Mickey Spillane

Edited by Max Allan Collins & Lynn F. Myers, Jr.41 fast-moving short-short stories by the creator of Mike Hammer Revised and expanded with 14 new stories, including "A Turn of the Tide," a previously unpublished tale.For his first novel, Mickey Spillane adapted his unsold comic book character Mike Danger. Changing Danger to Hammer, Spillane wrote the yarn that launched a major career -- I, the Jury But before he unleashed Mike Hammer on a world-wide audience, Spillane honed his craft writing terse, short-fiction for comic books, originally intended to fulfill an odd postal requirement. These "throw-away" stories became his literary boot camp, where he honed his story-telling ability.Here, collected in an expanded edition, are the earliest short stories bylined Mickey Spillane ... all written between 1941 and 1942. Spillane's comic book career was interrupted by military service (he signed up the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked). After the war, when the fighter pilot returned to civilian life, he found Funnies, Inc. (his old studio) was gone, most artists and writers now sub-contracting work directly for the comic book publishers.Now you have the opportunity to see a major mystery-fiction talent find his voice and develop his powerful storytelling skills, in a most unlikely venue -- with "filler" material in comic books. The 40 stories contained within this expanded edition demonstrate Spillane's future mastery of the tough-talking private detective and brutal criminals, while also displaying his versatility in other genres. In addition to hard-boiled crime, Spillane hammers out tales of ship wrecks, high-flying soldiers, a Lovecraftian mine-shaft, light-fingered con artists, overworked cub reporters, and a hapless exterminator. Some of the stories in the collection may frighten you, and a few will make you laugh out loud. But each one wraps up with the signature Spillane "socko finish."The combined cost of the rare comic books in which these text pieces first appeared today would be more than that of a new Cadillac; but these short stories provide their own memorable rides. Their value as a training ground for the 20th Century's top crime-fiction writer is priceless when compared to the millions of fans across the world entertained by Mickey Spillane's prose.

While undercover in upstate New York, Hammer is accused by police of murdering a young woman near the freight yards. Roughed up by the cops and facing a murder charge, Hammer’s fate is looking bleak until a beautiful blonde, Melba Charles, daughter of the influential Vernon Charles, gives him an unexpected alibi. But there is a price for clearing his name: he is to marry her.

ON MICKEY SPILLANE’S 100TH BIRTHDAY-- A BRAND-NEW NOVEL FROM THE MASTER When legendary mystery writer Mickey Spillane died in 2006, he left behind the manuscript of one last novel he’d just completed: THE LAST STAND. He asked his friend and colleague (and fellow Mystery Writers of America Grand Master) Max Allan Collins to take responsibility for finding the right time and place to publish this final book. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of Spillane’s birth, his millions of fans will at last get to read THE LAST STAND, together with a second never-before-published work, this one from early in Spillane’s career: the feverish crime novella A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION. A tarnished former cop goes on a crusade to find a politician’s killer and avoid the .45-caliber slug with his name on it. A pilot forced to make an emergency landing in the desert finds himself at the center of a struggle between FBI agents, unsavory fortune hunters, and members of the local Indian tribe to control a mysterious find that could mean wealth and power – or death. Two substantial new works filled with Spillane’s muscular prose and the gorgeous women and two-fisted action the author was famous for, topped off by an introduction from Max Allan Collins describing the history of these lost manuscripts and his long relationship with the writer who was his mentor, his hero, and for much of the last century the bestselling author in the world.

Taking a midnight stroll along the Hudson River, Mike Hammer gets more than he bargained for: a partial corpse on an ice floe. The body is that of a butler who spent the last years of his life working for a millionaire-also now deceased-and his notoriously privileged children.Were both master and servant murdered? Captain Pat Chambers thinks so. But to prove it Hammer must travel to upstate New York to investigate the dead man's family, all of whom have a motive for murder, and one of whom who has a taste for it.

Iconic tough-guy Mike Hammer is back--and this time, he's knee deep in the glitz, gossip, and gore of Hollywood's dark side--in this "taut, unrelenting thriller" full of "inherent suspense" (Pulp Fiction Reviews) A failed attempt on his life by a contract killer gets Mike Hammer riled up. But it also lands him an unlikely job: security detail for a Hollywood producer having a party to honor his beautiful fiancée, a rising Broadway star. But it's no walk in the park, as Hammer finds violence following him and his beautiful PI partner Velda into the swankiest of crime scenes. In the meantime, Hammer is trying to figure out who put the hitman on him. Is there a connection with the death of a newsstand operator who took a bullet meant for him? A shadowy figure looking for the kill of his life?

With an introduction by Max Allan Collins: The first collection of stories starring legendary Mike Hammer, the toughest private investigator in history It starts with a few near-accidents: A car almost swipes Mike Hammer when he’s crossing the street. A junkie robs the notoriously hardboiled detective at knifepoint. A fight on a subway platform comes close to pushing him in front of a train. While any one of these could be a coincidence, together they make a conspiracy--one that Hammer will have to end in order to survive. And when it comes to finishing something--or someone--nobody does it better than Hammer. One of the twentieth century’s bestselling American mystery authors, Mickey Spillane changed noir fiction forever when he loosed Mike Hammer on the world. Now these eight short stories, collected and finished by Max Allan Collins, show that Spillane is still capable of redefining the genre. The stories in A Long Time Dead have received numerous accolades, including an Edgar Award nomination, two International Association of Media and Tie-in Writers “Scribe” Awards, and a Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award.

