Review by C.J. Bunce
“I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore justify private revenge.” –Sir Arthur C. Doyle
So begins the concluding Mike Hammer story.
For Mike Hammer fans, every new story is worth the wait. But the next is the last, and that cover really says it all. Baby, It’s Murder is the 27th Mike Hammer novel by Mickey Spillane, and the 15th posthumous work started by Spillane and completed by Max Allan Collins, who has shown time and time again that he was the right choice to complete these works, tapped by the famous P.I. writer himself. Baby, It’s Murder finds Hammer at the very end of his days, attending a funeral with old pal Captain Pat Chambers. Pat had already called Hammer out of retirement with his life in Florida with wife Velda in the pages of the 2021 novel Kiss Her Goodbye (reviewed here), but this is a story with greater finality. It also has Spillane and Collins going out with a great big bang. Actually several. Baby, It’s Murder is available today for pre-order here at Amazon, to be released tomorrow at bookstores everywhere in hardcover from Titan Books. If you like surprises, you’re in for a doozy.
The story is told from two time-frames. It is bookended by an event in the early 2000s, that relates specifically to a series of crimes in the early 1970s–where Spillane-Collins spend the bulk of the novel. Max Allan Collins is back, taking notes left by Mickey Spillane and creating a worthy conclusion to the world of Mickey Spillane. As always, you can’t tell the difference between pre-Collins Spillane and post-Collins Spillane, or where Spillane stops and Collins takes over.
Hammer in the 1970s is here in top form, and his kill count is higher than ever this time, because Velda is the target of the crime, which also reveals forty years of secrets that will stop readers in their tracks.
Velda goes home to take care of her sister and mother, who is hospitalized for a few weeks with an injury. Pat talks Hammer into taking a break from the P.I. racket and spend time with the family for once. But Hammer can’t keep out of trouble. Fresh out of getting in the papers after another set of (justified) killings, he’s back in the middle of getting his nose into another town’s growing drug business.
The novel looks thin at 178 pages (plus some author’s notes) but nothing is missing and Collins’ writing is tight. Fifty years from now someone will figure out what a trove these stories are and someone will get to see this played out in a slick movie. It has all the elements of a great Hammer story and even more heart than usual. And it’s bittersweet.
Fans of Velda in particular will find this the ultimate personal story of the duo. Since the viewpoint is always first person from Hammer, writing his exploits for someone or anyone, my only question of Spillane-Collins’ choices here is Hammer recounting an intimate clothes-off moment between Hammer and Velda. As Hammer says later about another intimate moment between him and Velda (speaking to the reader): “it’s none of your business.” I think it would have been more true to the old shluby Hammer for him to tell us that as to Velda, he does not kiss and tell. End of.
The humor is edgy, the action is big, the story is personal, and the finish is satisfying. What a way to go out.
Read Baby, It’s Murder after you’ve gotten to know Hammer and Velda a little bit. For fans of a P.I. not afraid to pull the trigger, all these books are good reads. Don’t miss this finale. Baby, It’s Murder is available today for pre-order here at Amazon. It’s street date is Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
This is a Hammer novel closer to the Hammer of Killing Town (reviewed here)–my favorite from the writing duo. This is all grit, all action, very hard-boiled Hammer at his best. For more Velda, check out Murder, My Love (reviewed here). If you missed it, check out my review of Masquerade for Murder here, and The Big Bang reviewed here. For Spillane and Collins on a Western story, give Shoot-Out at Suger Creek a try (reviewed here).
