The London Blitz Murders (25 page)
I make no pretense at being knowledgeable about London and any errors herein, geographical and otherwise, are my own. To whatever degree I have been accurate, however, I owe thanks to a “walking guide” book, providing key information about Blitz-vintage London:
The Face of London
by Harold P. Clunn, an undated volume circa 1956; this was yet another George Hagenauer discovery. A helpful volume on crime and policework was
London After Dark
(1954) by Ex-Superintendent Robert Fabian.
I am extremely grateful to my editor, Natalee Rosenstein of Berkley Prime Crime, for her patience. An ambitious but misjudged false start on this novel—patterned upon Christie’s
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
(narrated by Cummins!)—required a request for a deadline extension, which Natalee kindly granted.
This enabled my wife, writer Barbara Collins, and me to take advantage of a trip to London for the premiere of the film
Road to Perdition
and visit numerous of the actual locations, from Agatha’s Lawn Road flat to every murder site. Thank you to driver Rudi Allman of Hanover Chauffeurs, whose driving was far superior to Sir Bernard Spilsbury’s.
Thanks also to my friend and agent Dominick Abel, who lent his usual support during a busy, trying time. My wife helped out by reading Agatha’s wonderful but long autobiography so that we could discuss and explore Agatha’s character, in my attempt to solve the mystery of Christie. For many months we listened to unabridged audios of Poirot novels ordered from the UK, and read by actors David Suchet and Hugh Fraser; never has research been such a pleasure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo credit: Bamford Studio
Max Allan Collins is the
New York Times
best-selling author of
The Road to Perdition
and multiple award-winning novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations, and historical fiction. He has scripted the
Dick Tracy
comic strip,
Batman
comic books, and written tie-in novels based on the
CSI
,
Bones
, and
Dark Angel
TV series; collaborated with legendary mystery author Mickey Spillane; and authored numerous mystery novels including the Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, and Nathan Heller series. His additional
Disaster
series mystery novels include
The Lusitania Murders
,
The Titanic Murders
,
The Hindenburg Murders
,
The Pearl Harbor Murders
, and
The War of the Worlds Murder
.
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