Mickey Spillane (1918-2006)

Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
Death: 17th July 2006
Cause of death: Pancreatic carcinoma
Location: Cremated. Ashes scattered on the waters of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, United States
Photo taken by: Pollinator
Buy books by Mickey Spillane

American hardboiled crime novelist and creator of the fictional detective Mike Hammer.  Born Frank Morrison Spillane in Brooklyn, New York City and raised in New Jersey.  During World War II he enlisted in the Army Air Corps the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, becoming a fighter pilot and a flight instructor.
He started his writing career as a writer for comic books and wrote for several major 1940s comic book characters, including Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman and Captain America. He wrote his first novel, I, the Jury, in 19 days as a way of raising money to buy a house. The novel, which was published in 1947, went on to sell six and a half million copies in the United States alone. I, the Jury introduced Spillane's most famous character, hardboiled detective Mike Hammer. Although tame by current standards, his novels received a negative reaction from critics due to the high content of sex and violence. Spillane received an Edgar Allan Poe Grand Master Award in 1995.

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