We were beginning to wonder what Paul Collins had up his sleeve for his next book, but we hadn’t heard a word from that publisher contact who had kept us in the loop all these many books. Forgotten innovators, personal discovery in and out of a town of books, autism, Thomas Paine (the man and his bones), Shakespeare and the birth of the book as commodity. Collins has taken on each of these subjects (Macguffins!), and he has educated, entertained, humbled and wowed readers with equal measure, in every case. Good thing that publicist never forgets us, except…
The Portland State University professor switched publishers for his newest book, The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars. Oh happy day, when we stumbled upon the fact the VERY DAY BEFORE ITS RELEASE! And because Collins’ writing makes us giddy to the point of incoherent rambling, it was an additional blessing that Amy Stewart, another NWBL fave, interviewed for this site just a couple weeks ago, kicked off a chat with him for Algonquin: The Blog by nailing it where we would have grossly over-articulated. Smooth, Amy. Smooth.