Award-winning author, Max Allan Collins, shares some insights into his research process and why not every character he researches is a “household name” nearly a century later. That’s just one of several topics Max covers as he discusses historical events and characters found in the episode “Merry Christmas, Mr. Heller.”

In this and every episode of the “History Behind The Mystery” series, Creator/Producer Max Allan Collins provides some context to the events that take place in the 10-episode, immersive audio drama, TRUE NOIR: The Assassination of Anton Cermak.

TRUE NOIR: The Assassination of Anton Cermak is an audio drama set in Chicago at the end of the Prohibition Era (in the early 1930s) and tells the story of private eye Nathan Heller as he tracks down the killer of the Mayor of Chicago at a political rally. But this isn’t your ordinary assassination. Mayor Anton Cermak was in a nearly constant power struggle with organized crime in his city … and he played just as dirty.

In this video:

00:18 – Why are some of the historical figures in TRUE NOIR no longer “household names”?
00:52 – How do you go about your research?
02:01 – Do you work alone?
03:59 – Who was General Charles Gates Dawes – and why was he important to this story?
04:57 – What ever happened to George Raft?
06:22 – Who was Richard Daley?
07:36 – This episode gets pretty explicit. What’s the point of pushing the boundaries of the traditional detective story?

The nearly 6-1/2 hour audio drama stars Michael Rosenbaum (SMALLVILLE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2) as Detective Nathan Heller and a host of other actors from television and film.

TRUE NOIR was created by Mike Bawden, Robert Meyer Burnett, and Max Allan Collins. For more information about Imagination Connoisseurs Unlimited, please visit our website: www.icu.co