Picture of author.

Brett Halliday (1904–1977)

Author of Murder Is My Business (Mike Shayne Mysteries)

178+ Works 2,549 Members 56 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

After 1958, beginning with Fit to Kill, Brett Halliday was a house name used by several authors. Most were written by Robert Terrall, with some written by Ryerson Johnson and Dennis Lynds.  This note is from the Stop, you're killing me, website.

Series

Works by Brett Halliday

Dividend on Death (1939) 59 copies
The Corpse Came Calling (1942) 57 copies
A Taste for Violence (1949) 57 copies
In a Deadly Vein (1943) 53 copies
Framed in Blood (1951) 52 copies
This is it, Michael Shayne (1950) 50 copies
The Uncomplaining Corpses (1940) 49 copies
When Dorinda Dances (1951) 49 copies
Marked for murder (1945) 46 copies
Blood on the Stars (1948) 44 copies
Blood on the Black Market (1943) 44 copies
Stranger in Town (1955) 42 copies
Counterfeit Wife (1947) 41 copies
Blood on Biscayne Bay (1946) 41 copies
Call for Michael Shayne (1949) 40 copies
Die Like a Dog (1959) 39 copies
Target: Mike Shayne (1959) 39 copies
Tickets for Death (1941) 37 copies
Mum's the Word for Murder (1938) 37 copies
Weep for a Blonde (1957) 36 copies
Dolls are Deadly (1960) 36 copies
One Night with Nora (1953) 35 copies
What Really Happened (1952) 35 copies
The Homicidal Virgin (1960) 34 copies
Never Kill a Client (1962) 34 copies
Fit to Kill (1958) 34 copies
Date with a Dead Man (1959) 34 copies
Death Has Three Lives (1955) 33 copies
She Woke to Darkness (1954) 32 copies
Murder Takes No Holiday (1960) 32 copies
The Blonde Cried Murder (1956) 31 copies
A Redhead for Mike Shayne (1964) 31 copies
Nice Fillies Finish Last (1965) 30 copies
Shoot the Works (1957) 30 copies
Murder and the Wanton Bride (1958) 30 copies
Murder in Haste (1961) 27 copies
The Careless Corpse (1961) 25 copies
So Lush, So Deadly (1968) 24 copies
Guilty as Hell (1967) 24 copies
Armed... Dangerous... (1966) 21 copies
Too Friendly, Too Dead (1963) 21 copies
Six Seconds to Kill (1970) 20 copies
Shoot to Kill (1964) 20 copies
Murder Spins the Wheel (1966) 19 copies
Murder By Proxy (1962) 19 copies
Mermaid on the Rocks (1967) 18 copies
Violence is Golden (1968) 18 copies
Before I Wake (1949) 18 copies
Mike Shayne's 50th Case (1964) 18 copies
Killers From The Keys (1961) 18 copies
The Body Came Back (1963) 17 copies
Pay-Off in Blood (1962) 16 copies
Fourth Down to Death (1970) 15 copies
Lady, Be Bad (1969) 15 copies
Dangerous Dames (1955) 15 copies
The Corpse That Never Was (1963) 14 copies
At the Point of a .38 (1974) 12 copies
Return of the Rio Kid (1949) 12 copies
A Taste for Cognac (1951) 11 copies
Last Seen Hitchhiking (1974) 11 copies
Count Backwards to Zero (1971) 10 copies
I Come To Kill You (1971) 10 copies
Caught Dead (1972) 10 copies
Blue Murder (1973) 8 copies
Death Rides the Pecos (1950) 7 copies
Murder in Miami (1959) 7 copies
Kill All The Young Girls (1973) 7 copies
Best Detective Stories of the Year: 17th Annual Collection (1962) — Editor; Contributor — 6 copies
The Kissed Corpse (2015) 6 copies
20 Great Tales of Murder (1951) — Contributor; Editor — 6 copies
Heads You Loose (1958) 6 copies
Million Dollar Handle (1976) 6 copies
Death Rides the Night (1952) 6 copies
Lynch-Rope Law (1952) 6 copies
Dead Man's Diary (1945) 5 copies
Ladies of Chance (1949) 5 copies
The Road to Laramie (1947) 5 copies
Win Some, Lose Some (1976) 4 copies
Gun Smoke on the Mesa (2015) 4 copies
Mardi Gras Madness (2015) 3 copies
Virgin's Holiday (2015) 3 copies
7+1 =P 2 copies
Charlie Dell (2015) 2 copies
Murder, Murder, Murder (1961) — Editor — 2 copies
Jaget vilt (1972) 1 copy

Associated Works

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night (1961) — Contributor — 262 copies
Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (1995) — Contributor — 183 copies
Miami Noir: The Classics (2020) — Contributor — 24 copies
Four and Twenty Bloodhounds (1950) — Contributor — 17 copies
Murder Cavalcade (1946) — Contributor — 5 copies
Argosy, October 22, 1938 (1938) — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Dresser, Davis
Other names
Halliday, Brett
Baker, Asa
Blood, Matthew
Culver, Kathryn
Davis, Don
Debrett, Hal (show all 9)
Scott, Anthony
Field, Peter
Wayne, Anderson
Birthdate
1904-07-31
Date of death
1977-02-04
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Place of death
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Education
Tri-State College of Engineering
Occupations
literary agent
publisher
surveyor
Relationships
McCloy, Helen (wife, 1946-1961, divorced)
Savage, Mary (second wife)
Disambiguation notice
After 1958, beginning with Fit to Kill, Brett Halliday was a house name used by several authors. Most were written by Robert Terrall, with some written by Ryerson Johnson and Dennis Lynds.  This note is from the Stop, you're killing me, website.

