Kill Your Darlings
Written by Max Allan Collins
Narrated by Dan John Miller
3.5/5
()
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
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 Road to Perdition, 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 Dick Tracy series for more than fifteen years. His one-man show, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, was an Edgar Award finalist. He lives in Iowa.
More audiobooks from Max Allan Collins
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legend of Caleb York Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bibliomysteries Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supreme Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fate of the Union Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Executive Order Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The London Blitz Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No Cure for Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lusitania Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What Doesn't Kill Her Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seduction of the Innocent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Titanic Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice Weekend for a Murder Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Baby Blue Rip-Off Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War of the Worlds Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hindenburg Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Kill Your Darlings
Related audiobooks
Nice Weekend for a Murder Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beneath the Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oxford Inheritance: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Better Angel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Before Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Safe: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bone Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Density of Souls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Echo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Snow Garden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Manservant Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Garden of Lost and Found Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Gatsby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlay the Red Queen Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beware Beware Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Now It's Time to Say Goodbye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Animals: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Winterwood Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Breathe: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Call Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blind Fall: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lacuna Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Boy: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Where Oblivion Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill in Love: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Samurai Summer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Optimistic Decade Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Binding: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Historical Mystery For You
Shutter Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarian of Crooked Lane: The Glass Library, book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Curious Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eye of the Raven Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tread of Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Echo of Old Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curse of the Brimstone Contract Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T. H. Elkman: A Western Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enchanted Hill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Most Intriguing Lady: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maisie Dobbs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alienist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Lady: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Socialite's Guide to Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Impossible Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder by Degrees: A Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady in the Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder at the Mayfair Hotel: Cleopatra Fox Mysteries, book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Through A Bakery Window: Romance, mystery, and death in a small New England town Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dangerous Business Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Hanging at Lotus Hall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood of the Oak: A Mystery of Revolutionary America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
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!