Black Alley

The author of I, The Jury presents his first novel in seven years, featuring his famous creation, Mike Hammer, who challenges the Mafia's most powerful family in revenge for the gunning down of an old army pal. Reprint.

It's not clear whether Spillane himself or his venerable detective hero Mike Hammer has been in a coma during the seven years since his last book, but loyal fans who discovered and fell in love with the hard-boiled genre because of his early books won't care. Hammer is back, along with his trusty sidekick/secretary Velma, and age hasn't slowed them down more than a step. Hammer wakes from his brush with death to find himself embroiled in a mess involving $89 million of missing mob money. Not the smoothest writer in the arena of mystery, but certainly one of the most popular -- and influential.