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Brett Halliday

Born: July 31, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois
Pen Name: Davis Dresser, Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, Hal Debrett, Don Davis, and Anderson Wayn

Connection to Illinois: Halliday was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Biography: Halliday was best known for his long-lived series of Mike Shayne novels. Most of his novels were written under the pen name of Davis Dresser but he also wrote non-series mysteries, westerns and romances under the pen names Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, Hal Debrett, Don Davis, and Anderson Wayne. The Shayne series went on to be highly successful and twelve motion pictures were made, seven of them featuring Lloyd Nolan as Shayne. Five of the Nolan films, which were produced by 20th Century Fox, have been released on DVD: ''Michael Shayne, Private Detective''; ''Sleepers West''; ''Dressed to Kill''; ''Blue, White and Perfect''; and ''The Man Who Wouldn't Die''. After the Fox series ended, five more Shayne films were made by PRC which featured Hugh Beaumont as the detective. There was also a TV series in 1960, starring Richard Denning. The 2005 film ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' is based partly on Halliday's novel ''Bodies Are Where You Find Them''. Dresser was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America, and in 1954 he and McCloy were given Edgar Awards for their critical writings on the genre. He lived in Santa Barbara, California, until his death at the age of 72.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Mysteries; Romance; Westerns

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Halliday
Brett Halliday on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=brett++halliday


Selected Titles

  Armed ... dangerous ...
ISBN: 1471916294 OCLC: 920846511

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  At the point of a .38.
ISBN: 147191657X OCLC: 920846573

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Blonde cried murder.
ISBN: 1471915778 OCLC: 945031825

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Blood on biscayne bay.
ISBN: 1471915514 OCLC: 945031840

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Blood on the black market.
ISBN: 1471915395 OCLC: 920846136

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Blood on the stars.
ISBN: 9781784976835 OCLC: 945031796

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Blue murder.
ISBN: 1471916537 OCLC: 920846556

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Bodies are where you find them.
ISBN: 1471915336 OCLC: 920846133

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Body Came Back.
ISBN: 1784979287 OCLC: 949754640

Head of Zeus, 2016.

A call from a killer sends Mike Shayne hurtling toward the brink.

  Call for michael shayne.
ISBN: 147191559X OCLC: 945031789

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

Careless Corpse.
ISBN: 1784979147 OCLC: 949754699

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne battles blackmailers to recover a valuable missing bracelet.

  Caught dead.
ISBN: 1471916499 OCLC: 920846543

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Corpse Came Calling.
ISBN: 150401278X OCLC: 908244394

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport, United States : 2015.

Mike Shayne is accused of homicide after a dying man stumbles into his office When an old friend calls begging to see him immediately, Mike Shayne is surprised to say the least. He hasn't set eyes on Jim Lacy in ten years, and time has not been kind. Jim's face is deeply wrinkled, and his eyes are glazed. His skin is gray--and there is blood seeping through his shirt. Jim mutters a few last words as he collapses on Shayne's office floor. His stomach is filled with lead and he is dead before he hits the ground. Shayne reaches into Lacy's pocket and pulls out his wallet. Emptying it, he finds $200--enough for a retainer fee. Mike Shayne has never let a client's murder go unpunished, and he will not rest until he catches the men who shot Jim Lacy and sent him to die. But first he will have to convince the police that he was not the man who pulled the trigger.

Corpse That Never Was.
ISBN: 1784979279 OCLC: 949754823

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne finds strange secrets hidden beneath the cover of a grisly double suicide.

  Count backwards to zero.
ISBN: 1471916456 OCLC: 920846541

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Counterfeit wife.
ISBN: 1471915530 OCLC: 920846170

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Date with a dead man.
ISBN: 9781784976743 OCLC: 945031810

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

Death has three lives.
ISBN: 9781784976767 OCLC: 945031819

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

Die Like a Dog.
ISBN: 1784979155 OCLC: 949754840

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne goes grave robbing in a pet cemetery to solve the case of a millionaire's murder.

  Dividend on death.
ISBN: 1471915255 OCLC: 920846008

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Dolls are deadly.
ISBN: 1471915956 OCLC: 920846288

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Fit to kill.
ISBN: 9781784976781 OCLC: 945031648

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Fourth down to death.
ISBN: 147191643X OCLC: 920846540

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Framed in blood
ISBN: 9781504014397 OCLC: 910447686

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport : 2015.

