Stolen Away

A Nathan Heller Novel

By: Max Allan Collins

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

March 1932. After the recently incarcerated Al Capone offers to negotiate the return of the kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh, Nathan Heller of the Chicago P.D. is sent to Hopewell, New Jersey, as a police liaison. As a part of Lindbergh’s inner circle, Heller investigates crooks, cranks, socialites, and psychics in a frustrating, fruitless attempt to solve the case.

Max Allan Collins makes the crime that captivated a nation the focal point of yet another fascinating and thoroughly spellbinding foray into his world of historical crime fiction. Four years later, in 1936, Heller - now a private detective, and considered an expert and insider on the Lindbergh case - is hired by the governor of New Jersey in an eleventh-hour quest to determine the guilt or innocence of Bruno Hauptmann, who sits on death row convicted of the murder and kidnapping of the Lindbergh child.

©1991 Max Allan Collins (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A novel of the Lindbergh kidnapping by the master of ‘true-crime’ fiction... Don’t miss it!” ( Publishers Weekly)

Superb

This may be the best book in a great, great series. Mr. Collins does an incredible job of putting the reader into historical mysteries and events via detective Nate Heller, truly one of fiction’s best characters. One of the best and boldest things Mr Collins does in this series is have Nate Heller “solve” the unsolved crimes. In Stolen Away, he is not afraid to provide (and support) a great solution to the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping. While the reader may be familiar with the cases Heller solves, Mr Collins presents them in a hard-boiled, exciting and occasionally humorous fashion. Since the cases are historically unsolved or partly solved, part of the excitement for the reader (and what makes these books hard to put down once started) is anticipation of the ”solution” to be provided. The historical figures, even the minor ones, are depicted in fully three dimensions and very believably. Dan John Miller does a superb job with his voice characterizations of real and fictional characters and best of all he “gets” Nate Heller. Highly recommended.

Nathan Heller At His Best

This is hands down my favorite Nate Heller listen thus far . As always, Dan John Miller does an excellent job with his narration and he has become Nate for me. Being that all of the novels are first person, it is easy to place Miller in the role. As with all Collins stories with our hero, there are plenty of real people sprinkled throughout the fictionalized story line. This time, Nate gets a call to join in the hunt for the kidnapped Lindbergh baby as there is suspicion that the Chicago mob may have ties to the crime. As a result, we get Elliot Ness, Al Capone, Frank Nitti, and others in the mix. Overall, it was an easy listen and held my attention throughout. Having forgotten the details of the crime, I purposely did not go online to read up on the historical facts so as not to dampen my enjoyment of the listen. I highly recommend this one as a great listen.

Superb

This may be the best book in a great, great series. Mr. Collins does an incredible job of putting the reader into historical mysteries and events via detective Nate Heller, truly one of fiction???s best characters. One of the best and boldest things Mr Collins does in this series is have Nate Heller ???solve??? the unsolved crimes. In Stolen Away, he is not afraid to provide (and support) a great solution to the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping. While the reader may be familiar with the cases Heller solves, Mr Collins presents them in a hard-boiled, exciting and occasionally humorous fashion. Since the cases are historically unsolved or partly solved, part of the excitement for the reader (and what makes these books hard to put down once started) is anticipation of the ???solution??? to be provided. The historical figures, even the minor ones, are depicted in fully three dimensions and very believably. Dan John Miller does a superb job with his voice characterizations of real and fictional characters and best of all he ???gets??? Nate Heller. Highly recommended.

Inventive but long

This is the usual inventive and satisfying answer to a famous case: But it takes a very long time to get to that answer. I don't suppose anyone but the Lindbergh progeny would take issue with Collins' fictional conclusions. I,for one, was happy with them and really felt good when I finished this story.

Great story

Very engaging. Loved the characters. Good mystery. Another great Nate Heller series entry. Definitely give it a listen.

The crime of the century

This iBook was interesting but it was really long.

The author looked at every conspiracy theory regarding the kidnapping. He then came up with his own version of how it all played it. But you need to keep in mind that I’m this series he is known for mixing fact with fiction.

Loved it ---- Excellent History Lesson

Loved it ---- Excellent History Lesson

I am new to this series and have listened to this and the pre-Dallas JFK Chicago assassination plot "Target Lancer".

Great history lessons. I sit there and listen while punching in names and events into my Google search for more detail. I plan on listening to the whole series.