Mike Hammer: Kill Me, Darling
A Mike Hammer Novel
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4.4 • 9 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Things turn personal when hard-boiled PI Mike Hammer discovers his ex-lover has high-tailed it to Miami—and landed in the arms of a notorious gangster
“Mike Hammer is undeniably an icon of our culture.”' —New York Times
The course of true love never did run smooth for PI Mike Hammer. His secretary and partner, Velda, has walked out on him without explanation, sending Hammer on a four-month bender.
But then an old cop turns up murdered—an old cop who once worked with Velda on the NYPD Vice Squad. What’s more, Mike’s pal Captain Pat Chambers has discovered that Velda is in Florida, the moll of gangster and drug runner Nolly Quinn.
Hammer hits the road and drives to Miami, where he enlists the help of a horse-faced newspaperman and a local police detective. But can they find Velda in time? And what is the connection between the murdered vice cop in Manhattan, and Mike’s ex turning gun moll in Florida?
“In a manner similar to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, Hammer was a cynical loner contemptuous of the ‘tedious process’ of the legal system, choosing instead to enforce the law on his own terms.” —The Washington Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1954, Collins's seventh posthumous collaboration with Mike Hammer creator Spillane (after 2014's King of the Weeds) is one of his best, liberally dosed with the razor-edged prose and violence that marked the originals. The New York City PI has hit the bottle hard after his longtime assistant and love, Velda Sterling, abandoned him with a one-word note. Then Mike's friend on the NYPD, Pat Chambers, tells him that Velda has surfaced in Miami, on the arm of Nolly Quinn, a notorious mob-connected pimp. Mike cleans himself up and heads south to rescue Velda from Quinn, only to find that she doesn't want to be rescued. Collins faithfully follows Spillane's successful formula, including frequent gunplay, menacing thugs, and betrayal. He even matches Spillane's colorful turns of phrase (e.g., "My bullet shattered his smile on its way through him and out of the back of his head").
