Last Stage to Hell Junction

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As a mystery writer lucky enough to become close friends with his hero — in my case, Mickey Spillane — I could never have imagined that the day would come when I’d be entrusted with his famous detective Mike Hammer and a number of other projects unrealized by the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in his lifetime.

In 2006, Mickey called me and asked me if I would finish his latest — and projected as his last — Mike Hammer novel, The Goliath Bone. He was nearing the end of a draft, rather rushing through it to try to make a final deadline: he had pancreatic cancer and knew the end was near. I of course said I’d complete the book for him, but hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

This would be the last time we spoke, and I think we both knew it.

I said, “I love you, Mickey.”

And he said, “I love you, buddy.”

So began a great, bittersweet chapter in my writing life. In the few days remaining, Mickey instructed his wife Jane to gather up everything in his three offices at his South Carolina home and turn the manuscripts over to me.

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