When a blackmail scheme goes wrong, Mike Shayne is left to pick up the pieces Bert Jackson could have been a great reporter, if he had the patience for it. Married to a woman with expensive taste, Jackson has spent himself into the kind of debt that he'll never pay off at 62.50 a week. He needs a big score, and he needs it tonight. Working the city hall beat, Jackson has stumbled upon the greatest corruption scandal in Miami history. If he publishes it, he could win a Pulitzer. But it's money that he wants, and he'll risk death to get it. Using the information in his story, Jackson plans t.

  Guilty as hell.
ISBN: 1471916332 OCLC: 920846513

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Homicidal Virgin.
ISBN: 1784979112 OCLC: 949754844

Head of Zeus, 2016.

A desperate want ad draws Mike Shayne into a tangled murder plot.

  I come to kill you.
ISBN: 1471916472 OCLC: 920846542

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Kill all the young girls.
ISBN: 1471916510 OCLC: 920846555

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Killers from the Keys.
ISBN: 1784979198 OCLC: 949754591

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne takes a dip in the deadly Florida Keys for a dancer named Sloe Burn.

  Lady, be bad.
ISBN: 1471916391 OCLC: 920846538

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Last seen hitchhiking.
ISBN: 1471916553 OCLC: 920846544

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Marked for murder.
ISBN: 9781784976972 OCLC: 945031860

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Mermaid on the rocks.
ISBN: 1471916316 OCLC: 920846512

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Michael shayne's 50th case.
ISBN: 1471916219 OCLC: 920846503

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Michael Shayne's Long Chance.
ISBN: 150401281X OCLC: 908244339

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport, United States : 2015.

A search for a missing girl takes grief-stricken Mike Shayne to New Orleans It was a knife that brought Mike and Phyllis Shayne together--the murder weapon that Mike had to prove Phyllis did not bury in her mother's back. But years after they met, fell in love, and got married, Phyllis is dead, and the knife is just another blade. Grieving the loss of his wife, Mike decides he has had enough of Miami, where he and his beloved made a life together, and plans to move to New York and start again. But the South is not through with him yet. As Mike prepares to leave Miami for good, a worried father comes to him, begging him to help find his missing daughter. She is a depressive morphine addict who recently tried to take her own life. When that failed, she fled to New Orleans to throw herself into the arms of the drug. In order to help protect the girl from herself, Shayne musters up the strength to go to the Crescent City, but terrible dangers await him in French Quarter.

  Million dollar handle.
ISBN: 1471916596 OCLC: 920846574

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Murder and the Married Virgin.
ISBN: 1504012828 OCLC: 908244383

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport, United States : 2015.

Mike Shayne investigates an impossible murder in the Big Easy It's not often that Mike Shayne runs with an honorable crowd, but there is a lieutenant in his office mourning the fiancée who killed herself the day before. Honest and heartbroken, he begs this hardened private investigator for help answering one simple, impossible question: Why? It's a question Shayne has been asking ever since his wife was murdered in Miami and he moved to New Orleans to escape her memory. For the sake of a soldier, he will put his own mourning aside and try to explain a suicide that looks an awful lot like murder. Katrin Moe was working as a maid in the home of a wealthy New Orleans family when she was found locked in her room, the gas pumping full blast. Coincidentally, a priceless emerald necklace went missing from the house a few days before and the insurance company hired Shayne to find it. On the hunt for a killer, Shayne will find that the necklace and the crook are more closely related than meets the eye.

  Murder and the Wanton Bride :
ISBN: 1504014626 OCLC: 913097461

MysteriousPress.com : New York : 2015.

A beachside slaying threatens to put Mike Shayne behind bars No one at the hotel gives a damn about Walter Carson. There aren't any letters for him at the front desk or calls at reception. Bellboys, waiters, and bartenders all ignore him. When he reaches out to strangers, they look away. He's alone in the world--and worse, he's gripped by an icy terror that follows him everywhere. One night, it catches up to him. Carson, unloved and unknown, is found dead with a bullet between his eyes. In the dead man's pocket, the police find a newspaper clipping about Mike Shayne, Miami's toughest private investigator. The local chief is convinced Shayne was connected to the murder, and he will do whatever is necessary to put the detective behind bars. Shayne can handle the cops--it's Carson's widow that he needs to worry about.

Murder by Proxy.
ISBN: 1784979082 OCLC: 949754846

Head of Zeus, 2016.

A beautiful woman vanishes while on vacation in Miami, and it's up to Mike Shayne to find her.

Murder in Haste.
ISBN: 1784979139 OCLC: 949754723

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne has 24 hours to find out the truth and save a man from death row.

  Murder is my business.
ISBN: 1471915476 OCLC: 920846167

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Murder spins the wheel.
ISBN: 1471916278 OCLC: 920846510

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Murder Takes No Holiday.
ISBN: 1784979171 OCLC: 949754838

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne tackles a smuggling ring while on a Caribbean vacation.

Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask.
ISBN: 1504012798 OCLC: 908244378

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport, United States : 2015.

At a Colorado theatre festival, Mike Shayne investigates a miner's murder Private inspector Mike Shayne and his young bride, Phyllis, have escaped Miami for a badly needed vacation, taking in a theatre festival in the picturesque mountains of Colorado. Once a year, this cozy little town is overrun by actors, playwrights, directors, and aficionados, all of whom are as interested in cocktail parties as they are in what happens onstage. After a tiring day, Mike and Phyllis are having drinks in the hotel bar when they hear a woman scream. Her name is Nora Carson, and she is visibly shaken. After ten long years, Nora believes she has just seen her father, an eccentric old prospector, standing right outside the hotel window. She chases after him, but by the time she reaches him, it is too late. Hours after making his big strike, Nora's father is dead--and it's up to Mike Shayne to discover who snuffed him out.

  Never kill a client
ISBN: 147191609X OCLC: 916528886

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, New York : 2015.

Mike Shayne finds himself caught up in a strange conspiracy when he's invited to Los Angeles by a terrified woman It's the end of summer and Miami is as quiet as the grave. To Mike Shayne, the city's most notorious private detective, it seems as though he'll never have another case like the ones that made his reputation: matters of life and death that can only be solved by quick thinking, fast fists, and an itchy trigger finger. And then comes the letter from Los Angeles. It holds a plane ticket, half a $1,000 bill, and a desperate appeal. Come to L.A., begs the woman who penned the letter, or it will be my death sentence. Before he even lands in L.A., Shayne is enmeshed in a plot straight out of Hollywood. And when his mysterious client proves impossible to find, the detective worries he's been lured into a deadly trap. Never Kill a Client is the 44th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

  Nice fillies finish last.
ISBN: 1471916251 OCLC: 920845543

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

One night with nora.
ISBN: 9781784976828 OCLC: 945031795

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Pay-Off in Blood.
ISBN: 1784979090 OCLC: 949754845

Head of Zeus, 2016.

A desperate doctor hires Mike Shayne for a case that starts with blackmail and ends with murder.

Private practice of Michael Shayne :
ISBN: 9781504012744 OCLC: 908244572

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, New York : 2015.

For the sake of his friends, Mike Shayne tangles with blackmailers--and a murderer The day he met Phyllis Brighton, Mike Shayne saved her from jumping out a window-- and he has been rescuing her ever since. First he helped her beat a murder wrap; now he's trying to pry her away from the sleaziest lawyer in Dade County: Harry Grange. A mouthpiece for every crook in Miami, Grange is running a blackmail racket when Shayne sees him with Phyllis on his arm at a local gambling hall. Shayne warns his friend to ditch her crooked beau, but she is too proud to take his advice. Unfortunately for her, the relationship will end with murder. Shayne gets the call just after he gets back to his office. Harry Grange has been found dead on the sands of Miami Beach. Even worse, Shayne's gun is missing and his friend Larry Kincaid may have used it to gun down the blackmailing lawyer. To save his friends, Mike Shayne will have to outsmart the cleverest killer in town.

  Redhead for michael shayne.
ISBN: 1471916170 OCLC: 920846480

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  She woke to darkness.
ISBN: 1471915719 OCLC: 945031826

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

Shoot the works
ISBN: 1504014618 OCLC: 913097393

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, New York : 2015.

Mike Shayne investigates the case of a murdered husband and a high-stakes embezzlement plot Mike Shayne finds the dead man in the bedroom. The corpse sports a bowtie, polished black shoes, and a tidy little hole right between his eyes. His name is James Wallace, and no one could've killed him but his wife. Shayne's lover, Lucy Hamilton, begs him to clear the widow's name. He promises do his best, but even for a detective who's famous for solving impossible cases, this one may be out of reach. In Wallace's pockets are a passport and two tickets for South America--neither of which were intended for his wife. Furthermore, $100,000 recently disappeared from the deceased's office, making Wallace look like an adulterer, a conman, and a thief. The truth, Shayne will find, is far less pretty.

