The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3: Encore for Murder

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3:

Encore for Murder

by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach

Ⓟ 2011, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

2.50 hours

Mike Hammer is a private investigator whose sense of justice is predicated less on the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. Bordering on vigilantism, Hammer's actions are backed up by an ethos born of Post-War morality and by a Colt .45 named "Betsy." Max Allan Collins has updated the time line to make Hammer a Vietnam veteran; and the story takes place in present day New York City; but Hammer comes across as something of a relic of a bygone age and as someone who neither understands nor respects due process or authority. Hammer, whose intractable sense of right and wrong and belief that the end justifies the means, exacts a rough justice for those who stand in his way.

In "Encore for Murder," Rita Vance, an ex-girlfriend of Mike Hammer's, needs a bodyguard. Making an acting comeback by starring in a Broadway show, she has been targeted with a series of threatening and anonymous letters. Mike Hammer agrees to protect her out of a sense of chivalry and because he has the sexual drive and control of an adolescent. It's difficult to imagine the universal sex appeal that Spillane and Collins imbue Mike Hammer with, as the brand of machismo that Hammer wears is about as dated as his sense of justice and the Fedora he sports.

The sex and violence are blunt and even vulgar in places, not in what is being described but in how they are described. The crudity of the prose and sentiments combine to make some scenes cringe-worthy.

Stacy Keach played the role of Hammer in the 1980s television series and returns as Hammer in the audio dramas. Keach has superseded other versions of Hammer in the public eye and has invested much of his talent in successfully preserving the legacy. As such, he is Mike Hammer and the perfect casting choice for The New Adventures.

There is a different set of expectations going into The New Adventures, production-wise, than for other audio dramas. The New Adventures take more from the playbook of radio dramas instead of trying to create a virtual soundtrack of the story. The Foley and voice enhancements are rather ham-fisted in comparison; but match the prose's style and writing manner well.


Convo Starter:
In "Encore for Murder," Mike Hammer is an underage soldier in the Vietnam War. No date was specified in the story; but let's say Hammer was sixteen years old the year that Saigon fell (April 30, 1975) - that would make him fifty-two to fifty-three years old in 2011/2012. That is definitely better than being a nonogenarian (cf The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2: The Little Death)! But is it still too old for Mike Hammer to be behaving the way he is behaving (i.e. like a fifteen year old when it comes to his libido and action adventure tactics?)

See Also:

The Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2: The Little Death

Other Stuff:
The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3: Encore for Murder (by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach) qualifies for:

• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner and;
• The Armchair Audies hosted by @lithousewife at Literate House Wife

I received a MP3-CD edition of The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3: Encore for Murder (by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach) from Blackstone Audio, Inc. under reviewer auspices. I had no involvement in the production of The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3: Encore for Murder (by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach.) I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

The New Adventures of Mickey's Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2: The Little Death

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer,

Vol. 2: The Little Death

by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach

Ⓟ 2009, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

2.25 hours

Mike Hammer is the old school private investigator living in 21st century New York City, still willing and able to deliver black-and-white justice in a technicolor world. In "The Little Death," Helen Venn, the girlfriend and bookkeeper of the late Marty Wellman, gambling kingpin, seeks protection from Marty's rival, Carmen Rich. At stake is the ten million dollars everyone believes Helen has, not to mention Helen's life. Helen needs protection and Mike Hammer's chivalry is aroused as well as his libido.

For those who fondly remember the Mike Hammer franchise from the 1940s and 1950 and/or the TV shows starring Stacy Keach in the 1980s, The New Adventures provide a touchstone to a character of a known quantity: a man of unwavering loyalty, ideals and, a gun named Betsy to back it all up. For those unfamiliar with Mike Hammer, The New Adventures offers an action hero who metes out lethal justice straight-forwardly and without equivocation. Mike Hammer is an unapologetic throwback to wrong versus right conflict, which some may love for simplicity's sake; but others may decry for lack of traction in the gray areas of life.

The title, "The Little Death" is a double entendre, referring not only to a homicide of little importance, but to an orgasm. This is spelled out in the narrative right away, but in case you miss it, listeners should be forewarned that this is not family fare. There is nothing subtle in any of the sexual innuendoes and in fact the references are often crude and artless. There are even sound effects at one point, of a couple having sex, including the squeaky bedsprings.

Mickey Spillane purportedly said:

See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.

