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Mike Shayne #31
Fit to Kill
Private eye Mike Shayne comes to the aid of his kidnapped reporter friend, Tim Rourke, who had been investigating an underground revolution in Central America
201 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
2 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Brett Halliday
508 books63 followersAKA David Dresser
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 - February 4, 1977), primary pen name of Davis Dresser, was an American mystery writer, best known for the long-lived series of Mike Shayne novels he wrote, and later commissioned others to write. Dresser wrote non-series mysteries, westerns and romances under the names
Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, and Anderson Wayne.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 - February 4, 1977), primary pen name of Davis Dresser, was an American mystery writer, best known for the long-lived series of Mike Shayne novels he wrote, and later commissioned others to write. Dresser wrote non-series mysteries, westerns and romances under the names
Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, and Anderson Wayne.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 8, 2019
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.
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.
December 14, 2020
I have an edition that's copyright 1958, and what caught my eye was that classic cover art from the era. Then, on the back cover, I noticed that this was the 32nd book in the series, with 20,000,000 copies of the series in print. Wow! I had never heard of the the protagonist, detective Mike Shayne.
So what did I think? Some random impressions:
* I'm not up on my sub-genres, but I'd call this a neo-noir. Noir-ish. Tough talk, hard-drinking, flying fists, but set in the sunny Caribbean and Miami, not the typical noir locales.
* I liked the way that author Halliday began the slim book with a completely different principal, established some backstory and his own tale of spy-adventure, and then deftly left that fellow in favor of the hero of the series. Off the top of my head, I don't recall such a skillful switch by other more celebrated authors.
* Although the series is well along by this book, I never felt in the dark regarding the stable of supporting characters. It looks like a series that one can drop into, assuming that one can find any work by this author. With 20 million books out there, somewhere, it shouldn't be hard.
* The reader is repeatedly reminded that Shayne is both red-headed and long-legged.
* Mr. Shayne gives a lot of orders to the legal authorities, e.g. hold that guy, you cops spread out, move the body to Malloy's office. Highly doubtful that a private citizen would command such power in too many situations.
* I thought that the conclusion wasn't satisfying. Without giving anything away, the pieces of the puzzle COULD have fallen in the way that Shayne explained. Or, not. It seemed that author Halliday may have had several possible concluding scenarios and simply chose one of them.
So what did I think? Some random impressions:
* I'm not up on my sub-genres, but I'd call this a neo-noir. Noir-ish. Tough talk, hard-drinking, flying fists, but set in the sunny Caribbean and Miami, not the typical noir locales.
* I liked the way that author Halliday began the slim book with a completely different principal, established some backstory and his own tale of spy-adventure, and then deftly left that fellow in favor of the hero of the series. Off the top of my head, I don't recall such a skillful switch by other more celebrated authors.
* Although the series is well along by this book, I never felt in the dark regarding the stable of supporting characters. It looks like a series that one can drop into, assuming that one can find any work by this author. With 20 million books out there, somewhere, it shouldn't be hard.
* The reader is repeatedly reminded that Shayne is both red-headed and long-legged.
* Mr. Shayne gives a lot of orders to the legal authorities, e.g. hold that guy, you cops spread out, move the body to Malloy's office. Highly doubtful that a private citizen would command such power in too many situations.
* I thought that the conclusion wasn't satisfying. Without giving anything away, the pieces of the puzzle COULD have fallen in the way that Shayne explained. Or, not. It seemed that author Halliday may have had several possible concluding scenarios and simply chose one of them.
November 10, 2025
This is a later outing for Michael Shayne and one that is ghost written by someone other than Brett Halliday. I wasn't keen on the first third of the book, but things vastly improved with the ending being solid.
The first third of the book there's no Shayne, instead focusing on reporter Timothy Rourke in South America and getting dragged into something else. A young, attractive woman comes unexpectedly into his life, and he helps to get her out of the country, but not before being beaten by the local police. In Miami, he's kidnapped, before Shayne's eyes and the book picks up with a chase, a discovery of the mysterious woman, and lots of political intrigue.
I was disappointed Shayne took seven chapters to appear, and he's not very kind to secretary Lucy, who comes off as window dressing. There's some solid action, with Shayne getting in over his head more than once. I enjoyed this, but not as much as the earlier novels.
