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Mallory #4
A Shroud for Aquarius
The sixties are dead…and so is Ginnie Mullens. She was many things—free spirit, flower child, entrepreneur, gambler—but first and foremost she was mystery writer Mallory’s friend and confidant since childhood. So Mallory understands when Sheriff Brennan drags him out of bed in the dead of night and leads him to the last place he ever wanted to go: the scene of Ginnie’s last breath.
A dead woman clutching the gun that killed her may lead to an official ruling of suicide, but Mallory’s not ruling out murder. Driven by a gaping hole in his heart and a fierce code of honor, he’s willing to risk everything to close the book on this one. Then he’ll throw the book with both hands at whoever wrote Ginnie’s obituary in spilled blood.
Once upon a time, Ginnie hurt Mallory deeply, and he wasn’t the only one. But while he finally forgave her, the same can’t be said for the trail of bitter lovers that stretches back to high school. Pounding the pavement from Port City to Iowa City to Vegas—with detours down memory lane along the way—Mallory is forced to pull back the shroud on a life he only thought he knew…and never realized he couldn’t save.
A dead woman clutching the gun that killed her may lead to an official ruling of suicide, but Mallory’s not ruling out murder. Driven by a gaping hole in his heart and a fierce code of honor, he’s willing to risk everything to close the book on this one. Then he’ll throw the book with both hands at whoever wrote Ginnie’s obituary in spilled blood.
Once upon a time, Ginnie hurt Mallory deeply, and he wasn’t the only one. But while he finally forgave her, the same can’t be said for the trail of bitter lovers that stretches back to high school. Pounding the pavement from Port City to Iowa City to Vegas—with detours down memory lane along the way—Mallory is forced to pull back the shroud on a life he only thought he knew…and never realized he couldn’t save.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1985
44 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Max Allan Collins
812 books1,327 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 21, 2022
I am a big fan of Max Allan Collins. My favorites are the Quarry and Nolan series and now the Mallory series.
Mallory is an former Vietnam Vet and former cop who is now writing mysteries in small town Iowa along the Mississippi. Collins does a great job mixing in real locations and real events into his books. Part of the appeal of his stories is that they resonate with me. I am familiar with the locales and milieu. [I attedend college in Grinnell Iowa from 1971 - 1975 and am from Chicago.}
This book is fast paced and quick read. The Mallory stories generally all take place over a week.
What I want to point out about this book in particular are the first two chapters. The author's description of a childhood friendship between Mallory and his friend "Ginnie" and how a few words spoken flippantly destroyed that connection was heart rending.
If you haven't gotten the MAC bug yet, what are you waiting for? The Mallory series is not a bad place to start.
Mallory is an former Vietnam Vet and former cop who is now writing mysteries in small town Iowa along the Mississippi. Collins does a great job mixing in real locations and real events into his books. Part of the appeal of his stories is that they resonate with me. I am familiar with the locales and milieu. [I attedend college in Grinnell Iowa from 1971 - 1975 and am from Chicago.}
This book is fast paced and quick read. The Mallory stories generally all take place over a week.
What I want to point out about this book in particular are the first two chapters. The author's description of a childhood friendship between Mallory and his friend "Ginnie" and how a few words spoken flippantly destroyed that connection was heart rending.
If you haven't gotten the MAC bug yet, what are you waiting for? The Mallory series is not a bad place to start.
November 22, 2016
Quick read, mindless fun.
March 5, 2023
Rating 3.5
A quick read in this thriller/mystery series by MAC.
Enjoyable enough while reading it but for me nothing special as I have enjoyed other MAC novels more.
Not bad though just not his best.
Saying that the opening chapters are probably some of the best writing that MAC has published especially in a genre work - the description of a friendship that begins pre school and continues through to nearly the end of high school before it is fractured not by one of the friends going to college but by comments that cut to the bone and once said can never be retracted or forgiven really really worked.
Worth reading the opening of the book just for that section I think, it also highlights that MAC is a better writer than a casual glance at his bibliography may show.
A quick read in this thriller/mystery series by MAC.
Enjoyable enough while reading it but for me nothing special as I have enjoyed other MAC novels more.
Not bad though just not his best.
Saying that the opening chapters are probably some of the best writing that MAC has published especially in a genre work - the description of a friendship that begins pre school and continues through to nearly the end of high school before it is fractured not by one of the friends going to college but by comments that cut to the bone and once said can never be retracted or forgiven really really worked.
Worth reading the opening of the book just for that section I think, it also highlights that MAC is a better writer than a casual glance at his bibliography may show.
February 26, 2021
Readable, but dated and uninteresting.
July 26, 2021
It has been long since I've read something like this (maybe never) and I really had fun reading this one!
July 21, 2017
In A Shroud For Aquarius, It's the early eighties, Mallory is in his mid thirties. He is a struggling mystery writer, a Vietnam Vet, and a native of Iowa. Sheriff Brennan, whose son John had been Mallory's best friend nefore returning from Vietnam in a body bag, calls Mallory and asks him to come out to a crime scene.
Ginnie Mullens had been Mallory's best friend growing up -- like brother and sister-- counting stars at night, sharing Mallory's earliest stories, etc -- until some misplaced words from Ginnie in the High School cafeteria ended their closeness. He had seen her a month earlier at their high school reunion but now she lay dead with a gunshot wound to her face and the gun lying nearby. It sure looked like suicide but the Sheriff wasn't so sure and he wanted Mallory to ask some questions unofficially.
