Brett Halliday

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Brett Halliday's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    99 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    August 1970
  • Latest Book:
    November 2025
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Full Series List in Order

A Mike Shayne Mystery

1 - Dividend on Death (Jun-2015)
2 - The Private Practice of Michael Shayne (Jun-2015)
3 - The Uncomplaining Corpses (Aug-2011)
4 - Tickets for Death (Jun-2015)
5 - Bodies Are Where You Find Them (Aug-1989)
6 - The Corpse Came Calling (Jun-2015)
7 - Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask (Jun-2015)
8 - Heads You Lose (Jun-2015)
9 - Michael Shayne's Long Chance (Jun-2015)
10 - Murder and the Married Virgin (Jun-2015)
12 - Marked for Murder (Jul-2015)
13 - Blood on Biscayne Bay (Jul-2015)
14 - Counterfeit Wife (Jul-2015)
15 - Blood on the Stars (Jul-2015)
16 - A Taste for Violence (Jul-2015)
17 - Call for Michael Shayne (Jul-2015)
18 - This Is It, Michael Shayne (Jul-2015)
19 - Framed in Blood (Jul-2015)
20 - What Really Happened (Jul-2015)
21 - When Dorinda Dances (Jul-2015)
22 - One Night with Nora (Aug-2015)
23 - She Woke to Darkness (Aug-2015)
24 - Death Has Three Lives (Aug-2015)
25 - Stranger in Town (Aug-2015)
26 - The Blonde Cried Murder (Aug-2015)
27 - Weep for a Blonde (Aug-2015)
28 - Shoot the Works (Aug-2015)
29 - Murder and the Wanton Bride (Aug-2015)
30 - Fit to Kill (Jan-1989)
31 - Date with a Dead Man (Aug-2015)
32 - Target: Mike Shayne (Sep-2015)
33 - Die Like a Dog (Feb-1989)
34 - Murder Takes No Holiday (Sep-2015)
36 - The Homicidal Virgin (Sep-2015)
37 - Killers from the Keys (Sep-2015)
38 - Murder in Haste (Sep-2015)
39 - The Careless Corpse (Sep-2015)
40 - Pay-Off in Blood (Sep-2015)
41 - Murder by Proxy (Sep-2015)
42 - Never Kill a Client (Sep-2015)
45 - Too Friendly, Too Dead (Oct-2015)
46 - The Corpse That Never Was (Oct-2015)
47 - The Body Came Back (Oct-2015)
48 - A Redhead for Mike Shayne (Oct-2015)
50 - Mike Shayne's 50th Case (Oct-2015)

Book List in Order: 99 titles

  • Nice Fillies Finish Last

    MURDER DERBY It started when a hot tip on a sure winner turned a born loser into a cold corpse. By the time Mike Shayne got into the act, a fast killer was out to lead the pack of victims all the way to the finish line. Mike knew the odds were ...

  • Guilty As Hell

    Corporate espionage is no day job for PI Mike Shayne as he roots out secrets in the professional and personal lives of Miami's movers and shakers.   To the owner of a family-operated chemical company, Mike Shayne has the perfect skills...

  • Fit to Kill

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 30

    A friend's disappearance sends Mike Shayne to the Caribbean Timothy Rourke made his name as a Miami crime reporter, but he never knew true evil until he came to the Caribbean. In a corrupt tropical country, where beatings and murders pass for ord...

  • Die Like a Dog

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 33

    Mike Shayne goes grave robbing in a pet cemetery to solve the case of a millionaire's murder It's 11:00 am, and Mike Shayne has just poured himself a cognac, when Henrietta Rogell strolls into his office. Normally, Shayne would extend no special ...

  • Dolls Are Deadly

  • Murder Is My Business

    Hard Case Crime - 66

    MURDER AT THE RIO GRANDE

    Ten years ago, private eye Mike Shayne did a job for one of the richest men in El Paso, digging up dirt on a boy courting the tycoon’s daughter. Now the daughter’s back, all grown up and dangerous. And so’s Shay...

  • Bodies Are Where You Find Them

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 5

    A disappearing corpse draws Miami PI Mike Shayne into a deadly political conspiracy in this hardboiled mystery that inspired the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. A year after marrying the toughest PI in Miami, Phyllis Shayne longs for a few weeks alone...

  • Shoot to Kill

    Mike Shayne investigates the connection between a flirtatious wife, a husband blinded by jealousy, and a murdered boss Just 3 years ago, Ralph Larson and his wife were newlyweds, the happiest young couple in Miami. But since Larson went to work f...

  • The Uncomplaining Corpses

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 3

    The honeymoon is over -- and it's time for Mike Shayne to prepare for Miami's killing season For years, Mike Shayne has tangled with the toughest crooks the country has to offer, outsmarting some and outpunching the rest. He was good at his job, ...



  • Death Goes To The Post

    Street & Smith’s Detective Story, January 1943DEATH GOES TO THE POSTby Davis Dresseras Brett HallidayMichael Shayne lays down a bet at Hialeah -- and so manages to make a losing ticket pay off on a corpse.One of the most successful of all fictional...

  • Don't Fence Me Out

    Mammoth Detective, August 1945DON’T FENCE ME OUTA Michael Shayne Mysteryby Davis Dresseras Brett HallidayNobody could figure why Moore refused to halt at a sentry’s command when it meant death to go on. To learn why a civilian was shot down by an...

  • Women Are Poison

    PERIL PRESS presents:Detective Fiction Weekly, Oct 31 1936Saint Detective Magazine, Dec 1954WOMEN ARE POISONby Davis Dressleras by Brett Halliday (1954 publication)as by Davis Dressler (1936 publication)The Kid had the instincts of a cobra. But his v...

  • The Corpse Came Calling

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 6

    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 k...

  • Dividend on Death

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 1

    A mentally ill woman is accused of killing her mother in this classic Mike Shayne novel from the legendary detective author. Mike Shayne has just poured himself a drink when Phyllis Brighton tries to throw herself out the window of his downtown a...

  • Heads You Lose

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 8

    After hearing a murder over the phone, Mike Shayne searches for the killer Woken by the telephone, Mike Shayne is disoriented. Though he has been alone since his wife was murdered, he has not gotten used to sleeping by himself. The voice on the o...

  • Michael Shayne's Long Chance

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 9

    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 m...

  • Murder and the Married Virgin

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 10

    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, h...

  • Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 7

    A private investigator's Colorado vacation is cut short by gold miner's murder in this classic Mike Shayne novel. Private inspector Mike Shayne and his young bride, Phyllis, have escaped Miami for a badly needed vacation, taking in a theatre fest...

  • The Private Practice of Michael Shayne

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 2

    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 rap; now he's trying to pry her away from the sleaziest lawyer in Dade County: Harry Grange...



  • Tickets for Death

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 4

    Mike Shayne receives a tip off from a desperate drunk concerning corruption at the racetrack Marriage hasn't stopped Mike Shayne's phone from ringing. Every night it seems there's some troubled dame calling up with a problem that only Miami's tou...

  • Blood on Biscayne Bay

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 13

    Mike Shayne tangles with a Miami Beach blackmailer on behalf of a long-forgotten friend   It's been four years since his wife was murdered, and Mike Shayne isn't keen to remember the old days. He's back in Miami when he sees Christin...

  • Blood on the Stars

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 15

    Mike Shayne battles a gang of jewel thieves for a priceless ruby bracelet Mike Shayne is just passing through the jeweler's when Mark Dustin comes for the rubies. A big shot gambler with expensive taste, Dustin is looking for an anniversary gift ...

  • Call for Michael Shayne

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 17

    Mike Shayne investigates a murder committed by an amnesiac Arthur Devlin wakes up so hungover that for a moment, he thinks the ship is sinking. As he gets his bearings, he realizes the only storm is inside his own head -- and he isn't on a ship a...

  • Counterfeit Wife

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 14

    A chance encounter at the airport leads Mike Shayne into a ring of counterfeiters   Mike Shayne has been trying to leave Miami for weeks, but something keeps stopping him from returning to New Orleans. He's about to board the midnigh...

  • Framed in Blood

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 19

    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...

  • Marked for Murder

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 12

    When a crime wave grips Miami, Mike Shayne comes home to fight In the city room of the Courier, a reporter blocks out the clatter of typewriters to tell Miami the truth. In the past week, three murders have been committed in Miami Beach, and...

  • A Taste for Violence

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 16

    In a mining town, Mike Shayne finds that buried secrets can be deadly The miners are striking in Centerville, Kentucky, and the town is about to explode. Three men have been killed in the past week, and Charles Roche fears he will be next. Heir t...

  • This Is It, Michael Shayne

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 18

    A reporter anticipates her own death, and Mike Shayne hunts the killer   Sara Morton is one of the toughest reporters in Miami. She made a name for herself in the twenties when she lied her way into Al Capone's mob to get an exclusiv...

  • What Really Happened

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 20

    A mysterious woman draws Mike Shayne into a twisted murder plot The call comes just as Mike Shayne is pouring a much-needed cognac. A gangster's voice warns, "Stay away from Wanda Weatherby." Simple enough -- except that Shayne has never heard of...



  • When Dorinda Dances

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 21

    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 rep...

  • The Blonde Cried Murder

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 26

    Mike Shayne has 2 hours to solve a murder -- or else watch his lover die It's 2 hours before midnight when the woman in room 360 calls the front desk to report a murder. The house detective sprints upstairs, but finds room 360 totally empty: no k...

  • Date with a Dead Man

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 31

    A strange disappearance leads Mike Shayne to investigate a death on the open sea Mike Shayne is savoring a nightcap when his secretary calls in a panic. Lucy Hamilton doesn't scare easily and as soon as Shayne hears her voice, he knows this must ...

  • Death Has Three Lives

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 24

    Mike Shayne leaps into danger after a fugitive collapses on his secretary's floor Before she met Mike Shayne, Lucy Hamilton was just another young woman living in New Orleans. She shared an apartment with her best friend, Arlene, a vivacious youn...

  • Murder and the Wanton Bride

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 29

    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...

  • One Night with Nora

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 22

    A naked intruder leads Mike Shayne to one of the strangest cases of his career Mike Shayne is never surprised to wake up with a woman in his bedroom -- unless she's a stranger. The private investigator is dozing when he hears someone creep throug...

  • She Woke to Darkness

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 23

    A pulp writer tumbles into a mystery after an encounter at an awards banquet For more than a decade, Brett Halliday has made a living chronicling the adventures of the hard-nosed private detective Mike Shayne. At the banquet for the 1953 Edgar Aw...

  • Shoot the Works

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 28

    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 i...

  • Stranger in Town

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 25

    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 d...

  • Weep for a Blonde

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 27

    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 ...



  • The Careless Corpse

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 39

    Mike Shayne battles blackmailers to recover a valuable missing bracelet The picture in the paper shows one of the most beautiful women in Miami wearing nothing more than a negligee. She's in her boudoir, posing for police photographers, pointing ...

  • The Homicidal Virgin

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 36

    A desperate want ad draws Mike Shayne into a tangled murder plot It starts with a post in the classifieds. A woman calls for a red-blooded American, a soldier-of-fortune type willing to do anything if the price is right -- even commit murder. Thi...

  • Killers from the Keys

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 37

    Mike Shayne takes a dip in the deadly Florida Keys for a dancer named Sloe Burn He smells her perfume before he walks through the door. It's called Black Sin, and the woman wearing it certainly lives up to the name. Esther Piney, better known as ...

  • Murder by Proxy

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 41

    A beautiful woman vanishes while on vacation in Miami, and it's up to Mike Shayne to find her When Ellen Harris leaves New York for her 2-week trip to Miami, her husband playfully reminds her to be careful. In a city famous for playboys, loan sha...

  • Murder in Haste

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 38

    Mike Shayne has 24 hours to find out the truth and save a man from death row 3 years ago, Miami Chief of Detectives Peter Painter made the greatest arrest of his career -- one that led to Sam Harris being put on death row for killing Rose Heminwa...

  • Murder Takes No Holiday

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 34

    Mike Shayne tackles a smuggling ring while on a Caribbean vacation A car speeds toward the embankment with one of the most ruthless heroin dealers in the country behind the wheel. Beside him is the legendary detective Mike Shayne, who will take c...

  • Never Kill a Client

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 42

    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 ...

  • Pay-Off in Blood

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 40

    A desperate doctor hires Mike Shayne for a case that starts with blackmail and ends with murder Back when Mike Shayne was living in New Orleans, his best friend, Tim Rourke, got shot on Miami Beach. Rourke, star reporter for the Miami News, was worki...

  • Target: Mike Shayne

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 32

    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 ...

  • Before I Wake

    A teenage girl and her wicked stepmother battle to the death in this pulp fiction classic from the legendary author of the Mike Shayne Mysteries.   Ever since her father wrote to say he had married a woman named Florence, April Haddo...



