Tue 13 Nov 2018
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: MAX ALLAN COLLINS & MICKEY SPILLANE, Editors – Murder Is My Business.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
MAX ALLAN COLLINS & MICKEY SPILLANE, Editors – Murder Is My Business. Dutton, hardcover, 1994. Signet, paperback, 1995.
I do wonder just a bit how large Spillane’s editorial contributions were. God, I’m cynical. Collins’ introduction sheds no light on the subject, though he assures us that he “chatted” with Spillane about it, and that “they” invited writers to submit. This is the first in a projected series of themed collections from Dutton, all with the Spillane imprimatur.
I usually don’t do anthologies, but I liked the theme of this one — murder for hire — and it looked like it had a decent list of authors, though a few I hadn’t read before. There are 17 stories in all, 16 originals and a 1953 novella by Spillane written for but never published in Colliers, ranging in length from Edward Wellen’s 3-pager to Spillane’s 177.
[A partial list of other authors: Paul Bishop, Lawrence Block, Collins, John Lutz, Stephen Mertz, Warren Murphy, Carolyn Wheat and Teri White.]
I’m sure I’m not a good judge of shorter fiction, so take my opinions with a block or two of salt. I was not terribly impressed with the collection. There were a few good stories — Block’s tale of a melancholy killer, Carolyn Wheat’s offbeat story, John Lutz’s lighthearted tale of a retired cop, and Warren Murphy’s Trace story — a raft of so-so’s and a few that I thought were just really bad.
One of these was by Daniel Helpingstine, and if you said “who he?”, well, so did I, but I won’t be trying to find out more. The Spillane novella was a blast from the past, with all the attendant faults and virtues. I don’t think it’s worth the money, and I like hired killer stories. Check it out of the library.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:43 pm
I have found no other anthology edited by Collins and Spillane published in hardcover by Dutton.
The following titles edited by the two did come out from Signet in paperback, however, and these may have been part of the projected series mentioned by Barry in the first paragraph of his review:
VENGEANCE IS HERS (1997)
PRIVATE EYES (1998)
November 13th, 2018 at 3:34 pm
The Block story sounds as if it might a a Keller story. I’m assuming the Spillane is the one that MANHUNT seemed to reprint every six months or when sales needed a boost.
I generally like themed anthologies, but I admit if you get three or four good stories in most anthologies you can count yourself lucky.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:30 pm
David
You are correct on both counts. The Block story is about Keller, and the Spillane is the one the was serialized in MANHUNT, starting I believe with the first issue.
Here’s the complete list of contents:
The bishop and the hit man / by Andrew Greeley
The man who shot Trinity Valance / by Paul Bishop
With anchovies / by John Lutz
Guest services / by Max Allan Collins
The matchstick and the rubber band / by Lynn F. Myers, Jr.
Hitback / by Wayne D. Dundee
Undercover / by Carolyn Wheat
Angel face / by Daniel Helpingstine
Improvident excess / by Barry N. Malzberg
The king of horror / by Stephen Mertz
A nice save / by Edward Wellen
Without a trace / by Warren Murphy
Runner and the deathbringer / by Teri White
The operation / by Henry Slesar
Surrogate / by Ed Gorman
Keller on horseback / by Lawrence Block
Everybody’s watching me / by Mickey Spillane
November 15th, 2018 at 7:09 pm
That’s a damn good line-up really.