MAX ALLAN COLLINS, a five-time Mystery Writers of America “Edgar” nominee in both fiction and non-fiction categories, has been hailed as “the Renaissance man of mystery fiction.” He has also been a frequent Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominee, winning twice for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), and receiving their Lifetime Achievement Award, the Eye. A new Heller, Bye Bye, Baby, will appear in 2011.
His graphic novel Road to Perdition is the basis of the Academy Award–winning DreamWorks feature film starring Tom Hanks. Max has many comics credits, including the “Dick Tracy” syndicated strip; his own “Ms. Tree;” and “Batman.”
His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and movie/TV tie-in novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Saving Private Ryan and American Gangster, which won the Best Novel “Scribe” award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. Working with the Mickey Spillane estate, following the wishes of the late author, he is completing a number of manuscripts, including the current Kiss Her Goodbye, a Mike Hammer novel begun in the mid-1970s.
An acclaimed and award-winning independent filmmaker in the Midwest, he wrote and directed the Lifetime movie Mommy (1996) and three other features, including Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life (2005). His produced screenplays include the 1995 HBO World Premiere The Expert and The Last Lullaby (2008) from his novel The Last Quarry. He lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife Barbara, collaborating with her as “Barbara Allan” on the award-winning “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” cozy mystery series.
MATTHEW CLEMENS has authored or co-authored numerous short stories that appear in such anthologies as Private Eyes, Murder Most Confederate, the Hot Blood series, the Flesh & Blood series, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With Pat Gipple, he co-authored Dead Water: The Klindt Affair, a regionally bestselling true crime book, and has written for such magazines as Fangoria, Femme Fatales, and TV Guide. He has worked as a book doctor on over fifty novels, and assisted the late Karl Largent on several bestselling techno-thrillers.
Clemens is also co-plotter and researcher for Max Allan Collins on books based on the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, Dark Angel, Bones, and Criminal Minds. Collins and Clemens have also written comic books, graphic novels, a computer game, and jigsaw puzzles based on the successful CSI franchise. Many of their collaborative short stories were gathered in My Lolita Complex and Other Tales of Sex and Violence (2006), and their short story, “Murderlized,” featuring Moe Howard (of Three Stooges fame) as an amateur detective, appears in the anthology Hollywood & Crime. Clemens lives in Davenport, Iowa, with his wife Pam, a teacher.