Kisses of Death: A Nathan Heller Casebook

Rating:
Summary: Collins' detective hero sure gets around
Review: I always like it when a book is a fast, breezy read, yet still has a lot of meat to it. That's certainly the case here: the stories in this collection are all fast-paced, entertaining mystery thrillers, but these "tall tales" are also laced with lots of authentic period description and accurate biographical details about the true-life crime, crime-fighting, or celebrity figures depicted. It was especially interesting to read about Nate Heller's "true encounter" with Eliot Ness, where we learn that Ness wasn't quite the white-bread hero depicted in Brian De Palma's admittedly terrific "The Untouchables". All in all, a vastly entertaining and informative read.

Rating:
Summary: Second Heller short story collection a winner
Review: I've been a fan of Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller stories for years now, well more than a decade. Some time ago, in addition to the novels, Collins released Dying in the Postwar World, which was billed as a casebook. The current volume is a second one, and they're basically short story collections, though both times the author wrote a novella to round out the volumes. In this book, the novella provides the title.

If you've read my reviews of other Heller books, you know the drill. His big drawback is that you must accept this detective being involved in basically every significant crime in the 30s 40s and 50s, with the possibility that he'll carry it further. The last of the stories in this book takes place in the early 60s. Given that you can make the suspension of disbelief, this is a very fun series, and the stories are well-written. I especially enjoyed this second casebook, which includes several cases that I thought were interesting, and was especially well-written.

Heller gets involved in cases with Marilyn Monroe, Thelma Todd, Bill Veeck, Mickey Cohen, and so forth. Frankly, the characters he pulls out of obscurity are endlessly interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, so I won't ruin it for you by telling you anything more about what's in the book. Suffice to say, the author has a solution for every mystery in the book, and they're all plausible, as far as I can see.

To reiterate, this is a wonderful book. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner for Collins and Heller.
Review: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane aren't writing anything new anymore, alas! Be that as it may, Sweetheart, if you are in the mood for some classic private eye fiction - and what self-respecting mystery fan isn't - then look no further than KISSES OF DEATH by Max Allan Collins. "Prolific" is a word that doesn't even begin to describe Collins' astonishing output in fields ranging from mystery and historical fiction to screenplays, film novelisations and comics. As Kevin Burton Smith points out on his Thrilling Detective Website what is so truly amazing, however, is that just about everything this man writes is absolutely first-rate. The seven Nate Heller stories in this handsome volume so lovingly put together by the folks at Crippen & Landru are no exception.

With the creation of Nate Heller, Collins claims to have "invented" the historical private eye novel. Heller, an ex-Chicago cop during the period of Prohibition, has been involved in the solution of virtually every significant American mystery from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and the Lindbergh kidnapping to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the murder of the "Black Dahlia," and the Roswell cover-up. Each of Heller's cases is meticulously researched and while Collins is not beyond taking some dramatic license with his material, he nevertheless tries to keep to the established "facts" and more plausible theories whenever possible.

While Collins has written a dozen Heller novels, KISSES OF DEATH is only the second published collection of stories featuring the tough Chicago-based gumshoe. An earlier collection, DYING IN THE POST-WAR WORLD, was released in 1991. All of the elements that mark Collins' longer fiction are here in these shorter works as well. Engaging plots, interesting and accurately drawn historical characters, fluid prose and sharp dialogue abound. Oh, and let's not forget the wisecracks, the saps, the nine millimeters, the brass knuckles and the damsels in distress either. This is your father's private eye fiction honed to the proverbial razor's edge. Can't you almost smell the pulp?

The title story of the volume, "Kisses of Death," sees Heller hired to act as a bodyguard for Marilyn Monroe. In the process he solves the murders of Greenwich Village poet Maxwell Bodenheim and his wife, Ruth. In "Kaddish for the Kid," set in 1933, Heller metes out some rough justice á la Mike Hammer. "The Perfect Crime" was originally a Phil Marlowe pastiche published in the 1988 collection, RAYMOND CHANDLER'S PHILLIP MARLOWE: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. In it Collins offers an intriguing solution to one of Hollywood's most famous and enduring unsolved mysteries, the death of actress Thelma Todd.

KISSES OF DEATH belongs in the hands, and on the bookshelves, of all fans of private eye fiction - both those already familiar with Nate Heller and those making his acquaintance for the first time. As if the stories collected here weren't enough, Collins supplies both an introduction and a short afterward. Also included in the volume is a comprehensive and annotated checklist of the author's work. (James Clar - MYSTERY NEWS)