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Eliot Ness #4
Murder by the Numbers: Eliot Ness and the Cleveland Mob Wars
In 1938 Cleveland, Eliot Ness finds himself in the midst of a racially explosive war between the Italian mob and the black numbers racket.
- GenresMystery
209 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Max Allan Collins
820 books1,349 followersReceived 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
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
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 25, 2026
Max Allan Collins' series on Eliot Ness goes out with a bang.
Collins' novels are set during Ness' tenure as Safety Director in Cleveland, after his Untouchable days. The author does excellent historical research, then fictionalizes some of of Ness' real-life cases, mixing in composite and purely fictional characters in with historical figures. What results is four excellent procedural novels set in the 1930s.
This time, Ness is after the Italian mobsters who violently took over the numbers rackets in the black neighborhood of the city, leaving at least one former numbers boss dead.
The trouble is getting witnesses, since testifying against the mobsters is a notably dangerous thing to do. Also, Ness has to deal with the politics of race relations in Cleveland. For instance, a black leader offers help, but only if Ness agrees to leave the numbers business alone after control goes back into black hands. This goes against the grain for Ness, but perhaps he can at least promise that once he's busted the violent men now running the racket, it won't remain a high priority for him.
Ness recruits a black detective to work with him and his men. As usual, Collins handles the characters well, often effectively highlighting the different perspectives of black and white characters in a story set in a segregated community.
He also, as usual, handles the main plot well. Ness goes with a strategy of "safety in numbers" for getting witnesses, slowly collecting enough testimony from enough people to bring to the grand jury.
But some key witnesses are still in danger and Ness might have to pull off a clever gambit to bring the more violent bad guys to justice.
The entire Ness series is superb. I'd actually have a hard time picking a favorite, since all four are well-written hard-boiled mysteries that capture the time period in which they are set and are populated with a strong cast of characters. Murder by the Numbers stands in good company with the rest of the series.
Collins' novels are set during Ness' tenure as Safety Director in Cleveland, after his Untouchable days. The author does excellent historical research, then fictionalizes some of of Ness' real-life cases, mixing in composite and purely fictional characters in with historical figures. What results is four excellent procedural novels set in the 1930s.
This time, Ness is after the Italian mobsters who violently took over the numbers rackets in the black neighborhood of the city, leaving at least one former numbers boss dead.
The trouble is getting witnesses, since testifying against the mobsters is a notably dangerous thing to do. Also, Ness has to deal with the politics of race relations in Cleveland. For instance, a black leader offers help, but only if Ness agrees to leave the numbers business alone after control goes back into black hands. This goes against the grain for Ness, but perhaps he can at least promise that once he's busted the violent men now running the racket, it won't remain a high priority for him.
Ness recruits a black detective to work with him and his men. As usual, Collins handles the characters well, often effectively highlighting the different perspectives of black and white characters in a story set in a segregated community.
He also, as usual, handles the main plot well. Ness goes with a strategy of "safety in numbers" for getting witnesses, slowly collecting enough testimony from enough people to bring to the grand jury.
But some key witnesses are still in danger and Ness might have to pull off a clever gambit to bring the more violent bad guys to justice.
The entire Ness series is superb. I'd actually have a hard time picking a favorite, since all four are well-written hard-boiled mysteries that capture the time period in which they are set and are populated with a strong cast of characters. Murder by the Numbers stands in good company with the rest of the series.
July 22, 2025
This author never disappoints. Great story and characters.
July 10, 2023
Murder By The Numbers, Max Allan Collins [Wolfpack Press, 2020 (reprint)]
The fourth and final installment in a historical fiction crime saga about Eliot Ness’s years as Public Safety Commissioner in Cleveland.
In 1938, Ness pursues members of the Italian-American Mayfield Road gang who have horned in on the numbers racket in Cleveland’s Black community.
Lean and taut, Murder by the Numbers is a satisfying conclusion to the series.
***
Max Allan Collins is one of America’s most lauded writers of hard boiled fiction. His most recent novel The Big Bounce (2023) is nominated for a Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. In addition to his four novels about Eliot Ness, Collins is also the author of a play, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, which was dramatized on PBS and is co-author of two nonfiction books about Ness. Additionally, Collins is also the author of the classic graphic novel Road to Perdition, the basis of Sam Mendes’s acclaimed film.
The fourth and final installment in a historical fiction crime saga about Eliot Ness’s years as Public Safety Commissioner in Cleveland.
In 1938, Ness pursues members of the Italian-American Mayfield Road gang who have horned in on the numbers racket in Cleveland’s Black community.
Lean and taut, Murder by the Numbers is a satisfying conclusion to the series.
***
Max Allan Collins is one of America’s most lauded writers of hard boiled fiction. His most recent novel The Big Bounce (2023) is nominated for a Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. In addition to his four novels about Eliot Ness, Collins is also the author of a play, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, which was dramatized on PBS and is co-author of two nonfiction books about Ness. Additionally, Collins is also the author of the classic graphic novel Road to Perdition, the basis of Sam Mendes’s acclaimed film.
February 25, 2019
Will gobble up any Ness books Collins puts out
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews