True Detective

By the early 1980s, Max Allan Collins had launched two successful series — Quarry (about a Vietnam veteran turned hit man) and Nolan (about a Midwestern professional thief). With True Detective, he began a third series centered on a Chicago private investigator (Nathan Collins) that would lead to some of his most successful works. This first book combines fact and fiction, as a murder plot is set against the backdrop of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. I still prefer Collins's Quarry series (by a long shot) but this is a solid hard-boiled private eye novel.