Bruce Von Stiers

The old time hard-boiled private detective has gone pretty much by the way side. Now the P.I.’s are politically correct and some are (gasp!) women. At least in fiction anyway. Guys like Shell Scott and Mike Hammer just don’t fit in a whole lot. So it’s refreshing to come across a story collection that harks back to the day where men were tough and you shot first and thought about the consequences later. One collection that I recently got a chance to read is from one of the true masters of pulp detective fiction, Mickey Spillane. Five Star has released a short story collection of previously uncollected tales from Spillane. This collection was edited by Max Allan Collins, another writer of classic style detective fiction. The title of the book is Together We Kill: The Uncollected Stories of Mickey Spillane.

Several of the stories in this book were originally published by Cavalier magazine. Mr. Collins was able to uncover a Mike Hammer story from a corner is Spillane’s office and use in the collection. We find out these tidbits and others about the stories in the book from an Introduction that Collins wore. There are a total of eight stories in this collection.

Keeping in mind that Mickey Spillane was an airman during World War II, the first story is kind of fun. Its title is Together We Kill. I guy named Joe is an engineer. He is offered a job in Bolivia working on a top notch project. The only thing is, he has to bring his wife. Only he doesn’t have one. He trips back in time to the war and a girl he met and fell in love with. Claire was in the Resistance and for a brief interlude their lives intertwined. Now Claire is somewhat untouchable and Joe has a lost love. But the story has a twist that you won’t see coming.

The Night I Died is a Mike Hammer tale. I recently had a conversation with a 20-something guy about this book. He didn’t even know who Mike Hammer was. I told him he didn’t know what he was missing. Anyway, this Mike Hammer story is about how he gets involved with this woman named Helen. She is hiding out from a racket boss. It seems that her boyfriend has secreted away a chuck of the mob’s money. Somebody wants it back. Mike tries to help her out and gets trouble for it. When it all breaks apart, Mike is left for dead and the bad guys get away with it. Or do they?

I’ll Die Tomorrow is about a hitman. It seems that he had made his bones on killing a kid that stole money from the rackets. That sounds a little like the previous story doesn’t it?
Rudolph Ness was good at his job and was employed fairly often. His latest job involved killing a man in an office and make it look like a robbery. But as things would have it, the job doesn’t work out as planned. The story takes a twist that you may have seen coming if you were paying attention.

The Veiled Woman involves Karl Terris, a fairly wealthy man. He is also pretty much a macho tough guy. Terris has just recently gotten back from a trip to Africa where he was looking for something to do with cosmic rays. He brought back a wife with him. Lodi was from the area the Terris explored. Now everyone wants the information the Terris has. They think he has some kind of machine that generates cosmic rays. And what is it about Lodi that causes her to keep her face and hands covered? The answers to those questions put a different spin on the story. Lodi is kidnapped and Terris will do anything he can to get her back.

The Affair With The Dragon Lady is not a detective or even tough guy story. It is a tale about a group of guys who get together after the war and end up having a club surrounding the plane that they flew. The club ends up being near an airbase. When a tragedy occurs to a plane from the base, the boys in the club spring into action.

The Dread Chinatown Man is a short tale about one man’s phobia. The Chinaman is the hawker for a tour trip of Chinatown. Our guy can’t get away fast enough. But Why? Toys For The Man-Child is a delightful tale about men and their toys.

Hot Cat takes place in the ’60’s, sometime after the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Cat Fallon has inherited a small airport in Florida. His friend flew out of the airport one day never to return. Now Cat is the owner and everybody wants something from him. There are government agents who seem to think that Cat is involved in something about Cuba. There are other people who are trying to get information as well. Especially beautiful reporter Lois Hays. Cat doesn’t want to get mixed up in any shenanigans; he just wants to run the airport. But things, and people, get in his way. Soon he gets hip deep in an international situation.

Together We Kill is a great trip back in time to an era where men did what they wanted and the good guys were tough as nails. The condescending nature and blatant sexism won’t work for today’s fiction, but you can just imagine the words and actions of these tough guys of yesteryear. Mike Hammer didn’t have a cell phone and would rather have shot and asked questions later.

Check out this title and other detective stories at the Five Star web site. The site can be found at www.galegroup.com/fivestar.