| Dick Tracy Meets His Match | |
 | |
| Author | Max Allan Collins |
| Publication date | 1992 |
| Published by | Bantam Books |
| ISBN | 9780553288919 |
| Publication Order | |
| Preceded by Dick Tracy Goes to War |
Followed by None |
Dick Tracy Meets His Match is the second of Max Allan Collins' original follow-up novels published after his novelization of the 1990 Dick Tracy feature film. It is set in late 1949, several years after Dick Tracy Goes to War. It was was originally published by Bantam Books in 1992.
Plot Summary[]
Dick Tracy and Tess Trueheart agreed to be married as part of a new television series that Tess was producing for Diet Smith's television network. The wedding was disrupted by a sniper hired by T.V. Wiggles, a disgruntled former employee of the network.
Wiggles manages to insinuate himself into the lives of many of the fledgling network's popular celebrities, including Ted Tellum, Dot View, Tonsils, Spike Dyke, and Sparkle Plenty. When one of the TV stars is murdered, Tracy must solve the crime while still finding time to marry Tess.
Notes:[]
- An additional novel set after Dick Tracy Meets His Match was planned. It was to have been titled Dick Tracy On the Beat, would have been set during the mid-1950s and dealt with criminal infiltration of the music industry, such as the control of the jukebox business by Organized Crime, and the payola scandals. It would reportedly have featured Spinner ReCord and some other music-themed characters. However, plans for this book were halted when Max Allan Collins left the strip.
- Dick Tracy Meets His Match had a relatively low production run, and as a result it has become highly sought-after by collectors and Dick Tracy fans.
- The book cover art depicts a red-haired woman shielding herself behind Dick Tracy. This is presumably meant to be Tess, as Tess had red hair in the 1990 feature film. However, in the book Tess is described as being blonde.
- This is the only movie tie-in product to feature B.O. Plenty, Gravel Gertie, and Sparkle.
- One of the original characters created for the book is the 16 year-old Buffy Evoted ("Devoted" spelt backwards). Buffy's back-story is similar to that of Model Jones, and Buffy becomes an object of Junior's affection.
- All three of Collins' Tracy novels pit the detective against a multitude of villains who, in the strip, he had faced one at a time. In his two original novels, Collins included only villains who fit into the plot. For Meets His Match (set during the early days of television) several characters who were associated with broadcasting and entertainment were changed into villains to give Tracy more antagonists, though they had been depicted as relatively sympathetic characters in the strip.
- As in the strip, Tracy and Tess were wed on December 24th, 1949.
Links:[]
- Dick Tracy Meets His Match at Barnes & Noble