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Mike Hammer #26
Masquerade for Murder
The New York Times–bestselling author of Road to Perdition breathes new life into Mickey Spillane’s iconic character, Mike Hammer—the hard-boiled PI who paved the way for James Bond and 24’s Jack Bauer. A martial arts killer terrorizes Wall Street—and only tough-guy, rough-around-the-edges Mike Hammer can bring him to justice. After Mike Hammer witnesses Wall Street superstar Vincent Colby getting clipped by a speeding red Ferrari, the shaken victim’s stockbroker father hires Hammer to find the driver. But the toughest private eye of them all soon is caught up in a series of bizarre, seemingly unconnected slayings marked by a forbidden martial arts technique. What do a lovely redhead, a short-tempered bartender, an exotic call girl, a murdered police inspector and a movie stuntman have to do with a scheme that might have transformed young Colby into a psychological time bomb?
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2020
69 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books447 followersMickey 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 called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
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 called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 28, 2022
The World of Mike Hammer
Masquerade For Murder is the latest of a seemingly endless supply of Spillane notes and outlines that Collins has worked into new Mike Hammer stories. Purists might question the decision to continue the series posthumously, but the rest of us eagerly turn the pages of any Mike Hammer book. Visiting with old friends like Mike and Velda never gets old.
This is an old fashioned detective story that pays homage to an aging Mike Hammer, now recognizable as a celebrity to anyone over fifty and still known to explode in violence when the situation warrants it. The storyline starts with Hammer joining a group of almost-retiring police detectives, including Pat, and takes the reader into the dark steakhouse, focusing on the redheaded hostess, the snarling bartender, and the young Wall Street yuppie who is almost turned into mincemeat outside the restaurant by a fiery red sportscar. From there, Hammer pokes around until he finds some answers as the body count piles up.
The narration never lets the reader forget that this is an older Hammer, a little slower in his reflexes, a little more graying, although of course Velda, still looks twenty years younger. Collins does give a nod to comic book history and the story of Captain Marvel when discussing a newsie on the corner, the erstwhile Billy Batson.
Overall, Masquerade for Murder does everything you want in a story. It provides solid page-turning entertainment and a chance to walk the streets once more with a familiar fictional detective from the past.
Masquerade For Murder is the latest of a seemingly endless supply of Spillane notes and outlines that Collins has worked into new Mike Hammer stories. Purists might question the decision to continue the series posthumously, but the rest of us eagerly turn the pages of any Mike Hammer book. Visiting with old friends like Mike and Velda never gets old.
This is an old fashioned detective story that pays homage to an aging Mike Hammer, now recognizable as a celebrity to anyone over fifty and still known to explode in violence when the situation warrants it. The storyline starts with Hammer joining a group of almost-retiring police detectives, including Pat, and takes the reader into the dark steakhouse, focusing on the redheaded hostess, the snarling bartender, and the young Wall Street yuppie who is almost turned into mincemeat outside the restaurant by a fiery red sportscar. From there, Hammer pokes around until he finds some answers as the body count piles up.
The narration never lets the reader forget that this is an older Hammer, a little slower in his reflexes, a little more graying, although of course Velda, still looks twenty years younger. Collins does give a nod to comic book history and the story of Captain Marvel when discussing a newsie on the corner, the erstwhile Billy Batson.
Overall, Masquerade for Murder does everything you want in a story. It provides solid page-turning entertainment and a chance to walk the streets once more with a familiar fictional detective from the past.
April 26, 2020
This latest Mike Hammer mystery takes place in the world of Gordon Gekko. While at a friend's retirement party, a top young broker comes in. On the way, he suffers a hit and run from a Ferrari.
The young man seems to be having mental problems after his accident. The broker's father hires Hammer to to find the driver of the Ferrari. Suddenly, people are being killed by an obscure Karate death blow.
While the book could easily be transitioned to a TV movie, it's really an excellent novel on its own terms. Highly recommended.
A very minor part affected me more once I gave it a thought. Hammer visits the set of a Burt Reynolds movie. Both Hammer (and Spillane) and Reynolds were hated by the New York "elites" but very popular among the rest of the country. I wonder if Spillane and Reynolds ever met? While I don't see him as Mike Hammer, I think Reynolds could have done a creditable job as Tiger Mann.
The young man seems to be having mental problems after his accident. The broker's father hires Hammer to to find the driver of the Ferrari. Suddenly, people are being killed by an obscure Karate death blow.
While the book could easily be transitioned to a TV movie, it's really an excellent novel on its own terms. Highly recommended.
A very minor part affected me more once I gave it a thought. Hammer visits the set of a Burt Reynolds movie. Both Hammer (and Spillane) and Reynolds were hated by the New York "elites" but very popular among the rest of the country. I wonder if Spillane and Reynolds ever met? While I don't see him as Mike Hammer, I think Reynolds could have done a creditable job as Tiger Mann.
April 26, 2020
Mike Hammer may be getting up there in years, but this stuff never gets old.
In the latest Mike Hammer mystery, MASQUERADE FOR MURDER, a rich kid almost gets run over by a speeding red Ferrari. His dad hires Hammer to find the guy who clipped his son. It sounds like a simple case, but it turns into anything but as a bunch of bizarre murders seem to start popping up all around The Private Eye in The Porkpie Fedora.
One of the many things I love about The Mike Hammer novels is they are fast reads. This one clocks in at 226 pages in total. Another thing I love about them is they are fast-paced and hard-hitting. The stories get to the point, unlike Raymond Chandler's works which give us a new metaphor at every angle. Plus, no matter what decade he is investigating in, whether it be the '40s, '50s, '60s, or even the early 2000's, the times may change but Mike Hammer doesn't.
I've read every book in The Mike Hammer Series, both the Spillane solos and the Collins collaborations. While every Spillane fan will agree that nothing will ever compare to the first six Mike Hammer novels, I firmly believe every mystery maniac out there needs to give at least a few of these Collins collaborations a shot. I am going to name three in particular.
1. KILLING TOWN - This novel was released on what would have been Mickey Spillane's 100th birthday. It is the story Spillane wrote before he worked on I, THE JURY. If that isn't a reason enough to pick up this book, then maybe the fact the story takes place before Mike met Velda would give readers another reason to pick it up.
2. LADY, GO DIE! - The unpublished sequel to I, THE JURY. I like to think in my own mind that this one, like THE TWISTED THING (originally titled FOR WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY) was originally rejected by publishers. Mike and Velda go on vacation but they can't help but get wrapped up in the problems of other people when they witness a guy getting beat up before their very eyes.
3. THE GOLIATH BONE - Spillane started writing this after 9/11 and he did everything in his power to get this book out before he passed away. As a matter of fact, his biggest fear was not being able to finish THE GOLIATH BONE before he passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2006. The story is about two college students who discover a precious artifact every extremist from every religion seems to want.
And that's my review. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do and I hope we can see more Mike Hammer stories in the near future before we have to rely on internet fanfiction to give us a fix of our favorite private eye.
In the latest Mike Hammer mystery, MASQUERADE FOR MURDER, a rich kid almost gets run over by a speeding red Ferrari. His dad hires Hammer to find the guy who clipped his son. It sounds like a simple case, but it turns into anything but as a bunch of bizarre murders seem to start popping up all around The Private Eye in The Porkpie Fedora.
One of the many things I love about The Mike Hammer novels is they are fast reads. This one clocks in at 226 pages in total. Another thing I love about them is they are fast-paced and hard-hitting. The stories get to the point, unlike Raymond Chandler's works which give us a new metaphor at every angle. Plus, no matter what decade he is investigating in, whether it be the '40s, '50s, '60s, or even the early 2000's, the times may change but Mike Hammer doesn't.
I've read every book in The Mike Hammer Series, both the Spillane solos and the Collins collaborations. While every Spillane fan will agree that nothing will ever compare to the first six Mike Hammer novels, I firmly believe every mystery maniac out there needs to give at least a few of these Collins collaborations a shot. I am going to name three in particular.
1. KILLING TOWN - This novel was released on what would have been Mickey Spillane's 100th birthday. It is the story Spillane wrote before he worked on I, THE JURY. If that isn't a reason enough to pick up this book, then maybe the fact the story takes place before Mike met Velda would give readers another reason to pick it up.
