Do No Harm

De: Max Allan Collins

Narrado por: Dan John Miller

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.

Great Blend of Fact and Fiction

I have not listened to a Nathan Heller novel in awhile. It was refreshing to return to Collins interesting blend of history and fiction to fit Heller into the middle of the fray. Dan John Miller has narrated all of the Heller novels to date and his voice has become that of Nate Heller. His delivery fits perfectly with the storyline and allows the story to flow seamlessly.

In this outing, Heller hooks up with his old buddy Elliot Ness famous for his role in dealing with the mob in Chicago. Miller does an interesting take on the voice of Ness making him sound very similar to that of Robert Stack of the TV series rather than the movie version with Kevin Costner. It works well with Collins noir type novels. A small spoiler is Ness dies in this novel fitting with the time period of the story. This is really a tale of the infamous Sam Sheppard murder case that was made famous on TV with an alternate version played by a David Jansen TV series and later a movie with Harrison Ford. But I digress, as the story wraps around the Sam Sheppard real life murder of his wife and subsequent events surrounding it. As always, Collins does a good job of putting Nate in the middle of the action making it difficult to distinguish reality from section. That is the intent as it works well as is the case with all Heller novels.

Overall, I found the pace just right and storyline entertaining. Perhaps just a tid bit not as good as earlier novels which may be more a product of the length of the series than anything. In any event, I found it entertaining and would recommend the entire series to anyone who loves noir novels touched with a bit of the real history of US crime.

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.