The first third of the book there's no Shayne, instead focusing on reporter Timothy Rourke in South America and getting dragged into something else. A young, attractive woman comes unexpectedly into his life, and he helps to get her out of the country, but not before being beaten by the local police. In Miami, he's kidnapped, before Shayne's eyes and the book picks up with a chase, a discovery of the mysterious woman, and lots of political intrigue.
I was disappointed Shayne took seven chapters to appear, and he's not very kind to secretary Lucy, who comes off as window dressing. There's some solid action, with Shayne getting in over his head more than once. I enjoyed this, but not as much as the earlier novels.
December 28, 2018
Not my favorite read. The story was written in 1958 and very much reflected that era.
April 12, 2014
It's the 1ate 1950s and Shayne's reporter friend Tim Rourke is on vacation in a Latin American country with a corrupt government when he meets a beautiful blonde claiming to have hot information.
Shayne is at the airport to meet Rourke, who acts out of character. Then Rourke is kidnapped while the girl disappears and Shayne is left with a lot of questions and a typewriter.
The story is okay, it's not as good as the other two Shayne mysteries I've read, but Halliday provides your expected dose of mayhem, danger, and beautiful blondes.
This one suffered for having Shayne out of the picture for the first 30 percent of the book. Rourke isn't a fun point of view character. Plus in the middle of the book, Rourke gets kind of drunk and those scenes like I'm reading a poor imitation of Craig Rice's Mr. Malone. The solution is all a bit unsurprising and it wasn't well set up.
Overall, Mike Shayne is still good and it's not a bad read, but Halliday had produced far better books than this one.
Shayne is at the airport to meet Rourke, who acts out of character. Then Rourke is kidnapped while the girl disappears and Shayne is left with a lot of questions and a typewriter.
The story is okay, it's not as good as the other two Shayne mysteries I've read, but Halliday provides your expected dose of mayhem, danger, and beautiful blondes.
This one suffered for having Shayne out of the picture for the first 30 percent of the book. Rourke isn't a fun point of view character. Plus in the middle of the book, Rourke gets kind of drunk and those scenes like I'm reading a poor imitation of Craig Rice's Mr. Malone. The solution is all a bit unsurprising and it wasn't well set up.
Overall, Mike Shayne is still good and it's not a bad read, but Halliday had produced far better books than this one.
April 26, 2014
Cool old school stuff. Shayne is pretty interesting character because he's supposed to be this cliched hard-boiled detective but still he makes few mistakes. Right at the start of the case he loses the girl he was tailing ("He was frozen with indecision, which was an unusual state for Shayne"), later moves a corpse before police arrives to the crime scene, walks into the Professor Quesada's house without any plan (so he gets knocked out) and other silly stuff like that. But still he manages to tie up all the loose ends very efficiently in a great ending when all the pieces fall in place.
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2014/03/f...
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2014/03/f...
February 4, 2016
Tim Rourke has gone missing and Michael Shayne wants to know why. After receiving a telegram to meet Tim at the airport
Michael Shayne comes to meet his old friend, Tim Rourke, at the airport. The telegram hinted at a great scoop and an interesting blonde that Tim was going to share with Mike. But when Mike meets up with Tim, the blonde is nowhere in sight and Tim shakes him off in a rude and gruff manner. It wouldn't be so bad, but Tim looks like he got into a fight with a Mac truck...and lost.
Mike Shayne knows something is up and he is set to find out what and why. Broads, booze and bullets with a few flying fists are to be found in this mystery.
Michael Shayne comes to meet his old friend, Tim Rourke, at the airport. The telegram hinted at a great scoop and an interesting blonde that Tim was going to share with Mike. But when Mike meets up with Tim, the blonde is nowhere in sight and Tim shakes him off in a rude and gruff manner. It wouldn't be so bad, but Tim looks like he got into a fight with a Mac truck...and lost.
Mike Shayne knows something is up and he is set to find out what and why. Broads, booze and bullets with a few flying fists are to be found in this mystery.
August 9, 2013
South American politics and hard boiled detective work clash in this steamroller of a novel. Fun and twisty turny when you don't expect it. Won't be my last Mike Shayne mystery!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews