Mickey Spillane

Author profile

born

March 09, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York City, The United States

died

July 17, 2006

gender

male

genre

Mystery & Thrillers

About this author

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Mickey Spillane, was one of the world's most popular mystery writers. His specialty was tight-fisted, sadistic revenge stories, often featuring his alcoholic gumshoe Mike Hammer and a cast of evildoers who launder money or spout the Communist Party line.

His writing style was characterized by short words, lightning transitions, gruff sex and violent endings. It was once tallied that he offed 58 people in six novels.

Starting with "I, the Jury," in 1947, Mr. Spillane sold hundreds of millions of books during his lifetime and garnered consistently scathing reviews. Even his father, a Brooklyn bartender, called them "crud."

Mr. Spillane was a struggling comic book publisher when he wrote "I, the Jury." He initially envisioned it as a comic book c...more

combine editions
Books by Mickey Spillane

Average rating: 3.61 · 4,812 ratings · 482 reviews · 107 distinct works

	I, the Jury 3.57 avg rating — 593 ratings — published 1947 — 30 editions	My rating:
	The Mike Hammer Collection: Volume I by Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins (Introduction) 3.89 avg rating — 405 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Kiss Me, Deadly 3.62 avg rating — 283 ratings — published 1952 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Vengeance Is Mine 3.67 avg rating — 218 ratings — published 1950 — 20 editions	My rating:
	My Gun Is Quick 3.56 avg rating — 225 ratings — published 1950 — 19 editions	My rating:
	The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume II by Mickey Spillane, Lawrence Block (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 3.89 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 2001 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Dead Street (Hard Case Crime #37) by Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins 3.38 avg rating — 170 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	The Big Kill 3.63 avg rating — 154 ratings — published 1951 — 18 editions	My rating:
	One Lonely Night 3.52 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1951 — 24 editions	My rating:
	The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins 3.34 avg rating — 99 ratings — published 2008 — 16 editions	My rating:

More books by Mickey Spillane…

Series by Mickey Spillane

Mike Hammer (15 books)
by Mickey Spillane

3.56 avg rating — 2,275 ratings

Quotes by Mickey Spillane

“The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.”
― Mickey Spillane

33 people liked it

“Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.”
― Mickey Spillane

tags: writing , writing-craft , writing-process

6 people liked it

“Guys like you can't escape the city. Hell, you a got a blood contract with this place. You're married to the old girl.”
― Mickey Spillane, Kiss Her Goodbye: An Otto Penzler Book

tags: new-york-city , obsession

3 people liked it

See all Mickey Spillane's quotes »

Polls

Please vote for the book you would like to read in april. The 3 books with the most votes will be the book club selections. Voting ends March 21, 2010

The Bone Collector

by Jeffery Deaver

13 votes, 23.2%

One for the Money

by Janet Evanovich

12 votes, 21.4%

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

11 votes, 19.6%

The Thin Woman

by Dorothy Cannell

8 votes, 14.3%

A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters

5 votes, 8.9%

Catering to Nobody (Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, Book 1)

Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson

3 votes, 5.4%

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

2 votes, 3.6%

I, the Jury

by Mickey Spillane

1 vote, 1.8%

Devil in a Blue Dress

by Walter Mosley

1 vote, 1.8%

56 total votes

5 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Pulp Magazine Aut...: Favorite pulp author(s)	21	166	Dec 25, 2008 10:27am
Glens Falls (NY) ...: James Atlas - NY Times (1997): " 'Literature' Bores Me".	47	58	Jan 17, 2009 04:41am
SciFi and Fantasy...: Wizard's First Rule -- In response to "Masochism"...Writing strengths? ... no snarl-grumbles here plz!	23	148	Jan 27, 2009 05:35pm
Glens Falls (NY) ...: A Book Recommendation	27	63	Mar 24, 2009 05:23pm
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mystery lovers: looking for hard-boiled detective fiction	15	86	Aug 31, 2009 05:51pm
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The Extra Cool Gr...: your guilty pleasure books, or a description of your underwear	87	79	Feb 22, 2011 08:10am
Building a SciFi/...: Lumping Science Fiction and Fantasy - why?	76	300	Jun 30, 2011 07:50pm
Pulp Magazine Aut...: Possible Group Reads?	59	123	Jul 03, 2011 05:30pm

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Mickey's Fans (49)