Mallory sets out to find out what happened to his old dear friend. He finds that she'd gone whole hog into the hippie flower power drug world but still sought to earn her first million by the time she was thirty. She was running a store but was she dealing on the side? Her ex lived twenty miles away with her kid. Did he bear a grudge? What about her business partner and former lover? What about her bitter disillusioned brother? No one wants to talk to Mallory except maybe Jill Forrest who he dated twice in high school and is now a successful executive.
Mallory takes a trip down memory lane exploring old leads from back when, trying to understand what happened to his friend.
This book, like all of Collins' books, is masterfully written. Although there is not a lot of action in this book, the story is good and is really quick reading.
Mallory comes to terms with his old relationships and what, if anything, the Sixties revolution meant.
Ginnie Mullens had been Mallory's best friend growing up -- like brother and sister-- counting stars at night, sharing Mallory's earliest stories, etc -- until some misplaced words from Ginnie in the High School cafeteria ended their closeness. He had seen her a month earlier at their high school reunion but now she lay dead with a gunshot wound to her face and the gun lying nearby. It sure looked like suicide but the Sheriff wasn't so sure and he wanted Mallory to ask some questions unofficially.
Mallory sets out to find out what happened to his old dear friend. He finds that she'd gone whole hog into the hippie flower power drug world but still sought to earn her first million by the time she was thirty. She was running a store but was she dealing on the side? Her ex lived twenty miles away with her kid. Did he bear a grudge? What about her business partner and former lover? What about her bitter disillusioned brother? No one wants to talk to Mallory except maybe Jill Forrest who he dated twice in high school and is now a successful executive.
Mallory takes a trip down memory lane exploring old leads from back when, trying to understand what happened to his friend.
This book, like all of Collins' books, is masterfully written. Although there is not a lot of action in this book, the story is good and is really quick reading.
Mallory comes to terms with his old relationships and what, if anything, the Sixties revolution meant.
April 3, 2011
Ginny Mullens had been a childhood friend of Mallory's. Almost brother and sister, she'd been his first reader of his first attempts at writing stories. They'd shared books, discussed them, they encouraging each other's dreams for the future. Then one day in the school cafeteria, when they were fifteen, Ginny had made a cutting remark about Mallory's writing in front of the whole table.
That broke something and they were never the same after that. Drifting apart, she became part of the hippie culture and Mallory ended up in Viet Nam. Over the years, they made occasional attempts to reignite things. It never worked.
The last time Mallory had seen her was at their fifteen year reunion the month before. Now she was dead from an apparent suicide. Mallory didn't believe it however and neither did Sheriff Brennan. Ginny had dated his late son, John, Mallory's best friend, and he couldn't believe she would kill herself.
A .357 Magnum had disintegrated her head. What made the suicide suspicious was the other bullet hole in the carpet. Why would Ginny fire a shot there before putting one into her head? The Sheriff, and Mallory, thought it might be a murderer's attempt to put gunshot residue on Ginny's hand. The Sheriff asks him to informally look into it as he didn't have the manower to investigate a "suicide" and call him in if he found anything suspicious.
All Mallory seemed to be doing was learning disturbing things his friend had been into since high school and bringing up hurt feelings among people she'd wronged in the past. Nothing to suggest that her death was anything other than a suicide.
That is, until his home was invaded one night by a hulking male wearing a ski mask and carrying a pistol with a silencer.
That told him he was disturbing more than hurt feelings with his questions.
That broke something and they were never the same after that. Drifting apart, she became part of the hippie culture and Mallory ended up in Viet Nam. Over the years, they made occasional attempts to reignite things. It never worked.
The last time Mallory had seen her was at their fifteen year reunion the month before. Now she was dead from an apparent suicide. Mallory didn't believe it however and neither did Sheriff Brennan. Ginny had dated his late son, John, Mallory's best friend, and he couldn't believe she would kill herself.
A .357 Magnum had disintegrated her head. What made the suicide suspicious was the other bullet hole in the carpet. Why would Ginny fire a shot there before putting one into her head? The Sheriff, and Mallory, thought it might be a murderer's attempt to put gunshot residue on Ginny's hand. The Sheriff asks him to informally look into it as he didn't have the manower to investigate a "suicide" and call him in if he found anything suspicious.
All Mallory seemed to be doing was learning disturbing things his friend had been into since high school and bringing up hurt feelings among people she'd wronged in the past. Nothing to suggest that her death was anything other than a suicide.
That is, until his home was invaded one night by a hulking male wearing a ski mask and carrying a pistol with a silencer.
That told him he was disturbing more than hurt feelings with his questions.
May 2, 2016
The mystery, written in the 1980s, with a Vietnam vet detective protagonist, has been recently re-released, at least in digital form. The mystery itself, featuring the 'suicide' of an old, close friend of the detectives, is fine - the author sets up the suspects and knocks them down one by one until the real murderer's hand is forced. But what lifted the story for me to a greater level of enjoyment was the love interest. It's handled so plausibly and charmingly that I kind of loved the book just for that.
June 5, 2013
Mallory attends his high school reunion, makes amends with a long-lost friend, and ends up investigating her suicide...or was it murder? A Shroud for Aquarius is well-written and an entertaining read. Max Allan Collins strikes again!
February 25, 2019
Entertaining as always for Mallory
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews