The Killers

by Ernest Hemingway · 1927

The Killers is a short story by Ernest Hemingway first published in Scribner's Magazine in 1927. It later appeared in the collections Men Without Women, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Nick Adams Stories. Set in the small town of Summit, Illinois during Prohibition, the narrative follows two hired gunmen who enter Henry’s lunchroom looking for a man who knows his fate is sealed. Through the eyes of the young Nick Adams, the story explores themes of fatalism, the inevitability of death, and the stark, understated style that defines Hemingway’s hard‑boiled crime fiction.