Binding Ties (29 page)

About the Author

MAX ALLAN COLLINS, a Mystery Writers of America “Edgar” nominee in both fiction and nonfiction categories, was hailed in 2004 by
Publisher's Weekly
as “a new breed of writer.” He has earned an unprecedented twelve Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations for his historical thrillers, winning twice for his Nathan Heller novels,
True Detective
(1983) and
Stolen Away
(1991).

His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and movie/TV tie-in novels, including
Air Force One, In the Line of Fire,
and the
New York Times
-bestselling
Saving Private Ryan
.

His graphic novel
Road to Perdition
is the basis of the Academy Award-winning DreamWorks 2002 film starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, and Jude Law, and directed by Sam Mendes. His many comics credits include the
Dick Tracy
syndicated strip (1977-1993); his own
Ms. Tree; Batman;
and
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,
based on the hit TV series for which he has also written three video games, two jigsaw puzzles, and a
USA Today
-bestselling series of novels.

An independent filmmaker in his native Iowa, he wrote and directed
Mommy,
premiering on Lifetime in 1996, as well as a 1997 sequel,
Mommy's Day
. The screenwriter of
The Expert,
a 1995 HBO World Premiere, he wrote and directed the innovative made-for-DVD feature,
Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market
(2000). His latest indie feature,
Shades of Noir
(2004), is an anthology of his short films, including his award-winning documentary,
Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane.
A DVD boxed set of his films will appear in 2005.

Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins; they frequently collaborate on fiction, sometimes under the shared byline “Barbara Allan.” Their son Nathan is majoring in computer science and Japanese at the University of Iowa in nearby Iowa City.