Triple Play: A Nathan Heller Casebook - Max Allan Collins

Written by Max Allan Collins
Read by Dan John Miller
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Series: Nathan Heller, book 19
Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
Release Date:04-17-12
Publisher: Brilliance Audio

DYING IN THE POST-WAR WORLD finds Heller getting back into the PI business after serving his country in WWII, a pregnant wife feeling less than glamorous, and looking into the “Lipstick Killer” case. (Listed as book 5 in series)

KISSES OF DEATH starts with Heller’s first meeting with a young Marilyn Monroe, being her bodyguard, and eventually to the murder of poet/novelist Maxwell Bodenheim and his wife at the time (Listed as book 13 in series)

STRIKE ZONE finds Heller working for Bill Veeck to look into the death, possible murder, of Eddie Gaedel,* the first and only little person to ever bat in the major leagues. Heller had been his babysitter leading up to the memorable 1951 moment.

*Bill Veeck owed and promoted baseball teams from the 40’s into the 80’s. Some of Veeck’s most memorable publicity stunts occurred during his tenure with the St. Louis Browns, including the appearance on August 19, 1951, by Eddie Gaedel, who stood 3 feet 7 inches tall and is the shortest person to appear in a Major League Baseball game. Veeck sent Gaedel to pinch-hit in the bottom of the first of the game. Wearing elf like shoes and “1/8″ as his uniform number, Gaedel was walked on four straight pitches and then was pulled for a pinch runner.

This was an engaging collection of three real-life murders fictionalized to add Collins’ detective to the mix.