''Murderers' Row'' is the title of a 1962 spy novel by

Donald Hamilton Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime ...

. It was the fifth novel featuring his creation

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of t ...

, a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

assassin recruited as a counter-agent by a secret American agency. This was the last Matt Helm novel to not use Hamilton's naming convention of ''The (Verb)-ers'' (as in '' The Annihilators'', ''

The Ambushers ''The Ambushers'' is a novel by Donald Hamilton first published in 1963, continuing the exploits of assassin Matt Helm. Plot introduction Matt Helm conducts a by-the-book assassination in the (fictional) Central American nation of Costa Verde. A ...

'', etc.). The expression " murderers' row" had been used previously to describe the batting line-up of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

baseball team in the late 1920s.The Big Apple: Murderers' Row
Barry Popik. Accessed October 29, 2007.

Plot summary

Matt Helm, codenamed "Eric", is given a tough and distasteful assignment: to physically assault a fellow female agent in order to help establish her cover in an undercover operation. In doing so, however, Helm accidentally kills the woman, which results in him having to complete the woman's assignment; the assassination of an enemy agent. He is meanwhile being pursued by his own agency, which is considering removing him from active service for his brutality. The location is near Chesapeake Bay.

Film adaptation

''Murderers' Row'' was adapted for the cinema in 1966 as a film of the same name. It was one of four films starring

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

as Helm, and like the other three films the filmmakers chose to make the movie into an action comedy only very loosely based upon the novel (no incident such as Helm's accidental beating death of a female agent occurs in the movie).

References

External links

Book summary webpage
1962 American novels Matt Helm novels American novels adapted into films {{1960s-spy-novel-stub