How to Read the Mallory Series: Recommended Order
For readers looking to dive into the mid-1980s detective adventures of Max Allan Collins' reluctant amateur sleuth, the most straightforward and highly recommended route is the Publication Order. Because the character's personal relationships, writing career, and life in Port City, Iowa evolve from book to book, reading them in the order they were released offers the most satisfying narrative arc.
The Mallory Series in Publication Order
The Mallory series consists of five novels published between 1983 and 1986. Here is the breakdown of the books in the order they hit store shelves:
- The Baby Blue Rip-Off (1983): The debut novel introduces Mallory, a Vietnam War veteran and ex-cop who has returned to his hometown of Port City, Iowa, to build a career as a mystery writer. To make ends meet, he reluctantly delivers meals to homebound seniors through a local program. When one of his clients is brutally murdered in a burglary, Mallory gets dragged into a dangerous investigation, clashing with the local law enforcement and reconnecting with a past flame.
- No Cure for Death (1983): Mallory finds himself in a small-town Iowa bus station where he protects a frightened young woman from a suspicious stalker. Shortly after, she dies in a mysterious car crash that mirrors a senator's scandal. Suspecting a cover-up involving the local sheriff, Mallory starts digging into the conspiracy himself.
- Kill Your Darlings (1984): A highly regarded entry in the series that brings Mallory to Chicago for the annual Bouchercon world mystery convention. Mallory is thrilled to meet his literary idol, veteran hard-boiled author Roscoe Kane. However, when Kane is found dead in his hotel room, Mallory must navigate a crowd of suspicious fans, writers, and publishers to solve the murder of his mentor.
- A Shroud for Aquarius (1985): This installment takes on a more personal and nostalgic tone. When Ginnie Mullens, a childhood friend of Mallory's who grew up to be a local entrepreneur, dies in an apparent suicide, Mallory is unconvinced. He undertakes a secret investigation for the police chief, uncovering Ginnie's ties to drug trafficking and high-stakes gambling.
- Nice Weekend for a Murder (1986): The final novel in the series moves the action away from Iowa to the historic Mohonk Mountain House resort in upstate New York. Mallory attends a staged "mystery weekend" event. When a widely hated mystery critic is found dead during a blizzard, Mallory is trapped in the snowbound resort with a group of suspects, having to solve a real-life locked-room puzzle.
Publication Order vs. Chronological & Writing Order
While the chronological reading order aligns perfectly with the publication order, the behind-the-scenes writing order tells a different story. Max Allan Collins actually wrote No Cure for Death first as part of his MFA thesis at the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop in the late 1960s. However, publishers chose to release The Baby Blue Rip-Off first in 1983. If you want to experience the series exactly as Collins originally wrote it, you could start with No Cure for Death, but starting with the published debut, The Baby Blue Rip-Off, is generally preferred as it does a better job establishing Mallory's status quo in Port City.
What to Know Before You Start
The Mallory series occupies a unique niche in crime fiction, sitting comfortably at the intersection of hard-boiled detective noir and small-town cozy mystery. Mallory himself is a self-referential protagonist—an aspiring author who understands the tropes of detective fiction and frequently comments on them as he solves real crimes. Set in the fictional Port City, Iowa (which Collins modeled closely after his own hometown of Muscatine, Iowa), the series is deeply grounded in the Midwestern landscape and the lingering social tensions of the post-Vietnam era.
Throughout the series, Mallory often butts heads with the local conservative Sheriff Brennan, highlighting the political and social divides of the era. Mallory's status as a liberal ex-cop and Vietnam veteran gives him a distinct perspective on the community, allowing Collins to weave subtle social commentary into classic whodunit plots.
Practical Reader Advice
If you are planning to read the Mallory books, here is some practical advice to get the most out of the series:
- Can they be read as standalones? Yes. Each book features a self-contained mystery that is fully resolved by the end of the novel. You won't find major cliffhangers, making it easy to pick up any book out of order if you happen to find a vintage copy.
- The Best Starting Point: Start with The Baby Blue Rip-Off. It does the best job introducing the setting of Port City and Mallory's delicate relationship with Sheriff Brennan.
- Look out for the Meta-Commentary: In Nice Weekend for a Murder, Collins draws heavily on his real-life experiences participating in mystery events at the Mohonk Mountain House. He also bases some of the fictional writers in the book on legendary real-life authors Donald E. Westlake and his famous pseudonym Richard Stark.