2. LADY, GO DIE! - The unpublished sequel to I, THE JURY. I like to think in my own mind that this one, like THE TWISTED THING (originally titled FOR WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY) was originally rejected by publishers. Mike and Velda go on vacation but they can't help but get wrapped up in the problems of other people when they witness a guy getting beat up before their very eyes.
3. THE GOLIATH BONE - Spillane started writing this after 9/11 and he did everything in his power to get this book out before he passed away. As a matter of fact, his biggest fear was not being able to finish THE GOLIATH BONE before he passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2006. The story is about two college students who discover a precious artifact every extremist from every religion seems to want.
And that's my review. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do and I hope we can see more Mike Hammer stories in the near future before we have to rely on internet fanfiction to give us a fix of our favorite private eye.
December 31, 2022
A decent Hammer book. This is one of the many Spillane synopses and partly finished books that Max Allan Collins has finished after Spillane's death. Its okay, with some interesting insights and dips into late 80s culture (and some oddities, like a DJ playing disco in 1988).
The mystery is pretty linear and not terribly challenging, and there are some bits that just don't work, like the discovery of key evidence just sitting in a drawer for anyone to find when the killer is systematically and meticulously removing all evidence in existence.
The finale was kind of disappointing as well, and Hammer's character is pretty changed for this book unlike, say, the Goliath Bone which was Spillane's last mostly-finished book.
The mystery is pretty linear and not terribly challenging, and there are some bits that just don't work, like the discovery of key evidence just sitting in a drawer for anyone to find when the killer is systematically and meticulously removing all evidence in existence.
The finale was kind of disappointing as well, and Hammer's character is pretty changed for this book unlike, say, the Goliath Bone which was Spillane's last mostly-finished book.
March 23, 2020
It is interesting to note that the number of Mike Hammer collaborations between Max Allan Collins and the late Mickey Spillane is close to meeting and exceeding the collection of Hammer novels that the legendary Spillane wrote and published during his lifetime. Spillane’s spirit and characters live on, thanks to the seemingly inexhaustible Collins, who in addition to his own consistently fine work has continued to build the Hammer canon by initially utilizing unfinished manuscripts and then synopses of ideas that Spillane left behind. Collins has done so with nary a hiccup, demonstrating that Spillane knew what he was doing when he bequeathed them to him.
The newly published MASQUERADE FOR MURDER is the latest of the Spillane/Collins collaborations. The first few pages sink the hook immediately for both the longtime fan and the first impressionist. The scene --- a (pre-)retirement get-together at a legendary New York restaurant in the late 1980s --- is sedate but is described in prose that is easily some of Collins’ best writing. Hammer is in the middle of dinner when he is introduced to Vincent Colby, a prominent mover and shaker in his family’s brokerage firm who is well known for being a man about town. It is Hammer’s first encounter with Colby, but it won’t be his last.
Hammer and Colby happen to leave the restaurant at the same time, which puts Hammer in a position to witness Colby being struck by a sports car in a hit-and-run. Colby is bruised, though not battered, and manages to walk away on what is more or less his own steam. There is something about the mishap, though, that doesn’t sit right with Hammer, even if he can’t quite wrap his head around what it is. He is nonetheless compelled to investigate due to his internal code of honor, which demands that he do something about it because it happened right in front of him and he has a reputation to maintain.
Velda, Hammer’s secretary, office partner and significant other, is there to contribute, tease and, yes, serve as some very attractive motivation for Hammer, even as she ineffectively tries to warn him off from dangerous activities. Ironically, Colby’s father retains Hammer to investigate the incident, which results in Hammer becoming entangled in a series of murders involving a stuntman, a call girl and a police inspector. There does not appear to be any connection among the victims, other than the somewhat bizarre method used to dispatch each of them.
Hammer utilizes his usual manner of investigation --- kicking over rocks and knocking on and down doors --- but his most effective asset is his canny ability to follow slender evidentiary threads wherever they may go, even when the path is not immediately obvious. Of course, he is never too busy to appreciate the local scenery and describe it, an element of these novels that is indispensable.
For readers of a younger age, Collins may become as synonymous with the Hammer character as Spillane was and is for seasoned fans. If that happens, it will be because he has earned it. My guess is that Spillane, if he were alive, would be overjoyed by that occurrence. Read MASQUERADE FOR MURDER and see why.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
The newly published MASQUERADE FOR MURDER is the latest of the Spillane/Collins collaborations. The first few pages sink the hook immediately for both the longtime fan and the first impressionist. The scene --- a (pre-)retirement get-together at a legendary New York restaurant in the late 1980s --- is sedate but is described in prose that is easily some of Collins’ best writing. Hammer is in the middle of dinner when he is introduced to Vincent Colby, a prominent mover and shaker in his family’s brokerage firm who is well known for being a man about town. It is Hammer’s first encounter with Colby, but it won’t be his last.
Hammer and Colby happen to leave the restaurant at the same time, which puts Hammer in a position to witness Colby being struck by a sports car in a hit-and-run. Colby is bruised, though not battered, and manages to walk away on what is more or less his own steam. There is something about the mishap, though, that doesn’t sit right with Hammer, even if he can’t quite wrap his head around what it is. He is nonetheless compelled to investigate due to his internal code of honor, which demands that he do something about it because it happened right in front of him and he has a reputation to maintain.
Velda, Hammer’s secretary, office partner and significant other, is there to contribute, tease and, yes, serve as some very attractive motivation for Hammer, even as she ineffectively tries to warn him off from dangerous activities. Ironically, Colby’s father retains Hammer to investigate the incident, which results in Hammer becoming entangled in a series of murders involving a stuntman, a call girl and a police inspector. There does not appear to be any connection among the victims, other than the somewhat bizarre method used to dispatch each of them.
Hammer utilizes his usual manner of investigation --- kicking over rocks and knocking on and down doors --- but his most effective asset is his canny ability to follow slender evidentiary threads wherever they may go, even when the path is not immediately obvious. Of course, he is never too busy to appreciate the local scenery and describe it, an element of these novels that is indispensable.
For readers of a younger age, Collins may become as synonymous with the Hammer character as Spillane was and is for seasoned fans. If that happens, it will be because he has earned it. My guess is that Spillane, if he were alive, would be overjoyed by that occurrence. Read MASQUERADE FOR MURDER and see why.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
April 13, 2020
“Even in color, this was a black and white movie”
That’s the thing that I’ve always loved about the Mike Hammer books, right from when I first started reading them way back when (which was probably at a younger age than maybe it should have been), they are so cinematic. I can hear the noirish voice-over in my head as Hammer tells the story from his own point of view and that voice, especially this time, belongs to the gloriously growly Stacy Keach, who famously brought the character to life on the small screen in the mid 80s. For that is when this case is set:
After Mike Hammer witnesses Wall Street superstar Vincent Colby getting clipped by a speeding red Ferrari, the shaken victim’s stockbroker father hires Hammer to find the driver. But the toughest private eye of them all is soon is caught up in a series of bizarre, seemingly unconnected slayings marked by a forbidden martial arts technique.
What do a lovely redhead, a short-tempered bartender, an exotic call girl, a murdered police inspector and a movie stuntman have to do with a scheme that might have transformed young Colby into a psychological time bomb?
So, basically, we have Mickey Spillane does American Psycho. What could possibly go wrong? In a word, nothing. This is a superb book which hits every mark it aims for, without becoming cliched or feeling as awkward as those later episodes of Columbo on TV did (if you’ve watched them you know what I mean). Hammer himself pre-empts this by acknowledging that he, his PI partner Velda, and the NYPD Homicide Captain Pat Chambers are all from a different era than the high-flying hi-tec world of big money, fast cars, cheap highs and even cheaper women. The world is moving on and leaving them behind but, in a lot of ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Murders, and their motivations, are still the same, and just as plentiful and messy, and there’s no substitute for the hard graft of detective work. The story itself is complex but not tangled, with lots of ideas on the go at the same time and enough intrigue to keep you second-guessing yourself right to the final few pages as you try to decide if the obvious plant is an obvious plant or if it’s classic misdirection. I ended up changing my mind several times over the “whodunnit” how and why, each time being absolutely sure I was right until I wasn’t, the mark of a good detective novel.
