The Girl Hunters
 First edition | |
| Author | Mickey Spillane |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Publisher | E.P. Dutton |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 218 |
The Girl Hunters (1962) is Mickey Spillane's seventh novel featuring private investigator Mike Hammer. It was adapted for the screen in 1963; Spillane himself played Mike Hammer.
Plot
Hammer has been a drunk living in gutters around New York City for the past seven years. Hammer's secretary and fiancée, Velda, is believed to be dead after a botched protection job involving a Chicago socialite and her new husband. Then, Hammer is apprehended and taken to an undisclosed location, where he is interrogated by former friend Captain Pat Chambers. Chambers, who blames Hammer for Velda's death, pummels him repeatedly, but slacks off. Richie Cole, a dock worker, is dying of severe gunshot wounds at City General Hospital and has insisted on talking to Hammer exclusively to reveal the identity of his killer. Hammer, upon interviewing the victim, discovers that Velda is still alive and facing execution by a top level Soviet assassin dubbed "The Dragon", her only chance being Hammer finding her first. The man tells Hammer that he has left clues to her location, but dies immediately afterwards.
The alarming news causes Hammer to sober up and prepare to go out on his own, despite being out of commission. He soon discovers the pressure is on from Pat to discover the killer's identity. Despite many threats, Hammer successfully brushes off Chambers, but then finds himself being muscled by a Federal Agent named Art Rickerby. Rickerby reveals to Hammer that Richie Cole was a field agent and his former protégé. In order to gain information and gun carrying privileges, Hammer makes deals with Rickerby, the condition being that Hammer brings him the Dragon alive.
Hammer's investigations lead him to Laura Knapp, the widow of a Senator also murdered by the Dragon. Whilst gaining more clues from Laura and death attempts by the Dragon, Hammer hurries to find Velda, as the clock is ticking, and time is not on his side.
Film version
A restored print was screened at the 2010 edition of the Festival de Cannes as an Official Selection of the Cinéma de la Plage.
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Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
- I, the Jury (1947)
- My Gun Is Quick (1950)
- Vengeance Is Mine (1950)
- One Lonely Night (1951)
- The Big Kill (1951)
- Kiss Me, Deadly (1952)
- The Girl Hunters (1962)
- The Snake (1964)
- The Twisted Thing (1966)
- The Body Lovers (1967)
- Survival... Zero! (1970)
- The Killing Man (1989)
- Black Alley (1996)
- The Goliath Bone (2008)
- The Big Bang (2010)
- Kiss Her Goodbye (2011)
- Lady, Go Die! (2012)
- Complex 90 (2013)
- King of the Weeds (2014)
- Kill Me, Darling (2015)
- Murder Never Knocks (2016)
- The Will To Kill (2017)
- Killing Town (2018)
- Murder, My Love (2019)
- Masquerade for Murder (2020)
- Kill Me If You Can (2022)
- Dig Two Graves (2023)
- Baby, It's Murder (2024)
- I, the Jury (1953)
- Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
- My Gun Is Quick (1957)
- The Girl Hunters (1963)
- Margin for Murder (TV, 1981)
- I, the Jury (1982)
- Murder Me, Murder You (TV, 1983)
- More Than Murder (TV, 1984)
- The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (TV, 1986)
- Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All (TV, 1989)
- Come Die with Me (TV, 1994)
- Mike Hammer: Song Bird (V, 2003)
- Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1958–1960)
- Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1984–1985)
- episodes
- The New Mike Hammer (1986–1987)
- Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997–1998)
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