Max Allan Collins

One thing I have learned as a "budding" new author is that you have to be versatile and sometimes cross genres. Max Allan Collins is that kind of writer.

He is most famous for his graphic novel Road to Perdition which was made into a movie directed by Sam Mendes. Along with that, he written several TV tie ins for CSI and Criminal Minds. He also scripted the comic Dick Tracy from 1977-1993(this according to Fantastic Fiction).

What I like about Collins is that he is a lover of pulp fiction from the likes of Mickey Spillane and Richard Stark. In fact he cowrote at least two novels with Spillane and wrote forwards in many of Spillane compilations. If you are a fan of either Stark and Spillane than I would recommend  three of his series:

Quarry

Nathan Heller

Frank Nolan

Quarry and Nolan are direct decendants of Stark's Parker while Nathan Heller is Mike Hammer reincarnated. So, if you are a avid reader of crime fiction, than Max Allan Collins is your man.