Donald Hamilton (born March 24, 1916) is a U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist entirely of paperback originals, principally spy fiction but also crime fiction and Westerns. He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency. 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaskas Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... ... The spy fiction genre (sometimes called political thriller) arose before the World War I, at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were being formed. ... Crime Fiction (2006), a feature-length independent film, tracks the rise and fall of struggling crime novelist James Cooper. ... Western fiction is a genre of literature that is typically set in any of the American states west of the Mississippi River and between the years of approximately 1860 and 1900. ... Matt Helm, a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton, is a U.S. government counteragent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers. ...

Hamilton was born March 24, 1916 in Uppsala, Sweden. He later emigrated to the United States, attended the University of Chicago (receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1938), and served in the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. He was married to Kathleen Hamilton (née Stick) from 1941 until her death in 1989. The couple had four children: Hugo, Elise, Gordon, and Victoria Hamilton. 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaskas Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... Uppsala (older spelling Upsala) 59°51′ N 17°38′ E is a Swedish City in central Sweden, located about 70 km north of Stockholm. ... The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890, doors opened in 1892. ... The United States Navy Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Navy. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 37 million Civilians 25 million military World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest war in...

A long-time resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hamilton is a skilled outdoorsman and hunter who wrote non-fiction articles for outdoor magazines and published a book-length collection of them. For a number of years after leaving Santa Fe he lived on his own yacht, then relocated to Sweden where, as of 2004, he still resides. A number of his Matt Helm novels are situated in the Santa Fe area and American Southwest in general; as Hamilton developed an interest in boating, many of the books began to have a nautical background as well. Santa Fe (Spanish, Holy Faith) (full form: La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís, English: Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Official languages English Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson (D) Senators Pete Domenici (R) Jeff Bingaman (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 5th 315,194 km² 0. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Hamilton began his writing career in 1947, as American publishers began to experiment with issuing original paperback fiction. His first eleven novels, published between 1947 and 1959, were typical paperback originals of the era: fast-moving, formulaic tales with lurid covers and limited characterization. The most interesting of them is, arguably, Assignment: Murder, (alternate title: Assassins Have Starry Eyes), in which a mathematician working on nuclear bomb design has to save his kidnapped wife from a pair of shadowy villains.

The Matt Helm series, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books (ending with The Damagers in 1993 although another Matt Helm book, The Dominators, was completed in 1996 but not published), was more substantial. Helm, a wartime OSS agent who is drawn back into the world of espionage and assassination after fifteen years as a civilian, narrates his adventures in a brisk, matter-of-fact tone. He describes gunfights, knife fights, torture, and (off-stage) sexual conquests with a carefully maintained professional detachment, like a pathologist dictating an autopsy report or a police officer describing an investigation. Over the course of the series, this detachment comes to define Helm's character. He is a skilled professional doing a job that he's good at; the job just happens to be killing people. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime (but not direct) precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. ...

Helm's cold professionalism invites comparison with Ian Fleming's James Bond, but he does not share Bond's materialism or hedonism. He has more in common with Sam Spade, the private-eye hero of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, or Stephen Hunter's master sniper Bob Lee Swagger. Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was an English author, best remembered for writing the James Bond series of novels as well as a childrens story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. ... Official sites James Bond Official Homepage Official Danjaq 007 website Ian Fleming Publications official website Miss Moneypennys Rolodex Mr. ... Poster of the 1941 Warner Brothers film version of The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston Sam Spade was the leading character in the novel and movie The Maltese Falcon (1931). ... Raymond Chandler, in The Simple Art of Murder Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. ... Actors Bogart, Lorre, Astor and Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941) The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, made into a quintessential film noir movie. ... Stephen Hunter is an American author born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1946. ...

External link

• Matt Helm: The Unofficial Home Page