Deadly Beloved

Ms. Tree (Hard Case Crime) #prose novel

by Max Allan Collins

TILL DEATH DO US PART

Marcy Addwatter killed her husband – there’s no question about that. Shot him dead in the motel room where he was trysting with a blonde hooker. Shot the hooker, too.
 
But where the cops might see an open-and-shut case, private eye Michael Tree – Ms. Michael Tree – sees a conspiracy. For Ms. Tree, digging into it could mean digging her own grave... and digging up her own murdered husband's.
 
Based on the longest-running private-eye comic book series of all time, DEADLY BELOVED brings you an all-new adventure of the legendary Ms. Tree – the groundbreaking female P.I. who put the ‘graphic’ into graphic novel...

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Noir, Pulp, Mystery Thriller, Detective

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 27, 2007

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wealthy accountant's wife murdered her husband and the prostitute he was in bed with at the time. But is there more to it than that? That's what Ms. Tree has to find out. Will her trail lead to her death, just as it did her husband the night before their honeymoon?

Deadly Beloved is definitely one of those middle of the road Hard Cases that I read as part of my road to read them all but not one I would soon read again. It's not a bad book. Ms. Tree (Mystery. Get it?) is a good character with understandable motivation. The way the cut and dry case of Marcy Addwatter killing her husband fit into a larger conspiracy was well done.

So what's the problem? I didn't buy the way things came together in the end. It felt like 30 or so pages were left out. Ms. Tree takes some big jumps and the ending came out of left field.

2.5 out of 5. Definitely not a 3.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cool thing about DEADLY BELOVED is that not only is it written by MAC, the author who is responsible for everyone's favourite hitman in Quarry, but it's got a rich and interesting history associated with the lead character PI Michael Tree.

Mrs. Tree started in the newspaper funny pages as a comic strip which evolved to make the character the longest running PI comic in history (as credited by MAC in the afterword). Mrs. Tree also features in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS in the story Maternity Leave, and while, DEADLY BELOVED is outside of continuity, Maternity Leave does read familiar due to the reoccurring characters in DEADLY BELOVED. Having read Maternity Leave recently, I think the Hardcase Crime novel and the comic complement one another nicely.

DEADLY beloved is a multi layered PI pulp that is more smoke and mirrors than straight forward mystery. There are so many elements and plot threads that come in and out of play which keep the reader guessing and the bullets buzzing.

Originally published in 2006, I hope MAC revisits the series in prose form as this revised 'origin' story sets Mrs. Tree as a unique and dangerously addictive PI - a great diversification of the genre.

Review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars for Deadly Beloved (audiobook) by Max Allan Collins read by Kristi Stewart.

This was such a great character. A female detective that will seduce you right before she kills you. Ms. Michael Tree will give any of the hard boiled detectives a run for their money.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

While investigating a murder case, private investigator, Ms. Tree discovers ties to her husband’s murder. The hard boiled PI will let nothing or no one stand in her way as she searches for the truth.

[StarMan · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERDICT: ~2.9 stars for mystery-crime stories, or rounded all the way UP to 4 stars for the sub-genre (crime/mystery, hard-boiled, female P.I.s, low realism, high action).

Plenty of flying bullets, motel room shenanigans, and over-the-top banter. A few moderate twists/developments occur, with various degrees of predictability. More entertaining than I expected, as long as I didn't expect more than comic-book level plotting.

Would I read another Ms Tree story? Sure.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to read this one.. I've seen lots of stuff about the Ms. Tree comic, but haven't come across anywhere but in discussions.

It's also my first Max Allan Collins book (though I think I've read some of his short Batman run), so I was feeling like it was a bit of a milestone. The book itself is pretty good... it flowed well, and the characters, while not particularly complex, worked for what they were for. I think the only real downside is it felt like it should be a comic.. between the names of the characters to the body count and the action scenes, it all seemed like it would work better with some nice art.

I did think this book did a better job being 'modern' that the last one I read... the problems were such that they weren't on google, but yet the character still used computers and such in a reasonable way.

What was a little less reasonable was how good the main character was at figuring things out (she wasn't wrong once, and wasted no leads)… not to mention how easy she handled every fight (and there were quite a few of them). It was over the top enough to be fun, but by the last one it started to have a 'enough is enough' sort of feel.