With Max Allan Collins, yet again, at the helm, the trademark fedora of Mike Hammer is still in safe hands. The characters are still very much themselves, their voices still work in my head, and Collins has managed to capture the first-person noir story-telling style that is so difficult to plot for, because you can’t step out of the head of your narrator to show something else going on that they don’t know about. Knowing the protagonists so well, I did notice a slightly different tone to them sometimes, but this is to be expected, and indeed welcomed, as it feels like Collins has adapted and adopted the characters to his own style, rather than superficially mimicking the words of Spillane, while still keeping their pulp noir heritage intact.
Masquerade for Murder was published on 7th April by Titan Books
That’s the thing that I’ve always loved about the Mike Hammer books, right from when I first started reading them way back when (which was probably at a younger age than maybe it should have been), they are so cinematic. I can hear the noirish voice-over in my head as Hammer tells the story from his own point of view and that voice, especially this time, belongs to the gloriously growly Stacy Keach, who famously brought the character to life on the small screen in the mid 80s. For that is when this case is set:
After Mike Hammer witnesses Wall Street superstar Vincent Colby getting clipped by a speeding red Ferrari, the shaken victim’s stockbroker father hires Hammer to find the driver. But the toughest private eye of them all is soon is caught up in a series of bizarre, seemingly unconnected slayings marked by a forbidden martial arts technique.
What do a lovely redhead, a short-tempered bartender, an exotic call girl, a murdered police inspector and a movie stuntman have to do with a scheme that might have transformed young Colby into a psychological time bomb?
So, basically, we have Mickey Spillane does American Psycho. What could possibly go wrong? In a word, nothing. This is a superb book which hits every mark it aims for, without becoming cliched or feeling as awkward as those later episodes of Columbo on TV did (if you’ve watched them you know what I mean). Hammer himself pre-empts this by acknowledging that he, his PI partner Velda, and the NYPD Homicide Captain Pat Chambers are all from a different era than the high-flying hi-tec world of big money, fast cars, cheap highs and even cheaper women. The world is moving on and leaving them behind but, in a lot of ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Murders, and their motivations, are still the same, and just as plentiful and messy, and there’s no substitute for the hard graft of detective work. The story itself is complex but not tangled, with lots of ideas on the go at the same time and enough intrigue to keep you second-guessing yourself right to the final few pages as you try to decide if the obvious plant is an obvious plant or if it’s classic misdirection. I ended up changing my mind several times over the “whodunnit” how and why, each time being absolutely sure I was right until I wasn’t, the mark of a good detective novel.
With Max Allan Collins, yet again, at the helm, the trademark fedora of Mike Hammer is still in safe hands. The characters are still very much themselves, their voices still work in my head, and Collins has managed to capture the first-person noir story-telling style that is so difficult to plot for, because you can’t step out of the head of your narrator to show something else going on that they don’t know about. Knowing the protagonists so well, I did notice a slightly different tone to them sometimes, but this is to be expected, and indeed welcomed, as it feels like Collins has adapted and adopted the characters to his own style, rather than superficially mimicking the words of Spillane, while still keeping their pulp noir heritage intact.
Masquerade for Murder was published on 7th April by Titan Books
April 1, 2020
Originally published in BORG magazine.
Masquerade for Murder–Max Allan Collins is back with the latest Mickey Spillane tale
Review by C.J. Bunce
Max Allan Collins is back with another nugget of gold from the files of Mickey Spillane. It’s this month’s first published release of Masquerade for Murder, a Mike Hammer story from the 1980s. Like a few other novels released by Collins I've reviewed here at borg, this is the latest published posthumously with the late Mickey Spillane. As Collins discusses in a foreword to the novel, this story came from a story synopsis left behind with many others with express instructions by Spillane for Collins to finish and introduce to the public. Coming from more than four decades across the life of the famous detective, Collins has seamlessly taken over the Hammer stories as if Spillane never really left.
As soon as Hammer takes his next job, his client’s son is clipped right in front of him, a hit-and-run by a red Ferrari. Soon the bodies begin piling up. They all have in common the firm where the son works. And the cause of death is incomprehensible to Hammer and the police: people are found dead whose chests were smashed in as if by a battering ram. Who is behind this, why are they doing it, and how the heck are they inflicting so much damage? Masquerade for Murder is Collins at his best, vintage Hammer, and indistinguishable from classic Mickey Spillane.
