The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume One by Max Allan Collins

The rest of her life is equally complicated. Tree also took on other cases, ones that touched upon the social and cultural issues of the day, dealing with serial killers, homicidal lesbians, child molesters, crooked cops, pro-life killers and the rest.

Mind you, the series offered more than just Michael’s scorch-and-burn holy war against the Muerta - that would have become tiresome quite quickly. Tree wages war against the Muerta family, wreaking havoc on their business dealings and sending more than one member to the happy hunting ground, although not without some serious consequences, including arrest, a prison sentence, involuntary medication and even a stay in the looney bin. Spillane–with a twist.”Īnd so, throughout the long-running series (arguably the longest running P.I. Mike Hammer finally marries his hot secretary and then he’s murdered on their wedding night, and she has to find his killer. Tree then, was, “What if Velda and Mike Hammer eventually got married, and on their honeymoon he was murdered?”Īs one CBR.com reviewer put it, “the premise sounded pretty cool to me.

In fact, Collins has often said that the 9mm-toting character was inspired by Velda, Hammer’s secretary, who in his opinion was almost as tough as Hammer was. And so, of course, she decides to continue the investigation, intent on avenging her husband, Spillane-style. Seems he was poking around a little too deeply into the business affairs of the Muerta crime family. Tree series represents–even now–Max’s most ground-breaking and exciting work.Ī female private detective in Chicago, Michael takes over her husband’s detective agency when he’s murdered on their honeymoon. Since Mike Hammer was originally planned for comic books, it only seems fitting that Spillane defender/apologist and hard-boiled renaissance man Max Allan Collins’ “female Mike Hammer,” MICHAEL TREE, should appear in the appropriate medium.Īnd who knows? Collins is probably most famous for his historical detective novels featuring fictional Chicago private eye Nate Heller, or perhaps his continuation of the Dick Tracy comic strip or the Mike Hammer series after their respective creator’s deaths or maybe even writing the graphic-novel-turned-into-a-major-motion-picture Road to Perdition but, as excellent and acclaimed as all that work may be, to tell the truth, I think the Ms. Created by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty

The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume One by Max Allan Collins