mickey spillane

Mickey Spillane once said, "I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead." It a bit cocky: he was 86 at the time.

Well, now Spillane has died too. He's never been big on my reading list, but I'm beginning to wonder if he should be. You often find these things out in the obituary pages.

Guardian obituary, Mickey Spillane

The killer ending! For over-the-top, almost baroque simplicity I'd be happy to have written this one:

"How c-could you?" she gasped.
I only had a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in.
"It was easy," I said.

By the way, he was a pretty handsome devil. He's also quoted as saying "Women like the name Mickey," & he's right. It's a great name.