Few characters and genres are as easy to sink into as Mike Hammer crime novels. Hammer in the 1980s is a combination of all the great detectives from the then-recent past, some Thomas Magnum, some Jim Rockford, some Columbo, and some Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order to come years later. Of course, Hammer was a major influence behind them all.
Read the entire review here at BORG.
Masquerade for Murder–Max Allan Collins is back with the latest Mickey Spillane tale
Review by C.J. Bunce
Max Allan Collins is back with another nugget of gold from the files of Mickey Spillane. It’s this month’s first published release of Masquerade for Murder, a Mike Hammer story from the 1980s. Like a few other novels released by Collins I've reviewed here at borg, this is the latest published posthumously with the late Mickey Spillane. As Collins discusses in a foreword to the novel, this story came from a story synopsis left behind with many others with express instructions by Spillane for Collins to finish and introduce to the public. Coming from more than four decades across the life of the famous detective, Collins has seamlessly taken over the Hammer stories as if Spillane never really left.
As soon as Hammer takes his next job, his client’s son is clipped right in front of him, a hit-and-run by a red Ferrari. Soon the bodies begin piling up. They all have in common the firm where the son works. And the cause of death is incomprehensible to Hammer and the police: people are found dead whose chests were smashed in as if by a battering ram. Who is behind this, why are they doing it, and how the heck are they inflicting so much damage? Masquerade for Murder is Collins at his best, vintage Hammer, and indistinguishable from classic Mickey Spillane.
Few characters and genres are as easy to sink into as Mike Hammer crime novels. Hammer in the 1980s is a combination of all the great detectives from the then-recent past, some Thomas Magnum, some Jim Rockford, some Columbo, and some Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order to come years later. Of course, Hammer was a major influence behind them all.
Read the entire review here at BORG.
June 18, 2020
Rating 3
I thought that this was another solid story from MAC who expanded a story idea left by Spillane
There was nothing ground breaking or new in it but was an entertaining read that didn’t disappoint me either.
These continuations have overall been better than average, indeed better than many other series reboots/sequels published after the death of the original creator. The characters are not the same as when written by Spillane but you cannot expect that as the world has moved on and tastes have changed. The main characters are still recognisable though, and setting the stories further back than the 1980’s would probably introduce other issues around a current other trying to recreate that time and place, and most writers fail at that.
As they have gone along MAC writing style has made me think they would make some very good TV movies in the format used for the Jesse stone stories starring Tom selleck.
Overall then a definite recommendation.
I thought that this was another solid story from MAC who expanded a story idea left by Spillane
There was nothing ground breaking or new in it but was an entertaining read that didn’t disappoint me either.
These continuations have overall been better than average, indeed better than many other series reboots/sequels published after the death of the original creator. The characters are not the same as when written by Spillane but you cannot expect that as the world has moved on and tastes have changed. The main characters are still recognisable though, and setting the stories further back than the 1980’s would probably introduce other issues around a current other trying to recreate that time and place, and most writers fail at that.
As they have gone along MAC writing style has made me think they would make some very good TV movies in the format used for the Jesse stone stories starring Tom selleck.
Overall then a definite recommendation.
April 26, 2020
M.A.C and Mike Hammer a killer combination strike again!
I have to hand it to Mickey Spillane in choosing to make friends and collaborate with Max Allan Collins before his passing, and for entrusting such great kernels of genius to Max. If you enjoy works by either, you’ll enjoy all the works of the both of them. I wish I could sit down and have a beer, or several more (preferably Hamm’s) just the three of us. As Mickey passed in 2006, that won’t happen for any of us, but you can continue rest assured that you can still hear his voice through Collins’ continuation of the Hammer legacy. This book was HOT, read fast and delivered on the premise on which it was based. A tip of the fedora to you Max, you continue to deliver classic Spillane, just the way he would have wanted.
I have to hand it to Mickey Spillane in choosing to make friends and collaborate with Max Allan Collins before his passing, and for entrusting such great kernels of genius to Max. If you enjoy works by either, you’ll enjoy all the works of the both of them. I wish I could sit down and have a beer, or several more (preferably Hamm’s) just the three of us. As Mickey passed in 2006, that won’t happen for any of us, but you can continue rest assured that you can still hear his voice through Collins’ continuation of the Hammer legacy. This book was HOT, read fast and delivered on the premise on which it was based. A tip of the fedora to you Max, you continue to deliver classic Spillane, just the way he would have wanted.