  • Charlie Dell

    From the author of the Mike Shayne Mysteries: A man's obsessive affair with his wife's teenage sister takes him down a dark and dangerous path.   A quiet construction engineer in Denver, Colorado, Charlie Dell doesn't need any compli...

  • The Kissed Corpse

    When an author finds his friend murdered, he calls on hardboiled cop Jerry Burke to track down the killer In a lonely canyon high above El Paso, a ruthless millionaire and a hardline socialist live side by side. Raymond Dwight makes money mercile...

  • Mum's the Word for Murder

    In this classic crime novel from the creator of Mike Shayne, a writer and an El Paso cop chase a serial killer who taunts them with ads in the local paper.   Action Western novelist Asa Baker is in bad need of a good story when he ge...

  • The Body Came Back

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 47

    A call from a killer sends Mike Shayne hurtling toward the brink A woman sits in the Encanto Hotel on Biscayne Bay, rationing a bottle of scotch and waiting for a call that could change her life. She clutches a marriage announcement that has chil...

  • The Corpse That Never Was

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 46

    Mike Shayne finds strange secrets hidden beneath the cover of a grisly double suicide It's 10:30 pm, and Mike Shayne is sipping cognac, ruminating on the perfection of Lucy Hamilton's fried chicken, when a shotgun fires upstairs. Following the ac...

  • Mike Shayne's 50th Case

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 50

    Mike Shayne tackles a baffling case of adultery and murder in the suburbs of Miami It's the 4th and final day of the convention, and Marvin Blake is ready to go home. Dreading the evening's festivities, he checks out of his hotel early and heads ...

  • A Redhead for Mike Shayne

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 48

    A warehouse robbery pulls Mike Shayne into a daring international conspiracy It's been years since Mike Shayne last subjected himself to a stakeout. Miami's most infamous private detective simply doesn't have time to waste sitting in a car, drink...

  • Too Friendly, Too Dead

    A Mike Shayne Mystery - 45

    An ordinary chump has been murdered -- and Mike Shayne has 36 hours to find the killer When Linda Fitzgilpin is woken by the sound of the ringing telephone, she finds her husband is missing. For years now, Jerome has always slept in his bed acros...

  • Death Rides the Night

    In a formerly peaceful western valley, a sheriff and his friends battle a corrupt land speculator Pat, Sam, and Ezra came to Powder Valley together, to tame the West and find a place to settle down. Soon, Pat is the sheriff, and Sam is married, b...

  • The End of the Trail

    When two prize cattle are slain, the sheriff of Powder Valley is called to a freezing, violent town It's bitterly cold in the Rockies when the locomotive reaches the end of the line. Only one passenger alights from the caboose: Nate Morris, a lea...

  • Fight for Powder Valley!

    For the sake of cheated settlers, Sheriff Pat Stevens takes on a Powder Valley conman On a weather-beaten stretch of the Kansas prairie, a family fights to survive. Molly Hartsell is only twenty-seven, but years of barely scraping by have made he...

  • Guns from Powder Valley

    To save his wife's closest friend, Sheriff Pat Stevens -- with the help of his trusty friends Sam and Ezra -- pursues a gang of masked gunmen Sheriff Pat Stevens should be the happiest man in Powder Valley. He has a thriving ranch, a healthy son,...

  • Midnight Round-Up

    An all-star gang of villains descends on peaceful Powder Valley On a tawdry street in the heart of Denver, men crowd into the saloon for two reasons: cheap whiskey and Connie Dawson. The loveliest singer in Colorado, Connie has a golden voice and...

  • Powder Valley Showdown

    A young woman heads west to Powder Valley in search of her father -- but finds trouble instead William Wilcox could never stand his life in Philadelphia. He adored his wife and their daughter, Joan, but the city strangled him. So he fled west, es...

  • The Road to Laramie

    To save the Pony Express, Sheriff Pat Stevens and his sidekick Sam Sloan must ride faster than ever before In a barren stretch of southern Colorado, a small shack links Powder Valley to the rest of the world. Every other day, Sam Sloan comes thun...

  • Sheriff on the Spot

    Hours before his retirement, Powder Valley's chief lawman stumbles upon a deadly scheme Pat Stevens never wanted to be sheriff. But when old Ed Grimes was killed, Pat was the only man in Powder Valley with a quick enough gun hand to avenge his pr...

  • The Smoking Iron

    A retired Colorado sheriff rides south to the Mexican border to save a naïve young man Ben Thurston is only twenty, and his years in college have taught him little of the real world, yet he believes he's ready for anything. His whole life, he's ...

