Biography

Max Allan Collins has earned an unprecedented eighteen Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye, in 2007. The first Heller in almost a decade, the Marilyn Monroe-oriented Bye Bye, Baby (2011), was followed in 2012 by Target Lancer, the long-promised JFK Heller novel.

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 three times. His movie novels include Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One, and American Gangster, which won the Best Novel “Scribe” Award in 2008 from the International Association of Tie-in Writers.

His graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998) is the basis of the Academy Award-winning 2002 film starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Daniel Craig, directed by Sam Mendes. It was followed by two acclaimed prose sequels, Road to Purgatory (2004) and Road to Paradise (2005), and a graphic novel sequel, Return to Perdition (2011).

He has written a number of innovative suspense series, including Nolan (the author’s first series, about a professional thief), Quarry (the first series about a hired killer), and Eliot Ness (four novels about the famous real-life Untouchable’s Cleveland years). He is completing a number of “Mike Hammer” novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane, with whom Collins did many projects; the fourth of these, Lady Go, Die!, was published in 2012.

His many comics credits include the syndicated strip Dick Tracy (1977 - 1993); his own Ms. Tree (longest-running private eye comic book); Batman; and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, based on the hit TV series for which he has also written video games, jigsaw puzzles, and ten novels that have sold millions of copies worldwide. Collins was assisted on his CSI novels by writer Matthew Clemens, with whom he collaborates on short stories and such novels as You Can’t Stop Me (2010), a Thriller Award nominee, and its sequel No One Will Hear You (2011).

The writer is also a musician and has performed and recorded with his band Crusin’ since 1974. Possibly the first ‘60s revival band in the nation, Crusin’ was an outgrowth of the Daybreakers, the mid-1960s combo whose 1967 Dial Records release, “Psychedelic Siren,” written by Collins, is among the most collectible garage band records. He still performs regularly with Crusin’, as lead singer and keyboard player, and is a 2008 Inductee in the Iowa Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.