Quarry (aka The Broker)
Writing as Patrick Culhane
Red Sky in Morning
Black Hats
With Matthew Clemens
No One Will Hear You
You Can’t Stop Me
*A Forge Book
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MAX ALLAN COLLINS has earned an unprecedented nineteen Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991) and receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye, in 2007. 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), the basis of the Academy Award–winning Tom Hanks film, was followed by two acclaimed prose sequels and several graphic novels. He has created a number of innovative suspense series, notably Quarry (the first hitman series) and Eliot Ness (covering the Untouchable’s Cleveland years). He is completing a number of Mike Hammer novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane; his audio novel The New Adventures of Mike Hammer: The Little Death won the 2011 Audie for Best Original Work.
His many comics credits include the syndicated strip Dick Tracy; his own Ms. Tree; Batman; and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, based on the TV series, for which he wrote ten bestselling novels. His tie-in books have appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list nine times and the New York Times three. His movie novels include Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One, and American Gangster, which won the IAMTW Best Novel Scribe Award in 2008.
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, and The Last Lullaby (2008), based on his novel The Last Quarry. 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 appeared on PBS stations in 2009.
His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and video games. His coffee-table book, The History of Mystery, was nominated for every major mystery award, and his Men’s Adventure Magazines (with George Hagenauer) won the Anthony Award.
ASK NOT
Copyright © 2013 by Max Allan Collins
All rights reserved.
Cover photography: (JFK) the Howard Frank Archives, (flames) Jupiterimages
Edited by Jim Frenkel
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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New York, NY 10010
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Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Collins, Max Allan.
Ask not: Nathan Heller Mystery / Max Allan Collins. — First Edition.
p. cm.—(Nathan Heller mysteries; 14)
ISBN 978-0-7653-3626-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-2745-5 (e-book)
1. Heller, Nathan (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Private investigators—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3553.O4753A85 2013
813'.54—dc23
2013018440
e-ISBN 9781466827455
First Edition: October 2013
Ask Not Page 32