Mark,
Re your question below:
> I thought "Brett Halliday" was a pseudonym, no?
Wasn't the
original
> Brett actually David Dresdner or something like
that?
"Brett Halliday" was, indeed, a pseudonym, but it wasn't a
house name like, say, "Nick Carter." It was Davis Dresser's
personal pseudonym, and he was the creator and copyright
owner of Shayne. Sometime in the '50's, as I understand it,
he developed writer's block or something and started hiring
ghosts to write the books, which still appeared under the
Halliday by-line. When I say "Halliday," I mean Dresser, the
real Halliday.
According to at least one of those ghosts, Dennis Lynds,
Halliday
(the real one) still contributed something to each of the
novels that appeared under his (pen) name. It may not have
been much more than a light edit, but he always did
something. This seems to be borne out by the fact that the
books stopped after Halliday died in 1977.
By contrast, the short stories appearing in MIKE SHAYNE
MYSTERY MAGAZINE, also bylined "Brett Halliday," were not by
Halliday (the real one) and Halliday (the real one) had no
part in the writing of them, not even so much as a light
edit. Significantly, those short stories continued to be
produced long after Halliday's (the real one's) death. Our
own James Reasoner was one of the ghost-Hallidays on
MSMM.
> I have a pretty large collection of Mike Shayne
books--mostly for
the
> cover art. I have only read a few--all early
ones--and they seem
> perfectly capable. I've liked the Hallidays and the
Prathers I've
read
> a lot more than, for example, the
Spillanes.
>
> Are there any Halliday/Shayne fans here? Any
perspectives on the
> series?
I like 'em, but don't expect Hammett, Chandler, or Macdonald.
They're nicely constructed time-passers, somewhat formulaic
(or at least, following a fairly familiar recipe, which makes
it sound a bit less mechanical).
My favorite is A TASTE FOR VIOLENCE, in which Shayne does the
RED HARVEST dance by taming a corrupt, gangster-ridden small
town.
JIM DOHERTY
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