The Mike Shayne Mysteries/Michael Shayne series is written by Brett Halliday. The name Brett Halliday is actually a pen name used by Davis Dresser.

The author was born in Chicago and grew up in Texas. At the age of 14, he ran away from home and joined the U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment. He then worked in Border Patrol before returning to school. He wrote the first Michael Shayne and saw it get rejected by over twenty publishers before being accepted. The series went on to be one of the biggest successes of his career. The character would go on to appear in twelve films, a radio series, and an NBC television series.

Publication Order of Michael Shayne Books

Dividend on Death(1939)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Private Practice of Michael Shayne(1940)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Uncomplaining Corpses(1940)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Tickets for Death(1941)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Bodies Are Where You Find Them(1941)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Case of the Walking / Corpse Came Calling(1943)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask / In a Deadly Vein(1943)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Blood on the Black Market(1943)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Michael Shayne's Long Chance(1944)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder and the Married Virgin(1944)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder is My Business(1945)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Marked For Murder(1945)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Blood on Biscayne Bay(1946)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Counterfeit Wife(1947)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Blood on the Stars / Murder Is a Habit(1948)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Taste for Violence(1949)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Call for Michael Shayne(1949)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
This is it, Michael Shayne(1950)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Framed in Blood(1951)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
When Dorinda Dances(1951)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Taste for Cognac(1951)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
What Really Happened(1952)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
One Night with Nora / The Lady Came By Night(1953)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
She Woke to Darkness(1954)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Death Has Three Lives(1955)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Stranger in Town(1955)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Blonde Cried Murder(1956)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Heads You Lose(1956)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Weep for a Blonde(1957)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Shoot the works(1957)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder and the Wanton Bride(1958)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Fit to Kill(1958)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Date with a Dead Man(1959)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Target(1959)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Die Like A Dog(1959)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder Takes No Holiday(1960)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Dolls Are Deadly(1960)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Homicidal Virgin(1960)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Killers from the Keys(1961)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder in Haste(1961)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Careless Corpse(1961)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Pay-Off in Blood(1962)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder by Proxy(1962)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Never Kill a Client(1962)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Too Friendly, Too Dead(1962)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Corpse That Never Was(1963)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Body Came Back(1963)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Redhead(1964)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Shoot to Kill(1964)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Violent World of Michael Shayne(1965)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Nice Fillies Finish Last(1965)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder Spins the Wheel(1966)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Armed... Dangerous...(1966)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mermaid on the Rocks(1967)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Guilty as Hell(1967)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
So Lush, So Deadly(1968)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lady, be Bad(1969)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Six Seconds to Kill(1970)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Fourth Down to Death(1970)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Count Backwards to Zero(1971)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
I Come To Kill You(1971)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Caught Dead(1972)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Kill All the Young Girls(1973)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Blue Murder(1973)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Last Seen Hitchhiking(1974)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
At The Point of A .38(1974)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Million Dollar Handle(1976)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Win Some, Lose Some(1976)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

If You Like Michael Shayne Books, You’ll Love…

Dividend on Death is the first book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries series. The story begins with Shayne pouring himself a drink when Phyllis Brighton tries to jump out of the window of his apartment. He manages to block her before she does. The woman warned him that she was crazy, but Mike didn’t believe her. Her doctor and stepfather believe that she is suffering from a deadly obsession with her mother. Shayne agrees to help keep Phyllis from killing her mother. That doesn’t stop her mother from dying though, being stabbed in the back with a knife. Everyone thinks Phyllis is guilty, but Shayne isn’t so sure and he sets out to prove it.

Another good book in the series is called The Corpse Came Calling. In this book, Shayne is on the hot seat as he is accused of homicide. An old friend named Jim wants to meet him and heads to his office, but the man is dying as he walks in and dies on the office floor. The police think he did it, but he’ll look to clear his name and find out who really did it.

Book Notification
Order of Books » Characters » Order of Michael Shayne Books

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