The 88-year-old Mickey Spillane dies

Mickey Spillane, the creator of famous hardboiled private eye Mike Hammer, is dead. The 88-year-old writer passed away on Monday. Mr. Spillane's death was confirmed by Brad Stephens of Goldfinch Funeral Home in his hometown of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Details about his death were not immediately available.

Hammer was the central character of several movies and TV series. On the small screen, a 1950s version featured Darren McGavin in the role while the 80s saw Stacy Keach as the tough P.I. The movies' most notorious version was played by Armand Assante in the sex-and-violence-drenched I, the Jury which was the title of the first Hammer book published in 1946.
Twelve more followed, according to the Associated Press, with sales reaching 100 million copies.

He had always liked police stories and in his pre-Hammer days he created a comic-book detective named Mike Danger. At the time, the early 1940s, he was scribing for Batman, Submariner and other comics.

Danger never saw print. After World War II, Mr. Spillane needed $1,000 to buy some land and thought of writing to make money. Within three weeks, he had completed "I, the Jury" and sent it to Dutton. The editors there doubted the writing, but not the market for it; a literary franchise began. Married three times, Mr. Spillane was the father of four.