When literary critics had a negative reaction to Spillane's writing, citing the high content of sex and violence, Spillane answered with a few terse comments: "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar... If the public likes you, you're good." In July 2006, at the age of 88, Mickey Spillane, the last major mystery writer of the twentieth century, passed away. He stood among a select few in the genre—Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler—who achieved such iconic status. Spillane’s place in literary history is unique. Though often criticized by mainstream critics and even envied by his contemporaries, he had a profound influence on mystery fiction and popular culture as a whole. Spillane’s success, particularly through the paperback reprints of his violent and sensual novels, helped ignite the rise of “paperback originals,” a market that would dominate for the next 25 years. His redefin...