The back of the book tells me this was a bit of a re-boot/modernization of the character, but which it seems didn't catch on. While it's better than a lot of books I've read that did become long running series, there was a little something that just made it seem more unrealistic than most. I'm definitely going to check out the comic when I can, though.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an exciting adventure with grit and a different perspective through a female main character's eyes. I liked her savy, style and personality. she handled herself with credible strength and confidence and made the character very believable, not cartoonish. I found the twists in the story exciting and the context held them as viable means to insert drama into the plot. Good stuff.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

“… an Event Planner… Death Planner… some caterer of murder.”

The opening piece on the beach would be an amazing opening scene for a movie! I enjoyed this book, and the character of Michael (Ms.) Tree! Good pace to the story, and a few twists at the end to boot! Also, my kinda dialogue! -

“You must be the little woman.”
“And you must be the dead whore.”

“He did. Stood there in his well-tanned, dick-dangling glory, with his hands up and his chin down.”

I'm definitely interested to check out the graphic novels now!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, Collins has also been known for his comic/ graphic novels about Ms Tree, the toughest woman PI in the business. Ms Tree worked with her husband, the head of the firm, who is murdered on their wedding night in a cheap motel near the airport. Having never heard of Ms Tree before, I had no preconceptions about what to expect in
this Hard Case Crime book.

It begins with a bang -- live action. It then alternates story lines with visits to Ms Tree's psychologist. Who wouldn't need one after a wedding night like that?
Ms Tree is hired to investigate a murder. Wife catches husband in the act with a sleazy hooker in a cheap no-tell motel. Wife guns down both the husband and the hooker. Although at times a little confusing, the story rockets ahead with
bodies flying left and right. A well told tale as Ms Tree connects the dots often without a second to spare.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having already read 12 books by Max Allan Collins this year [over 10% of my reading] including the Mallory series, 2 Quarry novels, 2 Krista Larson books, the John Sand series, and a couple of Ms. Tree graphic books, I had decided to give MAC a rest. However, yesterday I learned from the MAC blog that there was a Hard Case Ms. Tree novel, and less than 24 hours later, I have now read 13 MAC books this year.

This is a reimagining and retelling of the Ms. Tree origin story from two of the graphic books, but holds up nicely as a novel. It has many of the elements that you would expect from a MAC book [e.g., descriptions of everyone's wardrobe] with some excellent twists.

Read it, you won't be disappointed.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

DEADLY BELOVED is a prose novel based on a comic book series featuring one of the very first female P.I.'s in detective literature. It's exactly what you would expect from a Max Allan Collins novel: nothing about it is particularly deep or memorable; but the story is fast-paced and entertaining, and the writing is laced with a keen sense of black humor. If you buy into Nathaniel Hawthorne's statement that "easy reading makes for damn hard writing," then Collins is a masterful writer, indeed.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid crime thriller followed by a great history of the character by Collins. Ms. Tree apparently started out in the 80's as a comic book, has 4 short stories & this is the first novel. It was told to another person, so the perspective & time changes were interesting. Definitely worth reading & it's a quick one. Great action heroine.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Maybe I need to take a break from HCC novels but I wasn't really engaged with any of the characters. I rolled my eyes and skimmed every passage that had details about people's outfits.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A film noir type of book set in Chicago when Ms. Michael Tree is brought into investigate a murder where the woman is found over the bodies holding the gun. She finds the trail she has been seeking which involved her own husband's murder.

This was a good one, a quick read. I liked Michael Tree. She bold. She's kick-ass. Look out! I like the film noir feeling to the story. I also figured out one who was involved. Watching her go for that one and the rest was so good. I hope to find more with Michael Tree on the case.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t know going in that this is a revamped Ms. Tree origin story. I enjoyed the comics well enough but I always prefer prose and this is no exception. A fun, quick, entertaining HCC read. Wish MAC did these instead of the Quarry novels.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Max Allan Collins since I happened upon versions of his no-longer-in-print True Crime and True Detective novels in the early 1990s. I even went to a reading of his in I-don't-know-which year in Chicago. Collins groks the detective noir genre so thoroughly that he's a perfect contributor to the Hard Case Crime line. And with the comic book angle on this story, well, it was something I couldn't pass up.

