Donald Hamilton

Even though others have already written about it quite eloquently, I can't let Donald Hamilton's death pass without mentioning how much I truly enjoyed his books. THE SILENCERS was the first one I read, back in the Sixties, and as with so many books from that era, I even remember where I bought it: the book section of Leonard's Department Store in downtown Fort Worth. At the time there were eight or nine books in the Matt Helm series, and I read all of them as fast as I could get my hands on them. Later on when the books got longer I didn't like them quite as well, but I still read them. I haven't read any of Hamilton's non-series mystery and suspense novels, but I've read several of his Westerns and liked them. Not as much as those short, mean, early Matt Helm books, though. Boy, those were good. If you've never read anything by Hamilton, you owe it to yourself to hit the used bookstores as soon as possible.