Robert McGinnis (1) (1926–)

The Mike Shayne mystery series eventually grew to 77 novels, all
penned under the name Brett Halliday, originally used by Davis
Dressner as a pseudonym and later as a house name by Robert Terrall,
Ryerson Johnson, and Dennis Lynds. At its best, the Shayne series
featured a tough, no-nonsense, hardboiled, redheaded detective.

Dividend On Death, originally published in 1939, is one of the best the series, as tough as it gets, as hardboiled as it gets. It is everything
that a Michael Shayne novel should be and few of the other novels met
this pinnacle of success.
For the Mike Shayne fan who has read other novels in the series, a lot
of the usual stuff is here, including murders on a Miami Beach estate,
Shayne up to it in his eyeballs, a lushy sexy femme fatale of a nurse,
bodies falling wherever Mike turns, a young, seemingly innocent
heiress, a few half out of their mind people, Chief Peter Painter and
Chief Will Gentry, and people warning Shayne off the case before he
can even put his finger on what is going on. Lucy Hamilton, who later
became his right-hand girl and the best secretary imaginable, doesn't
make an appearance till later in the series, but Phyllis does and, early
in the Shayne legacy, she was quite important.

Dividend on Death is dark, cloudy, and, at the same time, hot as oil
leaping off a griddle. Its sexy, pulpy, and just a plain good read for
anyone who enjoys hardboiled detective yarns from the forties and
fifties.… (meer)

This Mike Shayne mystery stands out because it starts out with two parallel narratives, one from the criminal's point of view and one from Shayne's point of view. In fact, given the manner in which it starts out, you might be forgiven if you think this is simply a hardboiled pulp novel about a convict and a gorgeous blonde he finds waiting for him outside the prison. In fact, the convict (Clayt) has no idea who Miriam is or what she wants from him. He just knows he never had it so good.

The interplay between these two tough pulpy characters is perfect and shows another side to the writing skill of whoever was writing under the Halliday name at the time.

Meanwhile, someone is trying to rub out Shayne and the entire town is an uproar. Of course, at some point these two narratives coalesce.

Found this to be a solid read and quite different from the regular who-done-it plots found in Shayne novels. This is one where the reader knows more than the characters. There's a bit of a harder edge to this one, particularly when Bonnie and Clyde - er- Miriam and Clay are
involved. She's the perfect blonde femme fatale, tough as they come,
focused, determined. He's a great criminal, particularly being a master
of disguise.

Lots of action in this one from bombings to armed robbery to shootouts.
Great stuff.… (meer)

Killers From a The Keys is one of the shorter and more fast-paced Mike Shayne novels. It's a whirlwind of action and involves a strip club dancer from a swamp town, a man on the run from Chicago, kidnapping, murder, hoods, bookies, and greed. It also begins with an angry hard-charging Shayne who can't stand the Syndicate getting a foothold in town and won't sit still for it. One of the best scenes ever is the opening where Shayne finds his office invaded by a teenage beauty queen who makes herself right at home. Overall, it's a great read.… (meer)

Blondes, Revolutionaries, And Bullets

Fit to Kill was the first of the ghost-written Mike Shayne novels. Robert Terrall wrote this one, a few others, and the last twenty. All of the ghost writers who wrote under the Halliday name were good, solid pulp writers. There is simply a different feel or rhythm to these books than those of the original Halliday, Dresser.

In Fit to Kill, no attempt was made to mimic earlier Shayne novels. Rather, an entirely different novel (at least the first part) was created, focusing on an American newspaper reporter (Tim Rourke) in an unnamed Latin American country dealing with a brutal dictatorship and a gang of revolutionaries. Of course, this being a pulp novel, Rourke also gets involved with a gorgeous curvy blonde and a mysterious package that everyone seems to want. The international intrigue that marks the first part of the novel eventually gives way to a Miami adventure where Shayne gets involved with smugglers, kidnappers, revolutionaries, thugs, and gamblers.

Overall, it's a good adventure read and works well.… (meer)