Mickey Spillane Highway (Murrells Inlet, SC)

Seeking Myrtle Beach's Grand Strange is a ten-part series by author Jim MacKenzie where he visits and writes about strange attractions in the Myrtle Beach area. In this installment, MacKenzie takes a drive down the Mickey Spillane Highway.

Mickey Spillane burst into the pulp fiction and crime noir scene during the 1940s with his hard-boiled, shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later detective novels starring Mike Hammer. During his lifetime, Spillane sold millions of crime novels and won many awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Grand Master Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America.

Spillane called Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, home. He lived there for several decades until his death, losing his home once in 1989 to the very destructive Hurricane Hugo.

His first novel, I, the Jury, in 1947, sold over six million copies, making it an instant, overnight success. In fact, during the mid-1950s, it was discovered that six Spillane novels were among some of the best selling American books of all time.

The Murrells Inlet community named U.S 17 Business the "Mickey Spillane Waterfront 17 Highway” in 2011. Sadly, Spillane never got to drive on his eponymous highway after succumbing to pancreatic cancer in 2006.

What To Know Before You Go

Location: US 17 Business, Murrells Inlet, SC

JIM MACKENZIE
Jim MacKenzie lives in Asheville, comfortably hidden away in the mountains of Western North Carolina. He's appeared in Bride of the Monster Serial, a horror compilation book about forgotten monster movies. Jim enjoys writing about authors, especially regional, and researching literary history. He enjoys the strange and the uncanny, but never both together. That's just overwhelming. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing music, and travel.