Mickey Spillane on Screen

This reference for detective fiction and film noir fans concentrates on the 8 film and 12 TV adaptations of the adventures of detective/mystery author Mickey Spillane's most well-known character, gumshoe Mike Hammer. Entries include information on cast and crew, plot synopses, and discussion of the place of the film in the Spillane canon, its influence on other films, and special features that make the film or TV adaptation memorable. The book is illustrated with b&w film stills and photos of Spillane in character on the set. Appendices offer an interview with Spillane and lists of stars and characters in Mike Hammer films. Collins writes detective fiction and has directed films; he collaborated with Spillane on several projects. Traylor writes about detective fiction Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Max Allan Collins has earned an unprecedented 16 Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), receiving the PWA life achievement award in 2007. He is the author of the graphic novel Road to Perdition and has directed four feature films and two documentaries. He lives in Muscatine, Iowa. James L. Traylor grew up reading the paperback adventures of Perry Mason, Ellery Queen, and Mike Hammer. His articles have appeared in The Armchair Detective, The Mystery FANcier, Clues, Hardboiled, The Strand and The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (1999). He lives in Meansville, Georgia.