Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Dark City | 1987 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 2 | Butcher’s Dozen | 1988 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 3 | Bullet Proof | 1989 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 4 | Murder by the Numbers | 1993 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
Max Allan Collins’ Eliot Ness series is a four-book run of historical crime novels published between 1987 and 1993. While most people know Eliot Ness from his role as the leader of the Untouchables in Chicago, Collins picks up the story after that famous period. The novels follow Ness during his time as Cleveland’s Director of Public Safety in the late 1930s, where he faced a different set of challenges including political corruption and a serial killer known as the Cleveland Torso Murderer.
The series begins with The Dark City and continues through Butcher’s Dozen, Bullet Proof, and Murder by the Numbers. Collins, a dedicated researcher of true crime history, uses the real events of Ness’s Cleveland years as the framework for these novels. The books blend historical fact with fiction, placing Ness in the middle of actual cases from the era. Readers interested in Prohibition-era law enforcement and the less well-known second act of Eliot Ness’s career will find this series especially rewarding.