7 replies to this topic

[Napoleon Solo]

http://homepage.mac...._detectives.pdf

With the recent news of Donald Hamilton's death, people have been collecting and putting online Hamilton's magazine stories and essays. In this one, he discusses the creation of Matt Helm and how the character went from one shot to successful series.

[ACE]

Nice stuff, Napoleon Solo.
Thanks

[Lazenby880]

Fascinating reading Napoleon. Thanks very much for the link.

I do disagree with the notion, stated in the introduction, that Bond never displays hesitation or remorse in eliminating an enemy. There are several examples of him doing exactly that in Fleming's novels. But that's by the by.

[Napoleon Solo]

Re-reading Mr. Hamilton's essay, it dawned on me how important the third book, The Removers, was to the Helm series.

As the essay notes, Death of a Citzen, was conceived as a one-shot. In the second, The Wrecking Crew, Mr. H. reworked the plot of a failed novel he had attempted.

With The Removers, Mr. H was now in full fledged series-writing mode. It serves, in part, as a sequel to Death of a Citizen (Helm meets up with his ex-wife who, it turns out, has married another man with a violent past). There's also a chapter that helps lay the groundwork for a number of adversaries Helm would encounter over the next decade.

In an early chapter, Helm brushes up dossiers of enemy operatives. At least two show up in later books: Vadya (who'll appear in three) and Holz, an assassin who'll show up in The Interlopers, the 12th novel. We're also told how the dossier room is manned by Smitty, a former operative who was disfigured on the job -- Mac's way of reminding his agents the stakes involved.

The Removers may not be the best, but it had an interesting premise (Helm's adversary is a Soviet operative who's cover is a mobster's enforcer). It also demonstrates the nameless editor who suggested Helm was a good candidate for a series was absolutely correct.

[Trident]

This article and Lazenby880's review of Donald Hamilton's 'Death of a Citizen' caught my interest in learning more about Matt Helm. Up to now I only knew the Dean Martin movies and wasn't too impressed. But it seems that there is definitely more to Helm than those comedy-thrillers suggest. I just ordered a couple of Hamilton's books to get a better idea about them. Unfortunately they seem a little hard to get for reasonable prices and even harder to obtain in the right order (and cronology is an issue with the series I gather?). Hopefully they will be back in print someday. Anyway, thanks a lot for the tip!

[Napoleon Solo]

Unfortunately they seem a little hard to get for reasonable prices and even harder to obtain in the right order (and cronology is an issue with the series I gather?). Hopefully they will be back in print someday. Anyway, thanks a lot for the tip!

Reading them in order is nice, but not essential. When I first got into the books (in 1971), Fawcett just did a big printing of the books done up until that time. But for some reason, The Removers wasn't available at the bookstore I purchased them. I later checked out a copy from the local library. Reading it out of sequence didn't affect my reading enjoyment.

Also, sometimes significant events occurred between books. In The Devastators, Helm works (briefly) with an agent named Claire who ends up kidnapped and missing almost the entire story. She turns up safe and sound at the end, at which time they are given another assignment. In the 10th book, we find out she got killed on that mission and the pair must have had a pretty intensive affair. We get various interesting hints, but Hamilton (to the best of my knowledge) never went back and told that story. In any case, you can read book 10 without reading book 9 and still enjoy it.

[spynovelfan]

Thanks for posting this - I'd never seen it. Very interesting.

I don't think you need to read the Helm books in order at all, but it might be a good idea to start with Death Of A Citizen.

[Trident]

Reading them in order is nice, but not essential. When I first got into the books (in 1971), Fawcett just did a big printing of the books done up until that time. But for some reason, The Removers wasn't available at the bookstore I purchased them. I later checked out a copy from the local library. Reading it out of sequence didn't affect my reading enjoyment.

Also, sometimes significant events occurred between books. In The Devastators, Helm works (briefly) with an agent named Claire who ends up kidnapped and missing almost the entire story. She turns up safe and sound at the end, at which time they are given another assignment. In the 10th book, we find out she got killed on that mission and the pair must have had a pretty intensive affair. We get various interesting hints, but Hamilton (to the best of my knowledge) never went back and told that story. In any case, you can read book 10 without reading book 9 and still enjoy it.

I don't think you need to read the Helm books in order at all, but it might be a good idea to start with Death Of A Citizen.

Ok, good to hear that order isn't necessarily needed here. Unfortunately the first one "Death Of A Citizen" is quite hard to obtain at the moment (perhaps due to Hamiltons death?) if one isn't inclined to spend between 25,-

Edited by Trident, 17 April 2007 - 04:45 PM.