 HBO World Premiere, and wrote and directed the innovative made-for-DVD feature, "Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market" (2000). "Shades of Noir" (2004), an anthology of his short films, includes his award-winning documentary, "Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane." Shooting on a feature film based on his acclaimed novel, The Last Quarry, began shooting in January 2007 from the author's screenplay.
His one-man show, "Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life," was nominated for an Edgar for Best Play of 2004 by the Mystery Writers of America; a film version, written and directed by Collins, received its world premiere in Rock Island, Illinois, in February 2006.
His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets. His non-fiction work has received many honors, with his coffee-table book The History of Mystery receiving nominations for every major mystery awards and his recent Men's Adventure Magazines winning the Anthony Award.
Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins; they have collaborated on three novels and numerous short stories. Their son Nathan graduated in 2005 with majors in computer science and Japanese at the University of Iowa in nearby Iowa City, and has just returned from taking a year of post-graduate studies in Japan.
