Hamilton wrote a number of books prior to the 1960 appearance
of Matt
Helm. These are what I have on my shelves:
Mysteries:
DATE WITH DARKNESS, 1947 (Dell)
THE STEEL MIRROR, 1948 (probably Dell), 1965 (Gold
Medal)
MURDER TWICE TOLD (2 novellas, "Deadfall" and "The Black
Cross," from
1947 & 1949), 1950 (Dell), 1965 (Gold Medal)
NIGHT WALKER ("Mask for Dancer"), 1954, 1964 (Gold
Medal)
LINE OF FIRE, 1955 (Gold Medal)
ASSIGNMENT--MURDER (republished as ASSASSINS HAVE STARRY
EYES), 1956
(Gold Medal)
THE MONA INTERCEPT, 1980 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
Westerns:
SMOKY VALLEY, 1954 (Dell)(reissued 1965)
MAD RIVER, 1956 (Gold Medal)
THE BIG COUNTRY, 1958 (Dell)(reissued 1971)
TEXAS FEVER, 1960 (Gold Medal)
THE MAN FROM SANTA CLARA (republished as THE TWO-SHOOT GUN),
1960
(Gold Medal)(reissued 1971)
IRON MEN & SILVER STARS (anthology edited by Hamilton),
1967 (Gold
Medal)
His westerns have the same tough-minded anti-cliche attitudes
found in
his Matt Helm mysteries (as do his non-Matt Helm mysteries,
for that
matter), and should be enjoyable for anyone who likes his
mystery
writing. (A number of his westerns were serialized in
Colliers
magazine before publication in book form; THE BIG COUNTRY
was
serialized in the SatEvePost in 1957 as "Ambush at Blanco
Canyon.")
It amazes me how westerns have disappeared out of our mass
media and
become a minor eddy in publishing, devalued by all those
LONGARM-style
"adult" westerns. Forty years ago they were in the
mainstream, as
evidenced by Hamilton's western slick magazine serials. My
friend
Lee Hoffman was able to start a career in westerns in the
late
sixties, but I doubt that's possible now.
But I digress....
--Ted White
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