What Doesn’t Kill Her (35 page)

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 best-selling novels. His tie-in books have appeared on the
USA Today
best-seller list nine times and the
New York Times’
three. With
frequent collaborator Matthew Clemens, he wrote the Thriller Award-nominated
You Can’t Stop Me
and its sequel
No One Will Hear You
. His movie novels include
Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One,
and
American Gangster
(IAMTW Best Novel Scribe Award, 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
(2009), 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.

Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins. As “Barbara Allan,” they have collaborated on nine novels, including the successful Trash ’n’ Treasures mysteries, their
Antiques Flee Market
(2008) winning the Romantic Times Best Humorous Mystery Novel award in 2009. Their son, Nathan, is a Japanese-to-English translator, working on video games, manga, and novels.