Do No Harm

By: Max Allan Collins

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Do No Harm is the latest mystery in the Nathan Heller series by New York Times best-selling author Max Allan Collins.

It’s 1954, and Heller takes on the Sam Sheppard case - a young doctor is startled from sleep and discovers his wife brutally murdered. He claims that a mysterious intruder killed his wife. But all the evidence points to a disturbed husband who has grown tired of married life and yearned to be free at all costs. Sheppard is swiftly convicted and sent to rot in prison.

Just how firm was the evidence...and was it tampered with to fit a convenient narrative to settle scores and push political agendas? Nathan’s old friend Elliot Ness calls in a favor, and as Nathan digs into the case, he becomes convinced of Sheppard’s innocence. But Nate can’t prove it and has to let the case drop.

The road to justice is sometimes a long one. Heller’s given another chance years later, and this time he’s determined to free the man...even if it brings his own death a bit closer.

©2020 Max Allan Collins (P)2020 Recorded Books

Nathan Heller meets F Lee Bailey

Of all the Nathan Heller mysteries, the Sam Shepard case, in my mind, is the least famous. Of course that could just be from a personal perspective. I was 3 in 1954 when the murder of his wife happened and he was convicted put in prison. But then F Lee Bailey got involved in the case and got him freed pending a second trial where he was found not guilty. This second trial was in the 1960s and I was a teenager then and I do remember the case but it wasn't the kind of case that stuck with you.

But in the Nate Heller style, he looks at all the angles of the case and makes it interesting to see how it unfolds, at least from the author's perspective. And, you do get some Cleveland history, how it was once an industrial, shipping power but lost its steam over the years.

Nate Heller is da'Man

Max Collins has had me addicted to detective Nate Heller since the roaring 20s in Chicago, and this trip to 1950s Ohio proves that Heller still knows his stuff and Collins still knows how to please his readers.
As always Collins expertly weaves his fictional detective into the factual case and real people involved. His research is impeccable, and his historical settings are precise --right down to the music and fashions.
The performance is excellent and believable.

Another superb performance of an excellent mystery

I savored this audio book during the Covid quarantine of 2020. Having read and listened to all of Max Allan Collins’ Heller series, I sensed this is one of the last. Nathan Heller is one of the greats of noir literature.