orig. Frank Morrison Spillane
born March 9, 1918, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. writer of pulp detective fiction.
He initially wrote for pulp magazines and comic books in order to pay for his schooling. His first novel, I, The Jury (1947), introduced the detective Mike Hammer, who later appeared in works from My Gun Is Quick (1950) to Black Alley (1996). His other novels, all characterized by violence and sexual licentiousness, include The Deep (1961), a series with the international agent Tiger Mann beginning with Day of the Guns (1964), and The Killing Man (1989). Spillane claimed to write solely for monetary gain and flouted literary taste with recurring elements of sadism that disturbed some readers, but the captivating vigour of his narrative and of his central characters brought him popular success.