He's tough and to the point

Mickey Spillane: Master of mystery

(CNN) He writes short and sweet; tough and to the point.

His readers love it.

Frank Morrison Spillane -- you may know him better as Mickey -- has spent most of his life churning out gripping street tales of crime, seduction and blue-collar drama. He's been called the master of the "hard-boiled style" of thriller.

He celebrated his 80th birthday on Monday. His birthday is March 9, 1918.

Spillane's first published book, "I, the Jury," introduced his hallmark character, Mike Hammer, in 1947. Ever since, readers have devoured his books, relishing the gritty, street-wise style.

Consider this excerpt from "I, the Jury":

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"I don't underrate the cops. But cops can't break a guy's arm to make him talk, and they can't shove his teeth in with the muzzle of a .45 to remind him that you aren't fooling. I do my own leg work, and there are a lot of guys who will tell me what I want to know because they know what I'll do to them if they don't. My staff is strictly ex officio, but very practical."

Spillane, who was born in Brooklyn, studied at Kansas State University and served in the Army as a flying instructor during World War II. After the war he wrote for pulp magazines before introducing Mike Hammer. Since then he has produced some 30 other books, including children's books. His works have sold more than 30 million copies.

But he shies away from haughty titles. "I'm a commercial writer, not an 'author'," Spillane once told an interviewer. "Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book."

Spillane was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1995.

Selected works:

• I, the Jury, 1947
• My Gun is Quick, 1950
• Vengeance is Mine, 1950
• The Big Kill, 1951
• The Girl Hunters, 1962
• The Body Lovers, 1967
• The Last Cop Out, 1973
• The Day the Sea Rolled Back, 1980 (juvenile)
• The Ship That Never Was, 1982 (juvenile)
• Tomorrow I Die, 1984
• Black Alley, 1996

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