Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call (2002) by Bernard F. Conners presents a theory about another possible suspect in the Marilyn Sheppard murder. Though I chose not to go down this path in my novel, I did find the book interesting and occasionally helpful.
To really understand—or even try to understand—the Sheppard case, three of the most recent works are crucial.
The best single, complete overview of the case is The Wrong Man (2002) by James Neff, which covers in depth all three Sheppard trials as well as the major theories of whodunit. Neff believes Sheppard is innocent and makes a good case for it.
Mockery of Justice: The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case (1995) by Cynthia L. Cooper and Sam Reese Sheppard is in many ways the best book of the bunch. With the participation of Dr. Sam’s son, the heartbreaking aspects of the tragedy become clear, though never is the book self-pitying. It explores every major theory and covers just about everything. On the other hand, it’s not where to start—it jumps around as it intersperses Sam R. Sheppard’s timeline with flashbacks to the first two trials. To really get the most out of Mockery, a familiarity with the case is best—even necessary. So first read The Wrong Man, Dr. Sam, or the two Holmes books on each trial.
Mockery of Justice—and to an extent, The Wrong Man—is the reason the Richard Eberling theory has become so prevalent. You may well be convinced that Neff and Sam R. Sheppard are right. (The Onyx paperback edition of Mockery is “updated with stunning news developments.”)
Dr. Sam Sheppard On Trial: The Prosecutors and the Marilyn Sheppard Murder (2003) by Jack P. DeSario and William D. Mason presents the anti–Dr. Sam point of view, the only book that does. Read in the context of at least one other book—possibly Mockery of Justice or The Wrong Man—it helps bring numerous things into focus. Without that leavening influence, On Trial is one-sided, co-written as it is by Mason, one of the prosecutors at the civil suit trial in 2000.
Ironically, the weakest and least helpful book on the case is Endure and Conquer (1966) by Dr. Sam Sheppard, ghostwritten by William V. Levy, who interestingly has gone on record saying he thinks Dr. Sam did it.
Erle Stanley Gardner material came from The Court of Last Resort (1952), Erle Stanley Gardner; The Case of Erle Stanley Gardner (1947), Alva Johnston; and Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason (1978), Dorothy B. Hughes. “Court of Last Resort” coverage, initially by Gardner and then by Gene Lowell, appears in Argosy magazine, June, August, and October 1957; November 1960; May 1962; May and October, 1963; April and November 1964; and February 1967.
Other coverage consulted includes Confidential Detective, May 1962; Lowdown, April 1955; Whisper, August 1955; Inside Detective, November 1954 and August 1958; and Man’s Magazine, October 1955. Murder in Mind issue #28 (1998), a UK magazine, devotes an entire, photo-filled issue to the Sheppard case.
Other books referred to include the WPA guides to Ohio and Florida; Images of America: Cleveland’s Flats (2005), Matthew Lee Grabski; Justice USA? (1967), Howard Feisher and Michael Rosen; Popular Crime (2011), Bill James; and The Years Were Good (1956), Louis B. Seltzer.
I sometimes wonder how I ever wrote Nate Heller books without Google. I will not even try to share the names of every website I visited during the writing of this novel. But here are a few articles you can Google and find yourself: “Cleveland’s Oldest Bars,” John Petkovic; “Did Sam Do it?”, Adam Ross; “Famous Trials,” Professor Douglas O. Linder; “Infamous Dr. Sam Sheppard Wrestled at Akron Armory,” Mark J. Price; and “The 17 Oldest Places and Things in Cleveland,” Brittany Rees. Thank you to these writers and so many more on the Net.
