I guess Donald Hamilton won't be finishing his last Matt Helm novel.

1916-2006 is a good long run. He died Nov. 20th and the word just got out yesterday.

There are a couple of great articles about him here and about his writings here.

One of the guys in the Yahoo group talked about how the Helm novels influenced him to be more logical and less emotional. It seems like a poor tribute as I've summarized it - obviously it's important to be logical, but Helm was much more than a robotic killer.

One thing I always appreciated about the books is the way you were along for the ride inside his head as his steady, methodical actions added up finally into a great victory for our side. Or, sometimes, a Pyrrhic victory for Helm, personally.

It's odd to have a cold-blooded assassin as a hero, but here I am, stuck with it.