A failed attempt on his life by a contract killer gets Mike Hammer riled up. But it also lands him an unlikely job: security detail for a Hollywood producer having a party to honor his beautiful fiance e, a rising Broadway star. But it's no walk in the park, as Hammer finds violence following him and his beautiful P.I. partner Velda into the swankiest of crime scenes.In the meantime, Hammer is trying to figure out who put the hitman on him. Is there a connection with the death of a newsstand operator who took a bullet meant for him? A shadowy figure looking for the kill of his life?

'[Spillane] was a quintessential Cold War writer, an unconditional believer in good and evil' Washington Times

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike HammerOne night, a blonde jumps out in front of PI Mike Hammer's car. She's so scared he doesn't have much choice but to give her a ride. At a police roadblock, he discovers she's on the run from a sanatorium, but he passes her off as his wife. Other people besides the police are after the blonde, and these people play rough. Real rough.The blonde turns out to be the star witness against some big-time mobsters. Mike has blundered into something unimaginably big, but the Feds don't want him involved - and take his PI licence and gun.For Mike, it's a chance to strike a blow against evil on a grand scale. He discovers that something representing a great deal of money, and a lot of power, has gone missing, and that some people will go to any lengths to get it back . . .

'[Spillane] was a quintessential Cold War writer, an unconditional believer in good and evil' Washington Times

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike Hammer'Spillane is a master at compelling you always to turn the next page' NEW YORK TIMESOut-of-town salesman Chester Wheeler is an old war buddy of PI Mike Hammer's. Now he's dead, supposedly having shot himself after an all-night drinking session - as Hammer's guest. Hammer wakes up to the sound of the police questioning him, but he suspects murder. While the DA takes his PI and gun licences, Hammer gets out on the trail. Pushing his way through a swirl of gay bars and gaming clubs, high-price fashion models and not just a little blackmail, he realises someone is working hard to frame him. And, with the help of his police buddy, Pat Chambers, and secretary Velda - now holding her own PI licence - he's working hard to find out why. Everywhere he turns, he keeps coming up against a blonde beauty named Juno. She holds the key to a crime wave that could unlock the mystery behind Chester's murder . . .

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike HammerPI Mike Hammer is out for a late-night walk in the rain when he sees a woman being pursued across a bridge. He deals with the man, but, terrified, the woman jumps to her death. Pat Chambers, Hammer's police department friend, identifies the pair as Communists. Hammer visits a meeting of the local party and is mistaken for a Soviet spy. Into the mix comes Oscar, the insane brother of a political candidate on an anti-corruption ticket, who Hammer must deal with so that the politician's career prospects aren't spiked. But is Oscar really what they say he is?Meanwhile, Velda, Hammer's adored secretary, goes missing, and Hammer soon finds out that the two incidents are linked by a deadly thread . . .

'[Spillane] was a quintessential Cold War writer, an unconditional believer in good and evil' Washington Times.

Classic pulp crime fiction from an author who has sold over 200 million copies worldwide. '[Spillane] was a quintessential Cold War writer, an unconditional believer in good and evil' Washington Times

Mike Hammer's secretary and partner Velda has walked out on him, and Mike is just surfacing from a four-month bender. But then an old cop turns up murdered, an old cop who once worked with Velda. What's more, Mike's pal Captain Pat Chambers reveals that Velda is in Florida, the moll of gangster and drug runner Nolly Quinn. Hammer hits the road and drives to Miami, where he enlists the help of a horse-faced newspaperman and a local police detective. But can they find Velda in time? And what is the connection between the murdered vice cop in Manhattan, and Mike's ex turning gun moll in Florida?

Hammer accompanies a politician to Moscow, where he is arrested by the KGB and imprisoned. He quickly escapes, but back in the States, the government is none too happy. Russia demands his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs Hammer: Why does Russia want him back, and why was he sent to Russia with the senator in the first place?

Mike Hammer's cop pal Captain Pat Chambers is nearing retirement, and Mike and his gorgeous secretary Velda are planning a much overdue marriage. It's a mellow time for America's toughest detective, until an assassin's bullet almost brings him down on his doorstep. Could the attempted hit have anything to do with the release of a serial killer put away by Mike and Pat, decades ago?

A never-before-published chapter in Mickey Spillane’s classic series of hard-boiled crime, featuring tough-guy PI Mike Hammer When Mike Hammer and his secretary-turned-lover, Velda, go on vacation to a Long Island beach town, Hammer becomes embroiled in the mystery of a missing New York party girl who lives nearby. When the woman turns up naked—and dead—astride the statue of a horse in the town square, Hammer feels compelled to investigate . . . Shuttling back and forth between Long Island and the city, Hammer finds himself going toe-to-toe with illegal gamblers, corrupt small-town cops, mobsters, and other shady characters who threaten to tear him down.Lady Go Die! is Mickey Spillane's lost 1940s Mike Hammer novel, written between I, the Jury and My Gun Is Quick. Completed by Spillane's friend and literary executor Max Allan Collins, this uncovered gem of hard-boiled crime fiction is finally making its way into print almost 70 years after its inception.

Hammer accompanies a politician to Moscow, where he is arrested by the KGB and imprisoned. He quickly escapes, but back in the States, the government is none too happy. Russia demands his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs Hammer: Why does Russia want him back, and why was he sent to Russia with the senator in the first place?

Hammer accompanies a politician to Moscow, where he is arrested by the KGB and imprisoned. He quickly escapes, but back in the States, the government is none too happy. Russia demands his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs Hammer: Why does Russia want him back, and why was sent to Russia with the senator in the first place?