Several movies were screened, including Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case (1975), directed by Robert Michael Lewis, and written by Harold Gast and Lou Randolph; and My Father’s Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story (1998), directed by Peter Levin, and written by Adam Greenman. The former is a fairly straightforward retelling of the case, taking no real stand on whether or not Dr. Sam was the perpetrator; George Peppard does an admirable job as Sheppard. The latter, adapted from Mockery of Justice, is an odd piece in which the spirit of Dr. Sam (well played by a somewhat miscast Peter Strauss) and his son Sam Reese Sheppard have philosophical conversations while the son evolves into an advocate for his father’s innocence. The Lawyer, as mentioned in the novel, is a fictionalized but superior film version of the case, with Barry Newman’s strong, energetic performance as the film’s engine.
I was able to speak to Mr. Newman several times about his approach to the film, and how much time he spent with Bailey (not much—a question-and-answer session and a photo shoot). The film takes a Rashomon approach, with various versions of the crime shown on screen, a tactic carried over into the well-regarded Petrocelli TV series, for which Mr. Newman was nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy. He was both helpful and gracious in answering my questions and discussing the case.
I also watched “The Killer’s Trail,” a 1999 PBS Nova episode, written and directed by Marian Marzynski and Joel Olicker, focusing on Sam Reese Sheppard’s efforts to get his father’s name cleared by the state of Ohio. Also viewed was True Crime Scene: Fugitive Justice (2008), director and co-writer (with Gary Lang), Agnieszka Piotrowska, as well as various YouTube clips from newsreels of the day.
My longtime research associate, George Hagenauer, drew upon his knowledge of Cleveland (his wife’s hometown) to help in matters of geography and more. Only I, however, am to blame for any geographical inaccuracies. George also provided vintage “true detective” magazines. His research with me on the Eliot Ness novels of thirty years ago or so—much of it at the Case Western Reserve library—influenced the Ness material herein.
So did A. Brad Schwartz’s research for Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness and the Battle for Chicago (2018), a nonfiction book by Brad and myself. Brad—an indefatigable researcher—was helpful throughout the writing of this book, not only where Ness and his various cronies in Cleveland government are concerned, but in the matter of the proximity of the Ness house and the Sheppard house—a fact gone unnoted previously. I will not enumerate the sources for the Ness material here but will instead recommend Scarface and the Untouchable (and its extensive bibliography) to my Nate Heller readers, in hopes they will increase Brad’s royalties (and mine).
Fifty Years of the Playboy Bunny (2010) by Hugh Hefner, John Dante and Josh Robertson provided much of the Chicago Playboy Club reference, as did vintage issues of Playboy, which were also plumbed for advertising and fashion information.
Thanks to my friend and agent, Dominick Abel, who always goes above and beyond; and editor Claire Eddy at TOR/Forge, for her warm support and enthusiastic encouragement.
Barbara Collins—my wife, best friend and valued collaborator—as usual read and proofread each chapter emerging from an office that began spotless and ended a disaster area, as is always the case. That she was working on her draft of our next “Barbara Allan”–bylined novel never dissuaded her from acting as sounding board, cheerleader and editor. Nate Heller and I love her very much.
BOOKS BY MAX ALLAN COLLINS
The Memoirs of Nathan Heller
Better Dead*
Ask Not*
Target Lancer*
Triple Play (novellas)
Chicago Lightning (short stories)
Bye Bye, Baby*
Chicago Confidential
Angel in Black
Majic Man
Flying Blind
Damned in Paradise
Blood and Thunder
Carnal Hours
Stolen Away
Neon Mirage
The Million-Dollar Wound
True Crime
True Detective
The Road to Perdition Saga
Return to Perdition (graphic novel)
Road to Paradise
Road to Purgatory
Road to Perdition 2:
On the Road (graphic novel)
Road to Perdition (gra
phic novel)
With Mickey Spillane
The Will to Kill
A Longtime Dead
Killing Town
Murder, My Love
Murder Never Knocks
Kill Me, Darling
King of the Weeds
Complex 90
Lady, Go Die!