January 18, 2021
You've got to love paragraphs like:
She was tall, even in the flats that she wore to work. Her raven hair was cut in a style-defying, shoulder-brushing pageboy that had auburn highlights in it now, her big brown eyes set off by light brown eye shadow, the dark long eyelashes needing no help from Maybelline, her lips glossed in a sultry burgandy. That classical eyeglass shape was supported by long legs, muscular in the dancer's sense, and full high breasts on loan from the young Jane Russell.
And it's a great detective story!
She was tall, even in the flats that she wore to work. Her raven hair was cut in a style-defying, shoulder-brushing pageboy that had auburn highlights in it now, her big brown eyes set off by light brown eye shadow, the dark long eyelashes needing no help from Maybelline, her lips glossed in a sultry burgandy. That classical eyeglass shape was supported by long legs, muscular in the dancer's sense, and full high breasts on loan from the young Jane Russell.
And it's a great detective story!
May 29, 2025
I love Mike Hammer, always have, even though Mickey Spillane wrote hard core with his detective. My favorite has always been Black Alley. Max Allan Collins, hired to continue the Mike Hammer mysteries after Spillane's death is a little more hard core than Mickey Spillane. All Max Allan Collins' books are not for the genteel reader, but are excellent in themselves. Collins does his best to stay with Spillane's style, but adds his own touch to each story. If you like your P. I.'s rough and tough, Spillane and Collins delivers.
April 21, 2020
Another great Mike Hammer novel. The book is based on an initial plot by Spillane and finished by Collins. It is a real treat that so many of these books have been published in consecutive years. Each new book is a chance to visit with old friends.
The story features a Mike Hammer who is a little older and wiser, but has not lost any of what makes him such great character. Like all great Hammer books, this one features an ending to remember.
The story features a Mike Hammer who is a little older and wiser, but has not lost any of what makes him such great character. Like all great Hammer books, this one features an ending to remember.
May 21, 2020
Mike Hammer is on another case, this time seeing if a client's son has been framed.
Will Mike and Velda get to the bottom of it?
Another great collaboration between Max Allan Collins and the late Mickey Spillane.
Lots of good lines and you'll chuckle more than once throughout the short novel. Pacing
is good and Hammer's as good as ever. Hopefully there will be more collaborations coming.
Very enjoyable!
I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.
Will Mike and Velda get to the bottom of it?
Another great collaboration between Max Allan Collins and the late Mickey Spillane.
Lots of good lines and you'll chuckle more than once throughout the short novel. Pacing
is good and Hammer's as good as ever. Hopefully there will be more collaborations coming.
Very enjoyable!
I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.
January 3, 2021
Another in the series of unfinished Hammer novels that were started by Spillane and finished by MAC. In this one, the characters are older, but not as old as they should be if you consider that Hammer is a WWII vet. The tone of this book is more like the Keach TV series than the earlier books.
December 30, 2021
#26 in the Mike Hammer series. This 2020 series entry by author Mickey Spillane was completed by Max Allan Collins from Spillane's notes after his death. Reads lie the original Spillane, Collins does such a good job that it's impossible which parts were written by which author.
January 18, 2023
I have never read any of Spillane's original books, but this one is tone deaf for the 21st century. Tough detectives in pork pie hats really don't fly anymore. Shoot six or seven people, leer at women and trick the bad guy into confessing is kind of worn out in my opinion.
May 12, 2024
Good read, good plot. This was co-authored by someone who finished off unfinished works by Mickey Spillane. I'd been a fan of Mickey Spillane since I was a kid, and it's like having an old friend back!
April 9, 2020
Not as good as original Mickey Spillane books
June 9, 2020
Such an amazing addition to the Spillane and collins tradition.
November 1, 2020
Max Collins writes Mickey Spillane quite well.
February 23, 2022
Lots of fun! I enjoyed the hard-boiled tropes, the clever lines. Stereotypes are very present in this book and the plot was ridiculous, and yet… I liked it a lot.
February 3, 2023
As much as I adore Max Allan Collins, I’m not a big fan of the “hard boiled detective” genre.
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