Collins, Max Allan - Nathan Heller 12 (47 page)

Dr. Wallace Dailey and Dr. Maria Winter are fictional characters with real-life counterparts, and this aspect of my novel reflects a fascinating theory developed by Larry Harnisch, whose in-progress Dahlia book,
Stairway to Heaven
, I eagerly await. Harnisch has an ongoing Web site at Geocities, where he shares his groundbreaking research.

The theory that the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run might have been responsible for the Black Dahlia slaying—a concept posited in my novel
Butcher’s Dozen
—has been further developed by Lawrence P. Scherb, who has published several articles and, several years ago, corresponded with me, generously sharing his thoughts and theories.

My “backup” research assistant, Lynn Myers, provided photo-copied articles and book excerpts as well as several movies and videos. A 1975 TV-movie,
Who Killed the Black Dahlia?
starring Efrem Zimbalist as Harry Hansen and Lucie Arnaz as Elizabeth Short, was too fictionalized to aid my work. More valuable was
Medford Girl
, a 1993 documentary by Kyle J. Wood, who has donated profits to erecting a monument in Elizabeth Short’s name in Medford, Massachusetts. Also viewed were “The Black Dahlia Murder,” an episode of E! Channel’s
Hollywood’s Mysteries and Scandals
, and
Case Reopened: The Black Dahlia
, a Learning Channel documentary.

I have written extensively about Eliot Ness and sources used in developing my ongoing portrait of the real-life Untouchable can be found at the back of the various Ness novels, including
Butcher’s Dozen
(recently published in a hardcover edition by Five Star Mystery). To refresh my memory about the Kingsbury Run case, however, I turned to
Great Unsolved Mysteries
(1978) by James Purvis and the following Ness-related nonfiction works:
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
(1997), Paul W. Heimel;
Four Against the Mob
(1961), Oscar Fraley; and
Torso
(1989), Steven Nickel.

One of the great pleasures of researching this novel was revisiting many of Orson Welles’ films, including
Lady from Shanghai
,
Touch of Evil
, and
Macbeth
. I also read a number of Welles biographies:
Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles
(1996), David Thomson;
This Is Orson Welles
(1992), Orson Welles and Peter
Bogdanovich;
Citizen Welles
(1989), Frank Brady;
Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of an American Genius
(1985), Charles Higham; and
Orson Welles: A Biography
(1985), Barbara Leaming, whose
If This Was Happiness: a Biography of Rita Hayworth
(1989) was also helpful.

Several biographies and autobiographies aided in my research, including
The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law
(1994), Rickie Solinger;
Blondes, Brunettes and Bullets
(1957), Nils T. Granlund with Sid Feder and Ralph Hancock;
Headline Happy
(1950), Florabel Muir;
No Man Stands Alone
(1957), Barney Ross and Martin Abramson; and
Thicker’n Thieves
(1951), Charles Stoker. The portrait of Mickey Cohen drew upon
Hoodlums: Los Angeles
(1959), Ted Prager and Larry Craft;
Mickey Cohen: In My Own Words
(1975), Mickey Cohen and John Peer Nugent;
Mickey Cohen: Mobster
(1973), Ed Reid; and
Why I Quit Syndicated Crime
(1951), Jim Vaus and D. C. Haskin.

Numerous true crime books include a chapter on the Dahlia. Among such works consulted were
The California Crime Book
(1971), Robert Colby;
Fallen Angels
(1986), Marvin J. Wolf and Katherine Mader;
Hollywood’s Unsolved Mysteries
(1970), John Austin;
The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crimes
(1999), Roger Wilkes (editor);
Open Files
(1983), Jay Robert Nash;
They Had a Way with Women
(1967), Leonard Gribble; and
True Crime: Unsolved Crimes
(1993), editors of Time-Life Books.
To Protect and Serve
(1994) by Joe Domanick provided excellent historical background on the LAPD.
The Super Sleuths
(1976) by Bruce Henderson and Sam Summerlin provided material on Harry Hansen.

A number of books on L.A. and Hollywood were also useful, including
City of Nets
(1986), Otto Friedrich;
Cruel City
(1991), Marianne Ruuth;
Death in Paradise
(1998), Tony Blanche and Brad Schreiber;
Great American Hotels
(1991), James Tackach;
Hollywood Babylon II
(1984), Kenneth Anger;
Hollywood Goes on Location
(1988), Leon Smith;
Landmarks of Los Angeles
(1994), Patrick McGrew and Robert Julian;
My L.A.
(1947), Matt Weinstock;
Out with the Stars
(1985), Jim Heimann;
Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles
(1987), Elizabeth
Ward and Alain Silver; and
Sins of the City: the Real Los Angeles Noir
(1999), Jim Heimann. The WPA Guides for California and Illinois were extremely helpful, as were
Chicago Confidential
(1950) and
U.S.A. Confidential
(1952), both by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer.

I would again like to thank my editor, Joseph Pittman, for his belief in Nate Heller and his creator, and his patience when a death in the family made me miss a deadline; and of course Dominick Abel, my friend and agent, who also was gracious and supportive at a rough time.

Angel in Black
is a novel about relationships, in particular, marriage. I am grateful for the love and support of my wife, Barbara Collins—Nate Heller never had it so good.

MAX ALLAN COLLINS has earned an unprecedented nine Private Eye Writers of America Shamus nominations for his Nathan Heller historical thrillers, winning twice (
True Detective
, 1983, and
Stolen Away
, 1991).

A Mystery Writers of America Edgar nominee in both fiction and nonfiction categories, Collins has been hailed as “the Renaissance man of mystery fiction.” His credits include four suspense-novel series, film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and movie/TV tie-in novels, including such international bestsellers as
In the Line of Fire
,
Air Force One
, and
Saving Private Ryan
.

He scripted the internationally syndicated comic strip
Dick Tracy
from 1977 to 1993, is cocreator of the comic-book features
Ms. Tree, Wild Dog
, and
Mike Danger
, and has written the
Batman
comic book and newspaper strip, the mini-series
Johnny Dynamite
, and a graphic novel,
Road to Perdition
.

Working as an independent filmmaker in his native Iowa, he wrote and directed the suspense film
Mommy
, starring Patty McCormack, premiering on Lifetime in 1996; he performed the same duties for a 1997 sequel,
Mommy’s Day
. The recipient of a record five Iowa Motion Picture Awards for screenwriting, he also wrote
The Expert
, a 1995 HBO World Premiere film. Subsequently he wrote and directed an award-winning documentary,
Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane
, and in 2000 wrote and directed his third independent feature,
Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market
.

Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins, and their teenage son, Nathan.

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