Blood on the Stars is a 1948 novel by Brett Halliday, the pseudonym for Davis Dresser.
It is an installment in the long-running series about tough guy private detective, Michael Shayne. This one starts with not Shayne, but with Mark and Celia Dustin. The Dustins are tourists who are in Miami for vacation and, for Mark, to gamble at the racetrack. It's their second anniversary and Mark takes Celia to a jewelry store to buy her something expensive. A jeweler named Walter Voorland sells the Dustins a fabulous star ruby for $180,000 in 1948 money. After Mark Dustin's check clears (this is 1948 so the check has to be sent by airmail to Denver), the ruby is delivered. Mark puts it on his wife and they go out to a concert—and the diamond is stolen! Three thugs run the Dustins' car off the road and, at gunpoint, take the diamond.
Chief Peter Painter of the Miami Beach police investigates. Mark Dustin is not suspected because his check to buy the diamond had cleared and he stood little to gain by staging a robbery. Painter pounces on the only other person who knew of the sale of the diamond: Michael Shayne, who was in the jewelry store at the time, looking for something to buy for his Sexy Secretary Lucy Hamilton.
Tropes:
- Back-Alley Doctor: Back alley mechanic! Shayne deliberately puts a dent in his car and then arranges to find a discreet mechanic—the sort who won't be too compelled to call the police when a customer brings in a car damaged from things like a hit-and-run. He is trying to find the people driving the car that was used to steal the ruby.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Per tradition in the Michael Shayne novels where the women were always busty and hot. The opening paragraph describes the "taut young breasts" of Celia Dustin, as she sits at a dressing table combing her hair.
- Chekhov's Gun: Shayne finds out that Voorland wouldn't let the Rajah of Hindupoor look at the ruby. Voorland claims it's because he did want an "unscrupulous collector" like the Rajah get the diamond, but it's eventually revealed that Voorland wouldn't let the Rajah see it because Voorland knew the Rajah would be able to tell it for a fake.
- Colliding Criminal Conspiracies: Mark Dustin and Voorland were in cahoots to fake a theft of the rubies so they could divvy up the insurance—but then the Rajah of Hindupoor, an Indian prince in town who wanted the ruby, stole it for real before Dustin and Voorland could arrange a fake theft.
- Continuity Nod:
- Shayne thinks about his late wife Phyllis, killed off between Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask and Blood on the Black Market. Shayne, who after his wife's death moved to New Orleans which is where he met Lucy, has come back to Miami, and Lucy has followed him.
- Shayne tells a beat cop that he isn't sure he's come back to Miami to stay, after two years in New Orleans. The beat cop notes sarcastically that for a guy who isn't sure he's sticking around, Shayne has been busy: he was involved in "that deal Rourke was mixed in" (Marked For Murder), then "the two stiffs in the bay" (Blood on Biscayne Bay) and then "the Deland kidnap mess" (Counterfeit Wife). And since Counterfeit Wife was "just last week" and also an Immediate Sequel to Blood on Biscayne Bay, it seems that three Shayne novels have taken place over 10-12 days.
- Friend in the Press: Tim Rourke, who as usual helps Shayne out and winds up getting a scoop in return. Rourke digs up newspaper info for Shayne on James King and Roland Kendrick, two men who purchased rubies from Voorland and had them soon stolen under similar circumstances.
- The Ghost: The "Rajah of Hindupoor", an Indian prince who collects rubies, is said to be in town, who wanted the ruby that went to Dustin, and in the end is revealed to have arranged the robbery. He never appears on the page.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Randolph is clutching his head and complaining of a "hell of a hang-over" after Shayne gave him a Water Wake Up.
- He Knows Too Much: Why Celia was killed. Mark had earlier made the mistake of mentioning Voorland's name. Celia remembered that, went looking in his briefcase, and found an incriminating letter from Voorland.
- I Lied: Shayne's answer to Earl Randolph when, after taking a $10K bribe from Randolph not to reveal Randolph's role in events, does so anyway.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Shayne is accusing Earl Randolph of being the man who assaulted Lucy Hamilton. A frightened Randolph says Lucy's ID isn't reliable if "she only caught one glimpse of the man." Shayne shoots back that he never said Lucy only got a glimpse of the man who attacked her.
- Inspector Javert: Another appearance of Peter Painter, who hates Shayne and longs to put him in prison. Painter is thrilled when Shayne becomes the logical first suspect in the ruby theft.
- Insurance Fraud: The motive. Mark Dustin and Voorland were arranging multiple fake purchases of rubies, with Dustin assuming fake identities, then having the rubies "stolen" and dividing up the insurance payments.
- Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: Celia is a little sad because she thinks Mark has forgotten their second anniversary. She finds out he hasn't when he takes her to the jeweler.
- Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: The book keeps pointing out how sweaty Earl Randolph, the insurance guy who appraised the ruby, gets after Shayne starts asking hard questions. "Sweat glistened on Randolph's round face." Later, "Sweat was streaming from Randolph's face." And still later, "Randolph stopped to mop sweat from his face." And on the next page, "Sweat popped out on his face anew and ran in little rivulets down his chin."
- There's also the "beads of perspiration" that Voorland breaks out in when Shayne threatens to have the police arrest him.
- Plot Hole: The solution is that Mark Dustin and Voorland were arranging fake sales of the rubies and then having them stolen before they could be identified as fake. They have done this three times. Did the jewelry dealerships that Voorland worked for not notice that no money was getting deposited?
- Start to Corpse: Most Shayne novels have the first murder occur relatively early. In this one Shayne spends the first half of the book investigating a jewel robbery and the book is 3/5 over before the body of Celia Dustin is discovered.
- Summation Gathering: As usual, Shayne gets all the characters together so he can identify the bad guy.
- Switching P.O.V.: The book starts out from the POV of Celia Dustin before, after the robbery, switching to the usual POV character, Michael Shayne.
- Two Dun It: Mark Dustin and Voorland were in cahoots, working an insurance fraud scheme.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: The Shayne books often had random racist characterizations of black people. In this one an elevator operator says stuff like "I don't know as I have or not. I might could remember better, Mist' Shayne, was you to tell me jest when I saw 'im."
- Another black servant addresses him as "Mistuh Shayne."
- Water Wake Up: Shayne and the building superintendent discover Earl Randolph passed out drunk and spattered with vomit. They chuck him into the shower to wake him up.
