Brett Halliday

On the trail to New Mexico, Pat Stevens and his friends Sam and Ezra risk their lives to fulfill a dying man's last wish. Two men ride across the desert. One is young, nearly mad with thirst and fear. The other is stalwart - a blue-eyed legend who doesn't panic at the sight of a hanging posse on their trail. He asks no questions of the young man whose life he's agreed to save. He simply rides. It has been fifteen years since a youthful Pat Stevens,...

In a strange town, Mike Shayne meets a deadly damsel in distress Mike Shayne is 3 hours from Miami when the sun dips below the horizon and he decides to make a pit stop. For Shayne, that means cognac, and the only bar in town is a lonely little dive whose inhabitants don't look friendly. Shayne doesn't care. The barkeep pulls a dusty bottle down from the top shelf, and Shayne is settling into his drink when a blonde walks through the door. As the...

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...

A pulp writer tumbles into a mystery after an encounter at an awards banquet For more than a decade, Brett Halliday has made a living chronicling the adventures of the hard-nosed private detective Mike Shayne. At the banquet for the 1953 Edgar Awards, Halliday is dismayed to find the pulp field overrun by hacks who think X-rated smut and blood-soaked gore are enough to make a mystery. He's about to head home when he meets Elsie Murray, a beautiful...

The Rio Kid saves a young boy's life in this thrilling tale of the Wild West After three years in exile in Mexico, the Rio Kid slipped back into the United States, evading the clutches of a Texas Ranger, a crooked rancher, and a gang of desperadoes. Now he's ready to press on to Arizona to clear his name and find his fortune. There may be a $10,000 price on his head, but the Kid is unafraid-he has his gun, his horse, and his freedom.   When a scream...

A timid librarian finds passion, romance, and mystery on the trip of a lifetime On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Vergie Whidby feels unwanted and unloved. She has no romantic prospects on the horizon, yet her body and soul cry out for life, love, and desire.   Desperate for a change, Vergie withdraws most her savings from the bank and books a trip to romantic St. Augustine, Florida. There, amid the old world splendor, she splurges on fancy dresses...

A girl begs Mike Shayne to help keep her from killing her own mother 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-...

In a dry patch of West Texas, Twister and Chuckaluck go to war for water At first, Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson think it must be a mirage. If real, the willow trees they see on the horizon mean that water is nearby, and in this dusty stretch of the Southwest, water is rarer than gold. They rub the grit from their eyes, yet the sight remains. There really is water up ahead-and death just around the corner.   As the two friends ride toward...

A desperate doctor hires Mike Shayne for a case that starts with blackmail and ends with murder Back when Mike Shayne was living in New Orleans, his best friend, Tim Rourke, got shot on Miami Beach. Rourke, star reporter for the Miami News, was working on the story of his career when gunmen pumped him full of lead. It took quick work by the brilliant Dr. Ambrose to save him. So when the good doctor finds himself in mortal danger, Rourke repays the...

Helplessly drawn to his wife's much younger sister, an engineer goes to terrible lengths for passion Charlie Dell isn't pleased when his wife, Irma, tells him that her sister is coming to live with them. But Irma is a stern woman who runs her husband's life with an iron fist-and what she says goes. At first, Dell is angry that she's forcing her seventeen-year-old sister on him, but his heart skips a beat the moment he sees Lois. She's a far cry from...