Max Allan Collins (Las Vegas: Thomas and Mercer, 2004)
The Blitz, murder, and Agatha Christie seems like a winning combination but Max Collins falls short of meeting the expectations of such a promising mixture. Even the title of the book is deceiving in that the Blitz occurred prior to 1942 and has no relevance to the story. Although slow and disappointing in areas, Collins quite adeptly interweaves fact and fiction by altering history a bit and seamlessly inserting Dame Agatha into a true-crime police investigation. The so-called Blackout Ripper is on the lose in London among the war-weary citizens on the home front. With the help of Agatha, the police race to catch the killer before he can strike again. Accounts of the actual investigation are quite interesting as are depictions of London during the War years. I found the story to begin far too slowly and end far too abruptly. The ending itself is probably one of the worst I have ever read. Overall, the idea is intriguing and the historical events fascinating. It was okay for 2 bucks and a one night read.
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