I have to say I loved this protagonist. That said, I never consumed any of the Ms. Tree comics or graphic novels, so she was new to me. Others have suggested the comics are better. Still, I loved her take-no-prisoners approach. Anytime your protagonist shoots five people over the course of the story (all of whom seriously needed shooting) without an ounce of remorse, it's viscerally pleasurable in the way that truly good pulp fiction is.

Anyway, I stayed up way too late last night pounding through the back half of this book. I was too sleepy to read the author's backstory, but I'm going to ingest that today. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and hope Collins writes more.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first met Ms. Tree as a comic book character, although she has been, at times, both the protagonist of short stories and the lead in a proposed TV series. This is her first incarnation as lead in a full-length novel, and it's a quick, fun read.

Collins really plays up the "pulp" angle here, with lots of tough-guy dialogue and the usual double-crosses. There are many "in-jokes," too, including her maiden name, which made me chuckle.

This isn't a "deep" novel, by any means, but it's very entertaining, and worth your time. I look forward to more Ms. Tree adventures in the future, whatever media they happen to be!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick read. Collins brings the wise-cracking PI into the 21st Century. The PI is a spunky lass, there's mention of computers, mobile phones & Botox.

[Tom Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Tree, the hard-boiled female P.I. created for the comics medium by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty makes the leap to prose novel heroine in this book from co-creator Collins.

I was already familiar with Ms. Tree from the comics medium. I only read her stories sporadically and never the original stories. This book is apparently a soft reboot, bringing the characters into the 21st century while retaining that feel of 40s crime stories.

Having never actually read any of Collins' novels, I found his writing style to be very descriptive, sometimes a little too focused on appearances, but overall with a nice flow. The characters, as well, felt comfortable and unforced in their words and actions.

Unfortunately, in paying homage to the Mickey Spillane-type of detective stories, Collins perhaps does so with too much reverance. The plot itself is relatively straight-forward and relies too much on cliches of the genre. As a mystery it fails, with characters playing out roles that traditionally identify as the antagonist, with little misdirection. That also makes it fail as a thriller, with the roles broadcast so loudly that it's impossible to build up much suspense.

Ultimately, the characters and writing keep this an entertaining, though uncomplicated, read, but not a great representative of the mystery or thriller genres.

[Escapist Blog Books]

In "Deadly Beloved" by Max Allan Collins, private investigator Ms. Michael Tree takes on the case of Marcy Addwatter, a woman who brutally murders her husband and his lover. As Ms. Tree delves into the investigation, she senses that there is something deeper and more sinister at play. Unbeknownst to her, this case will lead her to uncover a shocking truth about her own husband's murder years ago.

Driven by her intuition, Ms. Tree navigates a dark and twisted journey filled with deceit, passion, and revenge. The layers of the Addwatter case gradually unravel, revealing hidden connections and unexpected twists. Meanwhile, Ms. Tree finds herself confronting her own demons and the haunting memories of her husband's tragic demise.

Max Allan Collins skillfully explores the complexities of human relationships and the lasting impact of secrets and betrayal. Through Ms. Tree's relentless pursuit of justice, readers witness a transformation from a tenacious investigator to a vulnerable yet resilient woman.

As the narrative unfolds, Collins expertly weaves together the two murder cases, blurring the lines between the past and present. The suspense is palpable, with each revelation leaving readers eager for more. "Deadly Beloved" is a gripping noir thriller that captivates with its intricate plot, complex characters, and unexpected turns.

[Richard Block · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Tree - Geddit??

MAC's weakness for cheap pulp is obvious from his love of Mickey Spillane and comic writing. How he manages to turn from Nate Heller and Quarry to his 1980 female hard ass Ms.Tree - so obviously a comic book idea - is indicative of his range. This is a super silly entry, a crass, pulpy work full of broad comic book type heroes, villains and of course, our heroine, the absurdly named Ms.Michael Tree.