  • Trail South from Powder Valley

    On the trail to New Mexico, Pat Stevens and his friends Sam and Ezra risk their lives to fulfill a dying man's last wish Two men ride across the desert. One is young, nearly mad with thirst and fear. The other is stalwart -- a blue-eyed legend wh...

  • Death on Treasure Trail

    The Rio Kid saves a young boy's life in this thrilling tale of the Wild West After three years in exile in Mexico, the Rio Kid slipped back into the United States, evading the clutches of a Texas Ranger, a crooked rancher, and a gang of desperado...

  • Death Rides the Pecos

    On the road to easy living, Twister and Chuckaluck ride straight into a heapin' mess of mystery and intrigue Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson can't catch a break. These two wisecracking friends -- the first lean and clever, the second stout...

  • Gun Smoke on the Mesa

    Ten years after taking vengeance on his tormentor, a wanted man returns home The outlaws of West Texas know every twist and turn of the renegade trail. Carved into the rugged landscape of the Big Bend region by the hoofs of galloping horses beari...

  • The Hangmen of Sleepy Valley

    Two easygoing gunslingers take on a gang of vigilantes to save a quiet Texas ranch town Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson have no love for the sun-blasted plains of West Texas. They made their names in the cool mountain air of Colorado, and ...

  • Ladies of Chance

    A jaded journalist plunges into an intoxicating world of beautiful women and glamorous gambling dens in this captivating tale from the creator of the Mike Shayne Mysteries Tabloid reporter Ed Barlow is in Miami on the assignment of a lifetime. A ...

  • Lynch-Rope Law

    Twister and Chuckaluck spring into action to keep an elderly widow from being run off her land Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson are making their way through a West Texas canyon when they smell death. It pollutes every inch of the winding, n...

  • Mardi Gras Madness

    An innocent young woman is seduced by the temptations of Bourbon Street in this sultry, scintillating tale Twenty-two-year-old Barbara Dorn has always been sure of herself. Sure of her happiness in rural Tancipahoa Parish, Louisiana, where she wa...

  • Murder on the Mesa

    In a dry patch of West Texas, Twister and Chuckaluck go to war for water At first, Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson think it must be a mirage. If real, the willow trees they see on the horizon mean that water is nearby, and in this dusty st...

  • Return of the Rio Kid

    An outlaw gunslinger begins the journey home to clear his name A lone rider stops at the border, preparing to return to the United States for the first time in three years. When he left for Mexico, the Rio Kid was eighteen, a terrified youngster ...

  • Rio Kid Justice

    In a cutthroat border town, the Rio Kid must fight or die After being run out of Arizona on a trumped-up murder charge, the Rio Kid spent three years in Mexico, learning how to shoot quicker than any man on the range. Now he's headed home to clea...

  • Two-Gun Rio Kid

    Three years after he was run out of town, the Rio Kid returns home to find a community in desperate need of his gunslinging skills Three years ago, the sheriff of Chapparell, Arizona, was shot dead. Eighteen-year-old Hugh Aiken was falsely accuse...

  • Virgin's Holiday

    A timid librarian finds passion, romance, and mystery on the trip of a lifetime On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Vergie Whidby feels unwanted and unloved. She has no romantic prospects on the horizon, yet her body and soul cry out for life, ...

  • Murder Plays Charade

    A MYSTERY HOUSE RELEASE: Two Mike Shayne stories-- MURDER PLAYS CHARADES Magicians who perform startling feats do not as a rule wind up murdered. But Mike had some grave and dangerous misgivings on that score. The red-headed detective should neve...

  • Dead Man's Diary

    A MYSTERY HOUSE REPRINT: Jasper Groat was a tidy man with a tidy conscience. This very passion for neatness -- he had seen fit to record all the harrowing details of the torpedoing of the S.S. Okeechobee and his subsequent experiences on a life raft ...

  • Dead Man's Diary and A Taste for Cognac

    A double shot of iconic Miami PI Mike Shayne -- "one of the best of the tough sleuths" (The New York Times).   Dead Man's Diary: Florida private investigator Mike Shayne's in New Orleans at the behest of a distraught wife whose war-hero h...

  • At the Point of a .38

    Murder and mayhem are all in a day's work for PI Mike Shayne, but when terrorists reach the shores of Miami, he'll have to up his game.   No one knows that Murray Gold is back in Miami and the aging criminal mastermind wants it to stay ...

