Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I, the Jury | 1947 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 2 | My Gun Is Quick | 1950 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 3 | Vengeance is Mine | 1950 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 4 | One Lonely Night | 1951 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 5 | The Big Kill | 1951 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 6 | Kiss Me, Deadly | 1952 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 7 | The Girl Hunters | 1962 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 8 | The Snake | 1964 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 9 | The Twisted Thing | 1966 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 10 | The Body Lovers | 1967 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 11 | Survival… Zero | 1970 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 12 | The Killing Man | 1989 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 13 | Chronicle of a death foretold | 1980 | Max Allan Collins | N/A |
| 14 | Black Alley | 1996 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 15 | The Goliath Bone | 2008 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 16 | The Big Bang: A Mike Hammer Novel | 2010 | Max Allan Collins | N/A |
| 17 | Kiss Her Goodbye | 2009 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 18 | The Big Bang | 2010 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 19 | Lady, Go Die! | 2012 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 20 | Skin | 2012 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 21 | Mike Hammer: Complex 90 | 2013 | Max Allan Collins | N/A |
| 22 | Complex 90 | 2013 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 23 | Mike Hammer: King of the Weeds: A Mike Hammer Novel | 2014 | Max Allan Collins | N/A |
| 24 | King of the Weeds | 2014 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 25 | Kill Me, Darling | 2015 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 26 | Murder Never Knocks | 2016 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 27 | A Long Time Dead | 2016 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 28 | The Will to Kill | 2017 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 29 | Killing Town | 2018 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 30 | Murder, My Love | 2019 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 31 | Masquerade for Murder | 2020 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 32 | Kill Me If You Can | 2022 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 33 | Dig Two Graves | 2023 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
| 34 | Baby, It’s Murder | 2025 | Max Allan Collins | Buy |
The Mike Hammer series is one of the longest-running detective franchises in American fiction. Created by Mickey Spillane in 1947 with I, the Jury, the series follows private investigator Mike Hammer through the dark side of New York City. Hammer is tough, direct, and willing to use violence when he feels justice demands it. The early novels were massive bestsellers and helped define the hard-boiled detective genre.
Spillane wrote Hammer novels sporadically over five decades, with gaps of many years between some books. After Spillane’s death in 2006, Max Allan Collins took over the series using unfinished manuscripts and notes. Collins had been Spillane’s chosen literary heir, and he brought his own crime fiction experience to the task while staying faithful to Spillane’s voice and style.
The series now runs to 34 books spanning from 1947 to 2025. The Collins-era novels have been well received by Hammer fans, and the series continues to attract readers drawn to its classic noir style. Whether you start with the raw energy of Spillane’s originals or the polished continuations by Collins, the Mike Hammer books remain a cornerstone of hard-boiled crime fiction.