Of course, MAC is incapable of writing a dull and dreadful book, so Deadly Beloved is merely cheap pulp, with a decent plot and structure. The action is tough. 'How do you write a good female detective?' 'I think of a man, and then I merely put a woman in the action.' There is no hint of real women in this tale, it is as macho as it gets. MAC takes pleasure in making Ms.Tree a gun toting, ass kicking heroine, but in making her so over the top and invulnerable - something he NEVER did with Heller or even Quarry (though he is heartless enough), he undercuts all credibility for the character.

Still, its a quick and enjoyable read, but not an especially big MAC.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have expected to like Max Collins writings, but have only cared for a couple. This is another that flopped for me. An obviously over structured effort to present a plot that is good, but very poorly written. The bad guys are obvious from the start. Here's another Collins book that suffers from his comics writing. The tale is more comic book than novel.

My complaints of Caspary's 'Bedelia' are the reverse here. Needed here is a much more involved and looser novel with well written characters , descriptive settings (It's Chicago!) and exploring the expanse of the bad guys. Instead this is a lengthened short story that begs for more. This is what I've found in other Collins' work. It's almost as if he's afraid to write more.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book: 4 out of ten points.

[Max Driffill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books tries to accomplish a lot in just about 200 pages. It almost succeeds, but doesn’t quite work as well as I wanted it to.

I like the protagonist, Ms Tree. But the mystery and conspiracy she has to tackle seemed both too complicated and too neat at the same time. Not everything needs to be resolved obviously, but there are weird blind avenues we go down that don’t illuminate either character or mystery.

The writing itself is fine, but seems toned down from the kind of writing I’m typically used to from MAC. Perhaps that is one of my issues and not one of the novel’s.

Should you read this? Sure. It isn’t a bad way to spend a few hours in an afternoon. Ms Tree is an an intriguing enough hero. I will certainly read any more adventures Collins pens.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deadly Beloved by Max Allan Collins

Marcy killed her husband and the prostitute he was with, complete confession, no denying (it). Ms. Michael Tree, a Private Investigator, see more to the case. As She digs deeper, it appears there could be a connection to her Husbands death as well. With her life in danger she will stop at nothing to solve this crime.

A classic feel with intense moments, secrets, danger and plot twists. I was pulled in from the beginning until the end. Ms Tree is very likable, tough and determined. Overall I found Deadly Beloved very enjoyable. I highly recommend to those who like hard-case crime noir.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Tree started as a comic strip back in the early 80s, morphing into a comic that spanned 3 or 4 different publishers. They are terrific. Michael Tree is a badass private investigator whose husband also is named Michael Tree and they both work as P.I.s. If you haven't read it and enjoy comics, Titan Comics recently collected the entire run for the first time and they are excellent.

This is an updated version of that since it was written 25 years later. The concept is exactly the same. It just doesn't fit into the continuity of the comic. Ms. Tree as she prefers to be called because of the pun is relating a very personal case that has taken place over the last year to her therapist. It's good stuff.

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the original Ms. Tree comics and graphic novels as they were published, which was why I picked it up to read, but it was so long ago that all of this would have been new to me anyway. Even so, it all seemed a bit slow-paced and tame. Not at all what I was expecting from all the cover blurb promises of violence and hard-hitting action. There was some, but not to the level I remember from the comics Though being a more visual medium than text and a format needing to pack in action each issue, it might not be a fair comparison. And Michael Tree seemed much too nice than what I remember from the comics.

All in all, a good, entertaining whodunit.

[Oli Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fantastic hard boiled mystery from max allan collins The more of his work I read, the more impressed I become. A good deal of detective work. Some reasonable character exploration. Lean and effective. With a dash of humour and some brilliant turns of phrase. Interesting narrative devices to frame the development of the plot. The ending was satisfying although perhaps a little abrupt, I was expecting some further investigation/resolution. I would like some more ms tree novels.

[Jm Rollins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice twist at the end, but not quite up to much of Collins' other work. Helps if you know that rhe character and setting are based on a comic book character that Collins wrote for several years. If you're not familiar with the character, read the author's note at the end first.

[Malum · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mickey Spillane is one of my favorite mystery writers so you would think that Max Allan Collins, who counts Spillane as one of his main inspirations, would be right up my alley. For whatever reason, though, I just don't like his writing, and this book was particularly awful.