In this episode of the “History Behind The Mystery” series, Creator/Producer Creator/Producer Max Allan Collins talks about Prohibition-era Chicago’s darker (and sexier) side. He gives us more information about “Tower Town” and the artists, radicals, and hobos who lived there.

Max also provides a mini-lecture on the history of the “hard-boiled detective” and how the rules established for that kind of American hero in the 20s, 30s, and 40s had to be broken by the time he was writing about Nate Heller in the 1970s and 80s.

And breaking one of those rules leads to controversy in “Tower Town and The Magic City” – the fifth chapter of 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:

00:16 – Where exactly was “Tower Town”?

02:21 – So, the “Dill Pickle” was a real place?

03:39 – Mary Anne and Nate sleep together in a controversial scene … why?

07:07 – What was Mickey Spillane’s impact on the Detective Fiction genre?

08:14 – How much of Nate Heller’s activities in Miami were fictional, and what was real?

The nearly 6-1/2 hour audio drama stars Michael Rosenbaum (SMALLVILLE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2) as Detective Nathan Heller, David Strathairn (LINCOLN, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK) as Frank Nitti, 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