This may be true in an abstract way; but the reality is that both John Wayne and Elvis aged and died and, some listeners may not be able to help themselves from doing the math where Mike Hammer is concerned too. In the Mike Hammer canon, he was a WWII vet. In the best case scenario, having him fight in the Battle of Guadacanal at the age of twenty, that would make Mike Hammer a nonogenarian. There is nothing in "The Little Death" that adjusts the time line forward, so what we have is a really old man running around acting like a twenty-something-year old! Plus, Velda, who has been his secretary and unrequited love interest all these years, is running around in pink lace lingerie. The mind boggles!

Stacy Keach, who played Mike Hammer in the 1980 television series, reprises his role as the had-boiled detective in The New Adventures. He has become the quintessential Mike Hammer, with his gruff tones and Mid-Century sensibilities. Any other actor in the role has become virtually impossible to imagine. Interestingly, Stacy Keach seems to be very involved in The New Adventures: He wrote and played the saxophone musical score and his wife, Malgosia Tomassi plays a recurring role in all three volumes of the audio dramas.

The production team applies a voice enhancement, reverb to Stacy Keach's voice when he speaks from the narrative point of view, which is the audio equivalent of warping the picture with wavy lines in a T.V. show to indicate a segue into a flashback or dream sequence. Not very artful; but it does the trick in delineating narrative from scenes with dialogue.

Convo Starter:

The writing overall is better than the first volume of The New Adventures; but one wonders if, despite the updates into the twenty-first century; Mike Hammer might be better left consigned to the place in history where he and his ideals best fit in, Post-War America. What do you think? Do you think that the hard-boiled noir detectives of the fifties have a place in 21st century culture, other than as a throwback or nostalgia trip? Can you think of any other candidates for an updated appearance?

See Also:

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (audiobook review of the first volume)

Other Stuff: The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2: The Little Death (by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach) qualifies for:

• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner:

I received a MP3-CD copy of The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2: The Little Death (by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; performed by a full cast starring Stacy Keach) from Blackstone Audio, Inc. under reviewer auspices.I had no involvement in the production of this title. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and.or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

The New Adventures of Mickey's Spillane's Mike Hammer

The Sounds Like a Mystery (SLAM)Yahoo! group has issued a mini-challenge:

"Keeping with our geographic theme, pick 4 books to read between now and the end of the year all set in New York."

I'm in! The first of four titles:


The New Adventure of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

by M.J. Elliot & Cerney (sp?) two of the writers from the TV show;

Performed by a full cast, starring Stacy Keach, who starred in the TV show in the 1980s

Blackstone Audio
2.7 hours




I picked this title in the SLAM State Challenge (NY) because 1) it is a mystery;2) it is set in NY (locations include but are not limited to: Wall St.,Fulton Street subway station, Brooklyn Heights and Long Island)and;3) Every once in while I go for something different than straight forward narration and grab a full cast production.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICKEY SPILLANE'S MIKE HAMMER features two stories: "Oil and Water" and "Dangerous Days." "Oil and Water" is about the reunion of Mickey Spillane with a former flame, an investigative reporter working on a story about an oil company and a vanished tanker. "Dangerous Days" is about a young woman's connection to a young Middle Eastern man identified by the government as a terrorist threat. The plot lines are basic linear narratives which rely on sound f/x for mood and setting. Anyone familiar with noir mysteries knows immediately who the villain is, so the "whodunit" component is a no-brainer. Without that (the "whodunit" challenge) though, the stories are reduced to little more than a showcase for Stacy Keach. Now, Stacy Keach IS Mike Hammer and he delivers Mike Hammer BUT: The writers of this production attempt to make Mike Hammer relevant by setting the stories in the 21st century. However the language is awkward and forced (e.g. "google" is colloquially used as a verb, not a noun; i.e. you google something, you don't look something up on google.) The sound f/x are sometimes anachronistic (e.g. Mike Hammer pulls into a self serve gas station and the "ding-ding" bell that alerted gas station attendants to hustle out to the customers rings.) [Now I live in a state that has no self-serve gas stations and even I haven't heard that bell in decades!:] But that could be overlooked and/or forgiven except for other production issues which include odd and protracted pauses ("Dangerous Days") and a double take. Also, the engineer who filled out the metadata filled out the fields incorrectly AND mis-spelled "Spillane." It's that inattention to detail that is irksome. That said, the overall production values were better than most full cast "radio-style" dramas being currently produced. Unfortunately that's not enough to bring in any new fans to the Mike Hammer franchise; or appeal to long time fans either. There is a THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICKEY SPILLANE'S MIKE HAMMER, vol. 2 and THE GOLIATH BONE available, but I think I'll pass.