Antiques Carry On
Page 20
BARBARA ALLAN is a joint pseudonym of husband-and-wife mystery writers, Barbara and Max Allan Collins.
BARBARA COLLINS made her entrance into the mystery field as a highly respected short story writer with appearances in over a dozen top anthologies, including Murder Most Delicious, Women on the Edge, Deadly Housewives and the bestselling Cat Crimes series. She was the co-editor of (and a contributor to) the bestselling anthology Lethal Ladies, and her stories were selected for inclusion in the first three volumes of The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories.
Two acclaimed collections of her work have been published – Too Many Tomcats and (with her husband) Murder – His and Hers. The Collins’s first novel together, the Baby Boomer thriller Regeneration, was a paperback bestseller; their second collaborative novel, Bombshell – in which Marilyn Monroe saves the world from World War III – was published in hardcover to excellent reviews. Both are back in print.
Barbara also has been the production manager and/or line producer on several independent film projects.
MAX ALLAN COLLINS was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2017. He has earned an unprecedented twenty-three Private Eye Writers of America ‘Shamus’ nominations, many for his Nathan Heller historical thrillers, winning for True Detective (1983), Stolen Away (1991), and the short story, ‘So Long, Chief.’
His classic graphic novel Road to Perdition is the basis of the Academy Award-winning film. Max’s other comics credits include ‘Dick Tracy’; ‘Batman’; his own ‘Ms Tree’; and ‘Wild Dog,’ featured on the Arrow TV series.
Max’s body of work includes film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and movie/TV tie-in novels, such as the New York Times-bestseller Saving Private Ryan, numerous USA Today-bestselling CSI novels, and the Scribe Award-winning American Gangster. His non-fiction includes Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone and Eliot Ness & the Mad Butcher (both with A. Brad Schwartz).
An award-winning filmmaker, he wrote and directed the Lifetime movie Mommy (1996) and three other features; his produced screenplays include the 1995 HBO World Premiere The Expert and The Last Lullaby (2008). His 1998 documentary Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane appears on the Criterion Collection release of the acclaimed film noir, Kiss Me Deadly. The Cinemax TV series Quarry is based on his innovative book series.
Max’s recent novels include a dozen-plus works begun by his mentor, the late mystery-writing legend, Mickey Spillane, among them Masquerade for Murder with Mike Hammer and the Caleb York western novels.
‘BARBARA ALLAN’ live(s) in Muscatine, Iowa, their Serenity-esque hometown. Son Nathan works as a translator of Japanese to English, with credits ranging from video games to novels.