Mike Shayne investigates a murder committed by an amnesiac Arthur Devlin wakes up so hungover that for a moment, he thinks the ship is sinking. As he gets his bearings, he realizes the only storm is inside his own head—and he isn’t on a ship at all. The last thing he remembers is being handed another drink at his going-away party. That was twelve days ago. Devlin has awoken in a sleazy hotel room, dressed in a stranger’s ratty clothes, with a bump on his forehead and a dead man at his feet. The phone rings: A woman who calls him Joey asks if he went through with the murder. Devlin has no choice but to say yes. To find out if he’s really a killer, Devlin hires Mike Shayne. Shayne has twenty-four hours to fill in the gaps of his client’s memory—and he will discover things that Devlin would rather stay forgotten. Call for Michael Shayne is the 17th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Mike Shayne investigates the connection between a flirtatious wife, a husband blinded by jealousy, and a murdered boss Just 3 years ago, Ralph Larson and his wife were newlyweds, the happiest young couple in Miami. But since Larson went to work for Wesley Ames, his life has been hell. He’s convinced his wife has fallen in love with his boss, and the jealousy is driving him mad. Hoping to avoid a murder, private detective Mike Shayne tells Larson’s wife to knock off the flirting before her husband’s envy leads to tragedy. But it’s too late: Death is at the door. When Shayne learns that Larson is headed to Ames’s apartment, pistol in hand, he races there hoping to prevent bloodshed. He finds Larson standing over his boss’s corpse, ready to confess to murder. But there’s more here than meets the eye—and more to this murder than a resentful husband holding a smoking gun. Shoot to Kill is the 48th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Mike Shayne investigates an impossible murder in the Big Easy It’s not often that Mike Shayne runs with an honorable crowd, but there is a lieutenant in his office mourning the fiancée who killed herself the day before. Honest and heartbroken, he begs this hardened private investigator for help answering one simple, impossible question: Why? It’s a question Shayne has been asking ever since his wife was murdered in Miami and he moved to New Orleans to escape her memory. For the sake of a soldier, he will put his own mourning aside and try to explain a suicide that looks an awful lot like murder. Katrin Moe was working as a maid in the home of a wealthy New Orleans family when she was found locked in her room, the gas pumping full blast. Coincidentally, a priceless emerald necklace went missing from the house a few days before and the insurance company hired Shayne to find it. On the hunt for a killer, Shayne will find that the necklace and the crook are more closely related than meets the eye. Murder and the Married Virgin is the 10th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Mike Shayne investigates the case of a murdered husband and a high-stakes embezzlement plot Mike Shayne finds the dead man in the bedroom. The corpse sports a bowtie, polished black shoes, and a tidy little hole right between his eyes. His name is James Wallace, and no one could’ve killed him but his wife. Shayne’s lover, Lucy Hamilton, begs him to clear the widow’s name. He promises do his best, but even for a detective who’s famous for solving impossible cases, this one may be out of reach. In Wallace’s pockets are a passport and two tickets for South America—neither of which were intended for his wife. Furthermore, $100,000 recently disappeared from the deceased’s office, making Wallace look like an adulterer, a conman, and a thief. The truth, Shayne will find, is far less pretty. Shoot the Works is the 29th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.