Members

Reviews

Mike Shayne, one of the iconic Private Eyes, is drawn into a complex murder plot. You know, for him, Wednesday. It holds your attention.
 
Flagged
DinadansFriend | Oct 7, 2023 |
Not great but not boring, either. (And it's short.) I had read one of Halliday's Mike Shayne stories, "The Reluctant Client," in The Great American Detective and enjoyed it enough to seek out this novel. On the basis of that story, however, I was expecting something with a grim hard-boiled atmosphere; what I got was a workmanlike tale about a series of murders in 1940s El Paso, with a cast of tolerable but somewhat corny, clichéd characters. It's very much a book of its time, full of stereotypical small-town cops, yellow journalists and various other seedy types. The story moves quickly and is reasonably entertaining, but there's no atmosphere or mood: nothing that casts a spell on the reader and draws him completely into the book. I can't hold it against the author that Murder Is My Business is not a hard-boiled crime novel in the tradition of Hammett and Chandler; clearly that's not what Halliday set out to write, and the lack of customary private eye trappings doesn't make this a bad book. But I can justly criticize the publisher for packaging it as a hard-boiled novel, since that's obviously the conclusion one is meant to draw from the languid, pistol-toting dame on the cover. It's more Jim Rockford than Sam Spade, though.

Two and a half stars.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Jonathan_M | 5 other reviews | May 10, 2021 |
Private eye Mike Shayne is in the town where I was born, El Paso, Texas, to investigate the death of Private James Brown, who was killed in a traffic accident. Or was he? The private was stationed at Fort Bliss - the base I was born on!
Pretty good noir read! You've got bodies, body doubles, silver mining, the U.S./Mexico border going's on, a mayoral race, and soldiers exchanging clothing! All in a little hard-boiled detective novel/novella (it's a quick read!)! Not quite Raymond Chandler, but good enough to keep me guessing and keep me entertained! I'd read another Mike Shayne mystery based on this book!… (more)
 
Flagged
Stahl-Ricco | 5 other reviews | Sep 10, 2020 |
This was a pleasant discovery. Mike Shayne is a bit more cynical than most, and he certainly makes sure to get paid. But those are not bad traits as he finds out the truth at the end. The story has as scheme to smuggle army deserters into Mexico, something about a silver mine, and murder. These items are certainly a good recipe for a mystery that Mike Shayne slowly unravels. The author does put in a bit misdirection, but if you are an attentive reader you can figure things out as you read along. Then again, as many detective stories, you will find out the real truth at the end, and I have to say, I did enjoy the ending quite a bit. I will certainly keep my eye out for other Shayne mysteries now. Also, the book is a pretty easy read, so if you enjoy hard boiled detective fiction, you will certainly enjoy this one.… (more)
 
Flagged
bloodravenlib | 5 other reviews | Aug 17, 2020 |

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

A. B. Cunningham Contributor
Dorothy Hughes Contributor
Bill Pronzini Contributor
Anthony Boucher Contributor
Helen McCloy Contributor
Jack Ritchie Contributor
Henry Slesar Contributor
Borden Deal Contributor
C. B. Gilford Contributor
Bryce Walton Contributor
Richard M. Gordon Contributor
Thomas Walsh Contributor
Arthur Porges Contributor
Talmage Powell Contributor
Kenneth Moore Contributor
Babs H. Deal Contributor
Paul W. Fairman Contributor
Jay Folb Contributor
C. L. Sweeney, Jr. Contributor
DeForbes Contributor
James Holding Contributor
Matt Taylor Contributor
Rog Phillips Contributor
Michael Zuroy Contributor
Michel Lipman Contributor
Douglas Farr Contributor
Q. Patrick Contributor
Steve O'Connell Contributor
Walter Snow Contributor
Bayard Kendrick Introduction
Clayre Lipman Contributor
Herbert E. Kastle Contributor
Theodore Sturgeon Contributor
Will Oursler Contributor
John Dickson Carr Contributor
Robert Arthur Contributor
Robert Bloch Contributor
Mack Reynolds Contributor
George Harmon Coxe Contributor
Craig Rice Contributor
Milton Lesser Contributor
Hugh Pentecost Contributor
Stuart Palmer Contributor
Richard Deming Contributor
Philip Ketchum Contributor
D. B. Olsen Contributor
Ellery Queen Contributor
Bruno Fischer Contributor
Morris Hershman Contributor
Art Crockett Contributor
Herbert Harris Contributor
Doris L. Goldberg Contributor
B.M. Hoffmann Contributor
Jeanne F. Capron Contributor
James McKimmey Contributor
Robert McGinnis Cover artist
Robert Stanley Cover artist

Statistics

Works
178
Also by
10
Members
2,549
Popularity
#10,076
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
56
ISBNs
159
Languages
5
Favorited
2

Charts & Graphs