Kill Your Darlings
Written by Max Allan Collins
Narrated by Dan John Miller
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Roscoe Kane is one of the last—and, in Mallory’s opinion, best—of the old-school mystery writers. Back in the day, he turned out crime thrillers filled with babes, bullets, and tough-guy banter. But today Kane is filled with bitterness over the nosedive his career took after he sued a publisher. For Mallory, who learned his craft at Kane’s knee, it’s tough watching his literary hero drown his sorrows in booze—but it’s a million times tougher finding the old master drowned in a hotel bathtub.
Some call it ironic that Kane meets his end in the middle of Bouchercon, the famed convention that’s a mecca for mystery writers. The Chicago coroner calls it a drunken mishap. But Mallory spies treachery mingled with the tragedy.
Just like a classic whodunit, there’s a gallery full of suspects—from a scorned ex-wife and an ostracized gay son to an underhanded publisher and a roster of rival writers with axes to grind. Throw in a knockout dame who gives Mallory a private eyeful, an alluring widow who’s not too sad to be seductive, and a clutch of thugs who let their knuckles do the talking, and Mallory has his hands full finding justice for his hero.
Max Allan Collins
<p>Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. He is the author of the Shamus Award-winning Nathan Heller thrillers and the graphic novel <em>Road to Perdition</em>, basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks. His innovative Quarry novels led to a 2016 Cinemax series. He has completed a dozen posthumous Mickey Spillane mysteries, and wrote the syndicated <em>Dick Tracy</em> series for more than fifteen years. His one-man show, <em>Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life</em>, was an Edgar Award finalist. He lives in Iowa.</p>
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Reviews for Kill Your Darlings
12 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really enjoyed this one, even more than the first two in the series, primarily because of all of the references to sorts of famous and not-so famous mystery writers and their works. The author's knowledge of the genre really shines through as Mallory, now a successful mystery writer himself, attempts to solve a mystery at a mystery-writers convention set in Chicago.
Max Allan Collins follows the tried and true "requirements" of the noir mystery, including beautiful dames, muscle-bound thugs, dark alleys, back-stabbing friends, and the "surprise" plot twist at the end. The best part? The main character seems to know he's stuck in this mystery, even identifying several times where he would be if he were a character in a mystery novel, which gave this novel the feel of "Ferris Bueller", nearly breaking down the fourth wall between protagonist and reader. Good stuff!