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

The Little Death

By: Max Allan Collins

Narrated by: Stacy Keach

Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Stacy Keach stars as Mickey Spillane's hardboiled private eye Mike Hammer in "The Little Death."

Private eye Mike Hammer is no stranger to murder, but this time he has two to untangle - the killing of the Captain, a legless, homeless panhandler, dismissed by the police as minor, and the slaying of gambling kingpin Marty Wellman, whose lady friend, Helen Venn, turns to the P.I. for help when the Mob fingers her for the next kill. Seems the new kingpin, Carmen Rich - with whom Hammer has a violent history - thinks Helen made off with ten mil in skim money courtesy of her late lover, or anyway, so Rich claims. But Mike Hammer knows a damsel in distress when he sees one and takes up Helen's cause, igniting a series of hit attempts on the P.I. by a small army of out-of-town shooters - some as far out of town as Cuba. Such minor distractions can't prevent the toughest detective of them all from solving two murders and avenging a "little death" in a big way.

©2009 Falcon Picture Group, LLC. (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Original Work, 2011

Vol. 1 of this Blackstone series was a finalist for the prestigious 2009 Audie® Award for Distinguished Achievement in Production. Here Vol. 2 continues this fully-dramatized "theater-of-the-mind" audio adventure enhanced with sound effects and music.

The 45 colt speaks

Would you consider the audio edition of The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 2 to be better than the print version?

Yes because of Stacy Keach's incredible narration. He brings Mike Hammer to life, and what a life.

Which scene was your favorite?

On the beach at the finale.

Very nostalgic

The production was done very well, without all the talk overs and loud background. The story will take the listener back to time Bogart detective Era.

Camped Out

"Camp" styled classic Mickey Spillane. Enjoyable story short and predictable. Just what I wanted for a short chore distraction.

A clever fast-paced thriller.

A classic Mike Hammer story a la Mickey Spillane. Expertly told by Stacey Keach and an ideal cast. Surrounded by the timely Harlem Nocturne theme.

Great narration and sound effects

The narration and sound effects made this book a lot of fun to listen to. Stacy Keach did an awsome job.

Nice Performance and Production

Who needs a movie or television when you’ve got good voice actors with a little background music plus sound effects.

Excellent

Great listen. Great story. Kudos to the team that put this together. Hammer rules!
Thanks.

It’s Mike Hammer baby

The story is very weak. You know what is going on and it takes no genius to know who is backstabbing who but it’s Mike Hammer and Stacey Keach is there to play the role and played the music too. How cool is that?

Relentless psychos

Few readers are better suited to their characters than Stacy Keach to Mike Hammer. His leathery growl brings Hammer, a private eye who's a relentless psychopath to life--making him almost sympathetic. Best exchange in the book? Something like this:

Hammer: "Honey, fix your skirt. I'm only human."

Velda: "Suffer!"

Easy listening. Fun, too.

Entertaining

Hey, it's Mike Hammer! Nice way to pass the time on a trip across the state!