Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Baby Blue Rip-Off | 1983 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 2 | No Cure for Death | 1983 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 3 | Kill Your Darlings | 1984 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 4 | A Shroud for Aquarius | 1985 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 5 | Nice Weekend for a Murder | 1986 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
The Mallory series features an amateur detective created by Max Allan Collins, published during the mid-1980s. The five books follow Mallory through a series of murder investigations, starting with The Baby Blue Rip-Off (1983) and No Cure for Death (1983). The series has a lighter, more playful tone compared to Collins’ hardboiled crime fiction.
Nice Weekend for a Murder (1986), the final book, is set at a mystery writers convention, giving the series a self-aware quality. Collins was already working on his Nathan Heller historical mystery series during this same period, and the Mallory books offered a contrasting style. All five novels have been reissued in digital editions, making them accessible to readers interested in Collins’ earlier work.