Shoot to Kill.
ISBN: 1784979252 OCLC: 949754825

Head of Zeus, 2016.

Mike Shayne investigates the connection between a flirtatious wife, a husband blinded by jealousy, and a murdered boss.

  Six seconds to kill.
ISBN: 1471916413 OCLC: 920846539

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  So lush, so deadly.
ISBN: 1471916359 OCLC: 920846431

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Stranger in Town.
ISBN: 1504014588 OCLC: 913097267

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport, United States : 2015.

In a strange town, Mike Shayne meets a deadly damsel in distress Mike Shayne is 3 hours from Miami when the sun dips below the horizon and he decides to make a pit stop. For Shayne, that means cognac, and the only bar in town is a lonely little dive whose inhabitants don't look friendly. Shayne doesn't care. The barkeep pulls a dusty bottle down from the top shelf, and Shayne is settling into his drink when a blonde walks through the door. As the detective admires her, she raises her hand ... and with a gesture of her dainty little finger, marks him for death. Two men wrestle Shayne outside, beat him senseless, and try to run him over with their car. To escape this hayseed town alive, Shayne will have to discover the identity of the dame from the bar--and why she chose for him to die.

Target :
ISBN: 9781504014656 OCLC: 946536336

MysteriousPress.com, New York, NY : 2015.

Out of jail and hungry for revenge, a career criminal comes after Mike Shayne They call him the Actor. An armed robber with a sense of style, Bram Clayton planned every heist with care, slipping so convincingly into the actions and motives of his characters that even experts couldn't tell him apart from the real thing. He played electricians, salesmen, even a bank examiner, but for the last 13 years he's been stuck in a single role: jailbird. When Clayton finally earns freedom, he has no trouble convincing the warden he's going to stay straight, but the Actor is about to pull the greatest heist of his career. There's a beautiful woman waiting for Clayton when he gets out. An old friend with an ulterior motive, she comes equipped with a bottle of whiskey, a carton of cigarettes, clean clothes, a gun, and a plan for a $200,000 heist so simple that it's almost a sure thing-so long as it isn't upset by Clayton's hunger for revenge against the man who put him away: legendary detective Mike Shayne. Target: Mike Shayne is the 34th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Taste for violence.
ISBN: 9781784976941 OCLC: 945031787

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

  Tickets for death.
ISBN: 147191531X OCLC: 920846132

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

Too Friendly.
ISBN: 1784979295 OCLC: 949754639

Head of Zeus, 2016.

An ordinary chump has been murdered - and Mike Shayne has 36 hours to find the killer.

  Violence is golden.
ISBN: 1471916375 OCLC: 920846432

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Violent world of michael shayne.
ISBN: 1471916235 OCLC: 920846504

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

  Weep for a Blonde
ISBN: 150401460X OCLC: 913097380

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, New York : 2015.

A blonde with a rotten husband sends Mike Shayne into the past Mike Shayne isn't scared of anyone, but that doesn't mean he feels comfortable in a tuxedo. He squeezes into the monkey suit for the sake of Lucy Hamilton, his beloved secretary, and grins and bears his way through a meal at the ultra-posh Martinique. The detective is just settling into the evening when he sees a woman who stops his blood cold: Lydia Kane, a friend of his late wife. She's polite, but her eyes show mortal terror. The reunion is soon broken up by Lydia's husband, a squat thug who explodes at Shayne for talking to his wife. The men exchange harsh words, then swift punches, which causes Shayne and Lucy to be kicked out of Martinique. When Lydia is murdered soon after, Shayne suspects her husband is the killer. But how can the detective prove it when the police are hot on his own trail?

What really happened.
ISBN: 9781784976910 OCLC: 945031833

Head Of Zeus [Place of publication not identified] :

When Dorinda Dances.
ISBN: 9781504014410 OCLC: 910447684

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, Newburyport : 2015.

To save a judge's daughter, Mike Shayne must invade the red-light district For twenty years, Judge Nigel Lansdowne has been one of Washington's greatest progressives. The red-baiters in Congress would do anything to destroy his reputation, and they may have found the perfect weapon. Her name is Julia, but when she dances she goes by Dorinda. The judge's daughter came to Miami in search of a new life, and she found it dancing nude in the city's infamous red-light district. Mike Shayne is hired to bring Julia home before the judge's enemies learn of her new career, but his real job will be kee.

  Win some, lose some.
ISBN: 1471916618 OCLC: 920846575

The Murder Room, [Place of publication not identified] : 2015.

 

 

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