Mickey Spillane was married three times and had four children

He wrote about two dozen books - including The Killing Man and Vengeance is Mine - many of which featured his signature detective Mike Hammer.

Spillane was known as a master of storytelling and punchy dialogue by the millions who read his often sexy, violent and graphic novels.

And while he was never a hit with the literary critics, it was not something that concerned Spillane who did not care about reviews.

Trampoline performer

Spillane was born Frank Morrison Spillane in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918.

After dropping out of law school in 1935, he started to write for fiction magazines and comic strips, but his early career was halted by the outbreak of World War II.

During the conflict he joined the US Army Air Forces as a flight instructor and took part in several missions.

Spillane resumed writing on his return, and also starred as a trampoline performer with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Spillane also worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a short spell where he was shot twice and knifed during a drug trafficking investigation.

Spillane worked for the FBI after World War II

It was while working for the FBI that he wrote his first Mike Hammer novel - I, the Jury - in 1947, taking just days to complete the manuscript.

The book was an instant hit, and quickly propelled Spillane up the bestseller list.

He went on to write six more novels before taking a break in 1952 after becoming a Jehovah's Witness.

Spillane's beliefs took him across the US during the 1950s to spread his religious message, but returned to his desk to write four more Hammer novels before 1970.

Hammer reappeared in two best-sellers in 1986 and 1990.

Many of the books were made into films, including the classic film noir Kiss Me, Deadly and The Girl Hunters.

Hammer stories were also featured on TV in the series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, while Spillane himself played Hammer in the 1963 film The Girl Hunters.

He also appeared in a 1974 episode of the detective series Columbo.

Spillane also turned out several novels with other characters, including the former communist-hating spy Tiger Mann.

Married three times, Spillane was the father of four children.