Kiss Her Goodbye
The Big Bang
The Goliath Bone
The Consummata
With Barbara Collins (as Barbara Allan)
Antiques Fate
Antiques Swap
Antiques Con
Antiques Chop
Antiques Disposal
Antiques Knock-Off
Antiques Bizarre
Antiques Flee Market
Antiques Maul
Antiques Roadkill
Antiques Ravin’
Quarry Novels
Quarry’s Climax
Quarry in the Black
Quarry’s Choice
The Wrong Quarry
Quarry’s Ex
Quarry in the Middle
The First Quarry
The Last Quarry
Quarry’s Vote (aka Primary Target)
Quarry’s Cut (aka The Slasher)
Quarry’s Deal (aka The Dealer)
Quarry’s List (aka The Broker’s Wife)
Quarry (aka The Broker)
Killing Quarry
Quarry’s War (graphic novel)
Writing as Patrick Culhane
Red Sky in Morning
Black Hats
With Matthew Clemens
No One Will Hear You
You Can’t Stop Me
Fate of the Union
Supreme Justice
Executive Order
*A Forge Book
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MAX ALLAN COLLINS was named a Grand Master in 2017 by the Mystery Writers of America. He has earned an unprecedented twenty-three Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), and his short story “So Long, Chief” (with Mickey Spillane). He received the PWA Eye for Life Achievement (2006). In 2012, his Nathan Heller saga was honored with the PWA Hammer Award for making a major contribution to the private eye genre.
His graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998) is the basis of the Academy Award–winning Tom Hanks film, followed by two acclaimed prose sequels and several graphic novels. His other comics credits include the syndicated strip Dick Tracy; his own Ms. Tree; and Batman.
His innovative Quarry novels—the first hitman series in mystery fiction—was recently adapted as a critically acclaimed TV series of the same name by Cinemax. He has created a number of other suspense series, including Mallory, Eliot Ness, Jack & Maggie Starr, Reeder and Rogers, and the Disaster novels. He is completing a number of Mike Hammer novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane; his full-cast audio novel, Mike Hammer: The Little Death with Stacy Keach, won a 2011 Audie for best original work.
For five years, he was the sole licensing writer for the popular TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (and its spin-offs), writing ten best-selling novels, four graphic novels, and four award-winning video games. His tie-in books have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list nine times and the New York Times three, including Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One, and American Gangster.
An independent filmmaker in the Midwest, Collins has written and directed four features, including the Lifetime movie Mommy (1996); and he scripted The Expert, a 1995 HBO World Premiere, as well as the film-festival favorite, The Last Lullaby (2009), based on his novel The Last Quarry. His documentary Caveman: V. T. Hamlin & Alley Oop (2008) has appeared on PBS and on DVD, and his documentary Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane (1998/2011) appears on the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray of Kiss Me Deadly.
His play Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2004 by the Mystery Writers of America; a film version, written and directed by Collins, was released on DVD and Blu-ray, and appeared on PBS stations in 2009.
Collins lives in Iowa with his wife, writer Barbara Collins; as “Barbara Allan,” they have collaborated on sixteen novels, including the successful Trash ’n’ Treasures mysteries, Antiques Flee Market (2008) winning the Romantic Times Best Humorous Mystery Novel award of 2009. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Author’s Note
Epigraphs
Book One: Lie Detecting
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Book Two: Fact Finding
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
I Owe them One
Books by Max Allan Collins
About the Author
Copyright
DO NO HARM
Copyright © 2020 by Max Allan Collins
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Michael Graziole
Cover photograph by Eberhard Grossgasteiger
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Names: Collins, Max Allan, author.
Title: Do no harm / Max Allan Collins.
Description: First edition. | New York: Forge, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019046684 (print) | LCCN 2019046685 (ebook) | ISBN 9780765378293 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466860797 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3553.O4753 D6 2020 (print) | LCC PS3553.O4753 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046684
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046685
eISBN 9781466860797
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: March 2020
Do No Harm Page 29