Angel in Black

by Max Allan Collins, Dan John Miller (Read by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501297939
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Series:	A Nathan Heller Novel , #11
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Max Allan Collins has earned fifteen Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective and Stolen Away, and receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye. His graphic novel, Road to Perdition, which is the basis of the Academy Award–winning film starring Tom Hanks, was followed by two novels, Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise. His suspense series include Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, and Eliot Ness, and his numerous comics credits include the syndicated Dick Tracy and his own Ms. Tree. He has written and directed four feature films and two documentaries. His other produced screenplays include “The Expert,” an HBO World Premiere. His coffee-table book The History of Mystery received nominations for every major mystery award and Men’s Adventure Magazines won the Anthony Award. Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins. They have collaborated on seven novels and numerous short stories, and are currently writing the “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries.

Dan John Miller, multiple Audie finalist and Earphones award winner, has been named as a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has acted in several films including Walk the Line and Leatherheads, and is the singer and songwriter for gothic country rock band Blanche. Dan has lived his entire life in the Detroit area and is married to the painter Tracee Mae Miller.

Editorial Reviews

Riveting...Collins masterfully blends fact and fiction into a compelling tale that transcends the historical thriller.

Jeffery Deaver

No one can twist you through a maze with as much intensity and suspense as Collins.

Clive Cussler

The yardstick against which further work of true-crime fiction will be measured.

Lawrence Block

Highly entertaining.

Los Angeles Times

A remarkable series.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

The glamorous and gruesome come together in this fictionalized retelling of the famous 1947 Black Dahlia murder...a colorful tale.

New York Daily News

The glamorous and gruesome come together in this fictionalized retelling of the famous 1947 Black Dahlia murder...a colorful tale.

The 1947 Black Dahlia case provides the basis for Shamus Award winner Collins's latest intriguing blend of fiction and real-life mystery featuring his well-connected Chicago P.I., Nathan Heller (Majic Man; Flying Blind). Newly married and in L.A. to publicize his partnership with a California-based P.I., Heller and a reporter are the first to discover the severed, mutilated body of Elizabeth Short. It just so happens Heller knew her they'd dated briefly in Chicago and she'd called just the night before, claiming she was pregnant. If made public, this connection would not only threaten Heller's marriage and business but make him a suspect. The authorities are treating this as a sex crime, but Heller thinks the mob is sending a message to informers. The case also recalls the grisly Kingsbury Run murders (which Collins explored in his 1988 Eliot Ness novel, Butcher's Dozen). In his quest to catch the killer, Heller brings in Ness and hobnobs with gangsters and movie stars, including Orson Welles, who hints at his own possible involvement. The characters, historical and fictional, come delightfully to life; the victim, too, turns out to be tragically complex, at once deceitful, na ve and endearing. Collins paints a web of interconnections in a tightly woven plot and posits a radical solution to a crime that still resonates in literature and movies. (Mar. 6) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly