Mickey Spillane Died Monday

It's a bit of a stun and surprise to me to hear that mystery writer Mickey Spinane died today. I had just pulled a couple of his titles for a mystery book display this past weekend. The display was entitled "The Modern Masters of the Mystery Genre" and Spillane makes the cut as a recipient of a "Grand Master" category during one year for a national mystery book award series.

I've never read a Spillane title and I didn't think his books with his hero, detective Mike Hammer would appeal to me for 200 pages or so. And I remember the TV show of Mike Hammer with actor Stacy Keach only holding mild appeal. All the same, I do fondly remember the 1950s film Kiss Me Deadly as a different, out there movie. It did have a neat film noir take with the rarely pleasant Hammer. Ralph Meeker started in the movie. And watching it on the big screen while in college, made for a fun evening.

Spillane certainly had a varied but truly successful career. Only after googling him, did I find out that he also wrote comic books at one time and even starred as his fictional detective in the movies. Here's an old pix of Spillane.

New Mysteries on the Shelves--

When I travel downstairs at work, I can find the newest fiction books in the library. Here are two new mystery titles:

The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth was first published in the United States in 2005. The story follows John Madden, a former Scotland Yard police inspector. Unfortunately, his quiet family life in rural 1932 England shattered by the brutal murder of a young village girl, and Madden teams up with former Scotland Yard colleagues, the British secret service, and the German police to investigate. The book is 340 pages.


The other book is High Priestess ("a tarot card mystery" is printed on the book cover) by David Skibbins.


Booklist describes the title as being the second of the Skibbins' tarot card series. The book brings back hippie-of-a-certain-age Warren Ritter, who has settled in as a tarot reader in Berkeley, still trying to live under the radar thanks to his radical past. Warren is a thoroughly endearing character, despite (and partially because of) his tendency to run at the first sign of danger. This time, however, when two Satanists who Warren knew back in the day, appear at his tarot table, Warren doesn't run. Satanists don't generate a whole lot of sympathy, but Skibbins' portrayal of Warren and his ability to evoke Berkeley's hippie detritus make this offbeat series worth a look. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved This book is 280 pages.