Five Star authors (and husband and wife Barbara and Max Allan Collins team up again on the novel Bombshell, about a star-crossed meeting between a man who held the fate of the world in his hand, and the woman who became America's most unlikely diplomat, in a history mystery that just might have happened. September 1959 — the height of the Cold War. As American school children "duck and cover" in classroom drills, Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev suddenly announces he wants to visit the United States. President Eisenhower, eager to defuse the mounting tension — and show the communist ruler the advantages of capitalism — agrees to the history-making trip. Khrushchev has only two demands: he wants to see Disneyland… and Marilyn Monroe. He was, for security reasons, refused his first request; the second request, a meeting with Hollywood's blonde bombshell, was arranged… This much is historical fact. According to the authors of Bombshell, “The events mat transpired on the cool autumn evening that Khrushchev met Marilyn were never reported by the media; only the CIA and KGB really knew what had happened during those early morning hours. Now, with recent government declassifications, the rest of the world can... and will... know." Marilyn, aware of an attempt to assassinate Khrushchev at the Beverly Hills Hotel, has only hours to convince Jack Harrigan—a stubborn State Department agent in charge of the premier—of the covert plot which would unquestionably launch the two superpowers into World War III. When Harrigan at first refuses to take her seriously, the sex goddess takes it upon herself to rescue the famous Russian, spiriting him away for a midnight visit to the theme park he longs to see. At once an historical novel, espionage thriller, and comic mystery, Bombshell accomplishes something few if any of the scores of books on these two icons of the 20th century manage: to bring to life the great movie star and the Russian dictator as real people... human, flawed, and, in their own individual ways, heroic

This delightful husband-and-wife collaboration features three stories by two-time Shamus award-winner Max Allan Collins, four stories by acclaimed short-story writer Barbara Collins, and two stories that the couple co-wrote. Among the contributions from Max Allan Collins — whose credits include novels, nonfiction, film criticism, songwriting, and four independent films — is “Catgate,” in which a womanizing senator tries to replace his dead mistress with a lookalike. Barbara Collins’ work has been included in the first three volumes of The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. Her pieces include “The Inconvenience Store,” in which a late-night craving drives a pregnant private eye out to a convenience store and into a hostage situation; and “Seeing Red,” where PMS meets road rage and leads to tragedy. And the talented duo conspired on “Eddie Haskell in a Short Skirt,” the story of a father-daughter private eye team who hire an office manager and become the suckers in a scam