American western, mystery and espionage writer, whose best know character was Matt Helm, a professional assassin working for a secret government agency. Helm, code named Eric, was a much more ruthless agent than his British colleague, Ian Fleming's James Bond. The famous 007 has a licence to kill but he actually matches violence with violence in self defense or to save the word or a beautiful woman. Helm is a pragmatic pro, who kills without remorse, like he was working on an assembly line business. Hamilton was nominated in 1977 and 1978 for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original by the Mystery Writers of America.