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Mike Shayne #56
Guilty as Hell
Mystery
155 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1971
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Brett Halliday
510 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 24, 2025
This is one of the later Halliday mysteries (1967) that doesn't seem as though he wrote it. That's because the premise seems completely out of character for PI Michael Shayne.
Shayne has been hired by a businessman to see who stole a large document that features a new type of paint--yeah, that's not exactly enticing. Shayne is told all the information about the case during a morning duck hunt--I seriously doubt that Shayne would ever participate in such a sport. While getting the details, one of the suspects is shot in the face by the business's owner.
From here the case becomes more in line with the Shayne whose exploits I've followed: there's a femme fatale, a no-good son, another PI who's out of his league, a murder attempt, murky business south of the border, and a bad vice cop.
I enjoyed parts of this book, but not as a whole. The conclusion came off as farfetched.
Shayne has been hired by a businessman to see who stole a large document that features a new type of paint--yeah, that's not exactly enticing. Shayne is told all the information about the case during a morning duck hunt--I seriously doubt that Shayne would ever participate in such a sport. While getting the details, one of the suspects is shot in the face by the business's owner.
From here the case becomes more in line with the Shayne whose exploits I've followed: there's a femme fatale, a no-good son, another PI who's out of his league, a murder attempt, murky business south of the border, and a bad vice cop.
I enjoyed parts of this book, but not as a whole. The conclusion came off as farfetched.
November 2, 2017
Одинокий герой — образец американской культуры, которому никогда не утратить актуальности. Такие герои рождались на американском континенте всегда, стоило на него ступить европейцу. Немудрено, что и в середине XX века находились люди, способные взвалить на свои плечи тяжесть мира. Так ли оно было, или это отражение художественных изысканий? Разговор о том заранее бесплотен, лучше видеть наглядное представление об одиночках, боровшихся за справедливость и находивших правильное решение для разрешения самой щекотливой ситуации.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews