With only 30 days to find the real killer…
Rick and girlfriend Laura risk their lives tracking key suspects who had motives to kill…

The Zen Man: Semifinalist Best Indie Books 2012
Until a horrific murder lands private eye Rick Levine in the slammer on first-degree charges…
Rick and girlfriend Laura risk their lives tracking key suspects who had motives to kill…
“Move over Sam Spade, Nick and Nora; make room for a Denver who-dun-it, Colleen Collins’s The Zen Man. Brilliant and fast-paced writing. I couldn’t put it down.”
~ Donnell Ann Bell,
award-winning author of The Past Came Hunting
The story of Rick & Laura before THE ZEN MAN
Winner, 2015 Aspen Gold
“I loved every word of The Zen Man.”
~ Delores Fossen, USA Today bestselling author
“Move over Sam Spade, Nick and Nora; make room for a Denver who-dun-it, Colleen Collins’s, The Zen Man. Brilliant and fast-paced writing. I couldn’t put it down.
~ Donnell Ann Bell, award-winning author of The Past Came Hunting
The following excerpt is from the chapter on private investigators, many of whom work with attorneys, from the nonfiction book A Lawyer’s Primer for Writers: From Crimes to Courtrooms. Below are three writers’ questions & our answers about PIs, lawyers and the police.
Are PIs and Cops Compatible?
We see PI-cop conflicts all the time in books, TV […]
Continue Reading →The 1949 classic film Adam’s Rib starred Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Holliday and Tom Ewell. George Cukor, a close friend of Hepburn and Tracy, directed this courtroom comedy about husband and wife attorneys (Spencer and Hepburn) who are on opposite sides of a criminal prosecution: Hepburn is defending a woman who shot her husband; Tracy is the […]
Continue Reading →With the current frenzy of politicians vying to be nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties’ bids for the presidency, I’m sharing a post about a job I had in 1979 when I accidentally fell into the midst of Ronald Reagan’s inner circle, who later became his first cabinet. This was on the eve of […]
Continue Reading →As it’s the last few days before Christmas, below is a virtual basket of goodies. Happy holidays!
Free App: 101 Christmas Cake Ideas (for iPhone, iPad, iPod)
Free App: Christmas Radio (for Android)
Free App: Santa’s Bag – Christmas List (for iPhone, iPad, iPod)
Free App: TripIt – […]
Continue Reading →Today I’m sharing a book excerpt from my current nonfiction book Secrets of a Real-Life Female Private Eye, which I’m happy to say has remained on several of Amazon’s Kindle Store’s bestseller lists since the book launched in August […]
Continue Reading →Besides being a novelist in the romance, mystery and nonfiction genres, I’m also a private investigator. This is a story about one of my P.I. cases that challenged my investigative skills, was littered with clues and red herrings like a mystery, and ended as a star-crossed lovers’ tale.
Hired to Find a Long-Ago […]
Continue Reading →Secrets of a Real-Life Female Private Eye
by Colleen Collins
A nonfiction, no-holes-barred, modern-day story about life in the female PI fast lane
Today I’m posting an excerpt from Secrets of a Real-Life Female Private Eye by Colorado criminal defense attorney Shaun Kaufman, managing partner, Shaun Kaufman Law, as well […]
Continue Reading →
Today I’m sharing some links where crime writers give online master classes about different facets of crime-fiction writing–for free!–followed by a handful (or should I say a bloody handful?) of true crime websites.
Free Online Master Classes in Crime Fiction Writing
The online UK paper The Telegraph offers a series of master […]
Continue Reading →(Below is an excerpt from my article “P.I.s, Pretexting, and the Law: Tips for Crime Writers,” posted July 26, 2013, at Pursuit Magazine, the magazine for professional investigators)
“To tell the truth, I lied a little.”
~Private eye Jake Gittes in Chinatown
The private eye genre has long been a favorite for writers, […]
Continue Reading →“As an experienced private detective and a skilled storyteller, Colleen Collins is the perfect person to offer a glimpse into the lives of real female P.I.s”
~Kim Green, managing editor of Pursuit Magazine: The Magazine of Professional Investigators
“SECRETS OF A REAL-LIFE FEMALE PRIVATE EYE is a research must-have.”
~Holly Jacobs, award-winning […]
"Great humor. Great dialogue. Author did a great job of establishing the relationship between Rick and Laura. It never overshadowed the mystery, but it made the book truly multi-dimensional."
~New York Times best-selling author Dorien Kelly
"A real page turner. I enjoyed this book full of suspense and surprises. I have never read this author before but will look for her next surprise."
~C. Phillips
Westword Magazine: "For These Married Denver Detectives, Truth Is More Fun than Fiction"
Pursuit Magazine: "When Does Surveillance Become Stalking?" by Colleen Collins
Cold Case Squad: "Cold Case: Bullets in the Field" by Colleen Collins & Shaun Kaufman
Novel Rocket: "Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make at a Crime Scene" by Colleen Collins
"I loved The Zen Man and really had fun catching Rick and Laura's first case in the prequel, The Ungrateful Dead. These novels have everything I love in a mystery: smart dialogue, a flawed hero, a little romance and a great plot. Murder at a coroners conference? What could be more fun!"
~ Nancy Warren USA Today Bestselling Author of The Toni Diamond mysteries