Out of jail and hungry for revenge, a career criminal comes after Mike Shayne They call him the Actor. An armed robber with a sense of style, Bram Clayton planned every heist with care, slipping so convincingly into the actions and motives of his characters that even experts couldn’t tell him apart from the real thing. He played electricians, salesmen, even a bank examiner, but for the last 13 years he’s been stuck in a single role: jailbird. When Clayton finally earns freedom, he has no trouble convincing the warden he’s going to stay straight, but the Actor is about to pull the greatest heist of his career. There’s a beautiful woman waiting for Clayton when he gets out. An old friend with an ulterior motive, she comes equipped with a bottle of whiskey, a carton of cigarettes, clean clothes, a gun, and a plan for a $200,000 heist so simple that it’s almost a sure thing—so long as it isn’t upset by Clayton’s hunger for revenge against the man who put him away: legendary detective Mike Shayne. Target: Mike Shayne is the 33rd book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A search for a missing girl takes grief-stricken Mike Shayne to New Orleans It was a knife that brought Mike and Phyllis Shayne together—the murder weapon that Mike had to prove Phyllis did not bury in her mother’s back. But years after they met, fell in love, and got married, Phyllis is dead, and the knife is just another blade. Grieving the loss of his wife, Mike decides he has had enough of Miami, where he and his beloved made a life together, and plans to move to New York and start again. But the South is not through with him yet. As Mike prepares to leave Miami for good, a worried father comes to him, begging him to help find his missing daughter. She is a depressive morphine addict who recently tried to take her own life. When that failed, she fled to New Orleans to throw herself into the arms of the drug. In order to help protect the girl from herself, Shayne musters up the strength to go to the Crescent City, but terrible dangers await him in French Quarter. Michael Shayne’s Long Chance is the 9th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Includes Part 1, Number 1: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (January - June)

A mentally ill woman is accused of killing her mother in this classic Mike Shayne novel from the legendary detective author. Mike Shayne has just poured himself a drink when Phyllis Brighton tries to throw herself out the window of his downtown apartment. Luckily, he blocks her just before she can launch herself over the sill. She tried to warn him she was crazy, but he didn’t listen. Her doctor and her new stepfather, on the other hand, both believe Phyllis is suffering from a kind of Electra complex— a fixation with her mother that is so intense that Phyllis would rather kill her than share her with anyone else. Shayne agrees to do whatever he can to keep Phyllis from killing her mother, but that doesn’t ensure that the woman will live. When Mrs. Brighton is found with a knife buried in her back, all signs point to the Phyllis’s guilt. But this hard-boiled private investigator didn’t stop someone from jumping out a window just to send her to the electric chair. And it doesn’t take a degree in psychology to find a killer—it takes brains, eyes, and two strong fists. Mike Shayne is just the man for the job. Dividend on Death is the 1st book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A desperate want ad draws Mike Shayne into a tangled murder plot It starts with a post in the classifieds. A woman calls for a red-blooded American, a soldier-of-fortune type willing to do anything if the price is right—even commit murder. This catches the eye of Tim Rourke, hotshot reporter, who passes it on to Mike Shayne, the legendary Miami detective. Rourke believes the ad was placed by a lonely housewife hoping to pay someone to knock off her husband, and he thinks the story could be front-page news. He just needs someone willing to answer the call—and Shayne has the reddest blood in Miami. Shayne responds to the ad, and finds the situation far stranger than anything he and Rourke could have dreamed up. His new employer is sweet, young, and scared for her life. Plus, there’s $50,000 at stake—and a life on the line. The Homicidal Virgin is the 37th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Mike Shayne tackles a smuggling ring while on a Caribbean vacation A car speeds toward the embankment with one of the most ruthless heroin dealers in the country behind the wheel. Beside him is the legendary detective Mike Shayne, who will take control of the car or die trying. They fight—and the car goes sailing off the cliff. The drug pusher dies, but Shayne escapes, battered but unharmed. His doctor releases him from the hospital on condition that he take a vacation, and so Miami’s toughest sleuth reluctantly books a 3-week island getaway. But before the jet takes off, trouble finds him once again. A customs agent holds the plane to ask Shayne a favor. The island the detective is headed for is a notorious smuggler’s haven, and there have been rumors that a big shipment is on its way. He should know better, but Shayne can’t help but agree to smash the ring, even if it means coming home with more than a few broken ribs. Murder Takes No Holiday is the 35th book in the Mike Shayne Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.