  • Blue Murder

    A sex scandal in the making has PI Mike Shayne chasing down a runaway wife and going behind the cameras of Miami's hottest skin flicks.   Anti-porn congressman Nick Tucker is in dire need of PI Mike Shayne's help. His wife has left him...

  • Caught Dead

    A South American coup can't stop PI Mike Shayne from helping a friend in need in this wild ride of a crime thriller from the hardboiled mystery author.   For Mike Shayne's friend, reporter Tim Rourke, it all started with a fan letter. A...

  • Count Backwards to Zero

    When a suicidal scientist decides to go out with a bang while on a cruise ship, he'll take everyone down with him, including PI Mike Shayne.   After investigating a heroin smuggling case on Bermuda, Mike Shayne needs some downtime, and...

  • Fourth Down to Death

    There's a lot of money—and the fate of football—riding on PI Mike Shayne's broad shoulders in this thrilling crime caper in the long-running series.   Mike Shayne is a big man, but not as massive as the Dolphins' offensive t...

  • Kill All the Young Girls

    When a movie shoots in Miami, local PI Mike Shayne gets a behind-the-scenes look at the deadly price of Hollywood fame.   Larry Zion, the long-time chairman of Consolidated-Famous Pictures, is speeding down a Miami highway when a woman ...

  • Lady, Be Bad

    Politics make strange bedfellows—and many dead men—in this hardboiled mystery featuring Miami's Mike Shayne, irresistible playboy and unstoppable PI.   Mike Shayne is leaving the sun and sand of Miami behind for the convolut...

  • Last Seen Hitchhiking

    Miami PI Mike Shayne is about to discover just how cutthroat the art world can be in this riveting crime thriller.   Miami is in an uproar over a supposed serial killer targeting hitchhiking young women. The latest disappearance involve...

  • Mermaid on the Rocks

    A beautiful woman leads PI Mike Shayne onto a deadly island with a sordid past, and he must decide if his guide is a damsel in distress or a femme fatale?   A tampered-with air tank almost sends PI Mike Shayne into the deep for good dur...

  • Million Dollar Handle

    When PI Mike Shayne is implicated in a dog racing scandal, he has to gamble with his reputation and his life in a race for the truth.   Max Geary is the king of Miami dog racing. Singlehandedly, he's made the sport respectable. And what...

  • Murder Spins the Wheel

    A beleaguered bookie, a blackmailed quarterback, and a cheating mob wife are all in day's work for Miami PI Mike Shayne.   When Harry Bass, the big man in bookmaking and casino gambling takes a hit, everyone in Miami takes notice. And ...

  • Six Seconds to Kill

    Miami has become a political powder keg about to explode, and it's up to PI Mike Shayne to discover who put a target on a politician's head.   Mike Shayne doesn't pretend to know a lot about Latin American politics, but he does know th...

  • So Lush, So Deadly

    There's no peace or love in a marriage when the husband disappears, and PI Mike Shayne must brave Miami's hippie counterculture to find him.   Henry De Rham married for money, but the lure of free love and psychedelic drugs might have p...

  • Violence Is Golden

    Miami PI Mike Shayne's reputation has gone global—and so has his enemies list—and there's a dark side to the Sunshine State in this classic mystery.   To anyone else, the Japanese man looked like a tourist taking a photo. Bu...

  • The Violent World of Michael Shayne

    There's no rest for the weary in this hardboiled mystery that takes PI Mike Shayne from the beaches of Miami to the halls of the Senate.   Mike Shayne is running on no sleep when he's convinced by the daughter of a US senator to help h...

  • Win Some, Lose Some

    In a twisty crime caper, Miami PI Mike Shayne tries to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, and decide which one he is . . .   Miami is no stranger to organized crime and government corruption. Now,...

  • Murder Plays Charades

    • / Mystery

    A MYSTERY HOUSE RELEASE: Two Mike Shayne stories-- MURDER PLAYS CHARADES Magicians who perform startling feats do not as a rule wind up murdered. But Mike had some grave and dangerous misgivings on that score. The red-headed detective should never ha...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Brett Halliday has published 99 books.

Brett Halliday does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Count Backwards to Zero, was published in November 2025.

The first book by Brett Halliday, Nice Fillies Finish Last, was published in August 1970.

Yes. Brett Halliday has 1 series.
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