Passion (1975), published anonymously by Verdict Press (useful pictures but a wildly inaccurate account); Lawrence M. Judd & Hawaii (1971), Lawrence M. Judd as told to Hugh W. Lytle; Sea Duty: The Memoirs of a Fighting Admiral (1939), Yates Stirling; and Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (1968), Gavan Daws.
Two famous novels inspired by the Massie case may be of interest to readers who enjoyed Damned in Paradise. Norman Katkov’s Blood and Orchids was a bestseller a decade ago; I avoided reading it so as not to be unduly influenced here, but am told that while Mr. Katkov intentionally took great liberties with the facts (including changing dates, names, and events), he presents a vivid, large landscape picture of the political and social turmoil of this fascinating time in Hawaii’s history. Many years ago I read and enjoyed another book very loosely based on the Massie case (so loosely the Hawaii setting is jettisoned), Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver; I particularly admire the Otto Preminger film based on that novel.
Many books on Hawaii were consulted, but none was more valuable than When You Go to Hawaii (1930), Townsend Griffiss; this 350-page travel guide, which I rooted out in a Honolulu used bookstore, was to Damned in Paradise what the WPA guides have been to previous Heller novels. Also helpful were Aloha Waikiki (1985), DeSoto Brown; Around the World Confidential (1956), Lee Mortimer; Hawaii and Its Race Problem (1932), William Atherton Du Puy; Hawaii Recalls (1982), DeSoto Brown, Anne Ellett, and Gary Giemza; Hawaii: Restless Rampart (1941), Joseph Barber Jr.; Hawaiian Tapestry (1937), Antoinette Withington; Hawaii! “…Wish You Were Here” (1994), Ray and Jo Miller; Hawaiian Yesterdays (1982), Ray Jerome Baker; The Japanese in Hawaii: A Century of Struggle (1985), Roland Kotani; The Pink Palace (1986), Stan Cohen; Remembering Pearl Harbor (1984), Michael Slackman; Roaming Hawaii (1937), Harry A. Franck; and The View from Diamond Head (1986), Don Hibbard and David Franzen.
Coverage by Russell Owens in the New York Times was also of great help.
Of use in researching the non-Hawaii aspects of this novel were The Great Luxury Liners 1927- 1954 (1981), William H. Miller Jr.; New York: The Glamour Years (1919-1945) (1987), Thomas and Virginia Aylesworth; and Off the Wall at Sardi’s (1991), Vincent Sardi, Jr., and Thomas Edward West.
I would again like to thank my editor, Michaela Hamilton, and her associate, Joe Pittman, for their support and belief in Nate Heller and me; and my agent, Dominick Abel, for his continued professional and personal support.
My talented wife, writer Barbara Collins, accompanied me on a research trip to Oahu in May 1995. Like Nate Heller and his wife, we tracked down the houses where the Massies and Mrs. Fortescue had lived. After accompanying me on the previous two Nate Heller research trips (to the Bahamas and Louisiana), Barb understandably said, “Could we just once go to a vacation wonderland and not be looking for the murder house?” Thank you, sweetheart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Max Allan Collins has earned fifteen Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective and Stolen Away, and receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye. His graphic novel, Road to Perdition, which is the basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks, was followed by two novels, Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise. His suspense series include Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, and Eliot Ness, and his numerous comics credits include the syndicated Dick Tracy and his own Ms. Tree. He has written and directed four feature films and two documentaries. His other produced screenplays include “The Expert,” an HBO World Premiere. His coffee-table book The History of Mystery received nominations for every major mystery award and Men’s Adventure Magazines won the Anthony Award. Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins. They have collaborated on seven novels and numerous short stories, and are currently writing the “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries.
