The "Michael Shayne" series was a series of pulp fiction detective novels that ran for 37 years, from 1939 to 1976.
The series revolved around Michael Shayne, a Hardboiled Detective working in Miami, Florida. Shayne, a hard-drinking private eye who swilled cognac by the gallon, was continually being tasked with investigating complicated murder cases. Most of the time, he was trying to avoid being convicted of the crime himself, with his Inspector Javert, Peter Painter of the Miami Beach PD, longing to put him in prison. Shayne would drink cognac, get in fistfights with bad guys, and rely on the support of his wife Phyllis, or—after Phyllis was killed off—his Sexy Secretary Lucy Hamilton. There would be a parade of lowlifes, and, quite often, a sexy babe (sometimes a Femme Fatale) who tried to seduce Shayne, but almost always failed.
The Michael Shayne novels were written under the pen name "Brett Halliday." The character was invented by a writer named Davis Dresser, who wrote all the Shayne novels through Murder and the Wanton Bride in 1958. Afterwards, a series of ghostwriters took over, and continued the Shayne series through finale Win Some, Lose Some in 1976.
The character of Michael Shayne, forgotten in the 21st century, was once a full-on franchise. Besides the novels, there were magazine stories, a radio show, a film series (Hugh Beaumont, the dad from Leave It to Beaver, played Shayne in the movies for a while), and a short-lived television show.
Michael Shayne on TV Tropes:
- Dividend on Death (1939)
- The Private Practice of Michael Shayne (1940)
- The Uncomplaining Corpses (1940)
- Tickets for Death (1941)
- Bodies Are Where You Find Them (1941)
- The Corpse Came Calling (1942)
- Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask (1943)
- Blood on the Black Market (1943)
- Michael Shayne's Long Chance (1944)
- Murder and the Married Virgin (1944)
- Murder Is My Business (1945)
- Blood on Biscayne Bay (1946)
- Counterfeit Wife (1946)
- Blood on the Stars (1948)
- This Is It, Michael Shayne (1950)
- Framed in Blood (1951)
- One Night With Nora (1953)
- When Dorinda Dances (1953)
- She Woke to Darkness (1954)
- Death Has Three Lives (1955)
- Stranger in Town (1955)
- The Blonde Cried Murder (1956)
- Murder and the Wanton Bride (1958)
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Michael Shayne drinks cognac constantly. He drinks it in the morning. He takes flasks of liquor with him when he goes detecting. He drinks while investigating suspects. If there's liquor at a crime scene, Shayne may drink it. He puts cognac in his coffee at breakfast!
- Drunken Master: In more than one book, Shayne starts drinking cognac, and tells another character that he thinks better when he's drunk. This always works, with Shayne usually having his "Eureka!" Moment after getting intoxicated.
- Functional Addict: At no time does drinking cognac morning, noon, and night ever leave Michael Shayne impaired. He is always able to take out the bad guys and catch the killer, no matter how much alcohol he drinks.
- "Burly Detective" Syndrome:
- The later, hackier installments of the Michael Shayne series by ghostwriters showed an odd reluctance to use Shayne's proper name, preferring such euphemisms as "the burly detective" or "the red-headed sleuth." One possible explanation is that the generic stories written by ghostwriters were written this way to allow the stories to be published as part of any series.
- Even before that, the original series by Davis Dresser was always referring to Shayne as "the redhead", or "the red-headed detective", or had characters calling him "Red."
- Buxom Beauty Standard: If there is a female character in the series she will probably be described as busty and hot.
- Comic-Book Time: Shayne remained in his late thirties for 37 years.
- Continuity Nod: References to prior cases were sprinkled throughout the Michael Shayne series. Also, Shayne often found himself thinking of his late wife Phyllis, many years after her tragic early death.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The Michael Shayne stories almost always took place over around 24 hours of frantic activity. Sometimes less. When they didn't, there was usually some sort of triggering event, followed, after a delay, by Shayne taking the case and flying through his usual 24 hours of detecting.
- Friend in the Press: Tim Rourke the Intrepid Reporter, who often was furnishing Shayne with information in return for a scoop. Sometimes Rourke was more directly involved in Shayne's shenanigans, like in Bodies Are Where You Find Them in which Rourke helps Shayne transport and dump the freshly-killed corpse of a young woman—as usual, for the scoop.
- Friend on the Force: Chief Will Gentry of the Miami PD, who knows Shayne, knows that he gets results, and usually leaves him alone to get the bad guy.
- Inspector Javert: Chief Peter Painter of the Miami Beach PD, who hates, hates, hates Mike Shayne. If Shayne is in any way tangentially related to a crime, Painter will try as hard as he can to pin it on Shayne. Shayne is often racing to solve a crime before Painter can send him to prison.
- Killed Offscreen: Shayne's wife Phyllis was killed off between Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask and Blood on the Black Market. The cause was initially left vague but was eventually specified to be Death by Childbirth. Why? Author Davis Dresser found out that the studio making Mike Shayne movies wasn't using Dresser's original stories, because the studio didn't want Shayne to be married. So he killed Phyllis off.
- Never One Murder: Part of the Shayne formula. There was almost never just one murder, but always at least one more murder to keep the plot chugging along.
- Sexy Secretary: Lucy Hamilton. Lucy became Shayne's love interest in Michael Shayne's Long Chance, two books after Shayne's wife Phyllis was killed off. Although Dresser purposely left the nature of Michael and Lucy's relationship vague, it was pretty clear that Michael and Lucy had a Friends with Benefits romance that maybe, maybe, could one day be codified into a marriage.
- Strictly Formula: The Shayne series, by and large, stuck to a formula. One way or another, Shayne would get a case—interestingly, Dame with a Case was usually averted. His Inspector Javert, Chief Peter Painter, would try to put him in jail for whatever murder was happening in Miami that week, or, failing that, for obstructing a police investigation. Shayne's Friend on the Force, Chief Will Gentry, would run interference with Painter and usually do Shayne favors that would help him in the investigation. His Friend in the Press, reporter Tim Rourke, would often help Shayne get information, and sometimes get directly involved in Shayne's shenanigans, in return for a scoop. Shayne would find himself with one or more sexy babes of the Buxom Beauty Standard to tempt him, although he almost never gave in.
- Summation Gathering: Shayne was often corralling other characters so that he could unmask the bad guy. Even if he didn't gather the whole cast there were at least a few people there for Shayne to interrogate before he named the killer.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: If an African-American character pops up in this series, the character is almost guaranteed to be a servant or menial worker, and to speak in stereotypical uneducated speech.
