A while back I had an email conversation with an author friend of mine [probably Steve Mertz] about the relative merits of Robert Terrall’s Mike Shayne novels. When I was first reading the Shayne novels back in the Sixties and early Seventies, I didn’t know that Davis Dresser, the original Brett Halliday, had had so many ghost-writers contributing to the series. But I did know that as the Sixties went on, I began to like the novels less, and by the Seventies, I didn’t care for them at all. Later, of course, I found out that Robert Terrall was the author of the books I didn’t like.
However, a number of people whose opinions I respect do like Terrall’s Shayne novels, and since I hadn’t read one in close to forty years, I thought I ought to do so and see if my opinion of them has changed since then.
Well . . . it has and it hasn’t.
ARMED . . . DANGEROUS . . . , from 1966, is one of the books I never got around to reading back then. It’s got a nice McGinnis cover, at least on the first edition, and although Mike Shayne is nowhere to be seen, the opening section certainly has plenty of action and intrigue to recommend it. Early on, there’s a beautiful French blonde, a jewel heist, the brutal shooting of an off-duty cop, and a kidnapping. But there’s a twist coming, and I’ll admit, Terrall slipped it right past me for a good while, although I caught it before it was revealed. From that point on, there are a lot more twists, as the story takes on a much larger scale and becomes part caper novel/part thriller with international implications. It’s very well written, a little dated in some respects today but not all that much, and the pace is spectacular, leaving the reader whipping through the pages to see what’s going to happen. There’s even a bit of humor as Terrall name-checks another of his pseudonyms. This is a very entertaining novel. The problem is, it’s barely a Mike Shayne novel.
Oh, a character named Shayne plays a huge part in it, make no mistake about that, but he’s so lacking in personality that the protagonist could be almost anybody. There’s no sense that this is the same character who inhabits all the books in the series actually written by Davis Dresser. Terrall may have been a better wordsmith than Dresser was, I won’t argue that point, but Dresser’s Shayne is a fascinating character, no more honest than he has to be but with a decent core, and maybe one of the most intelligent characters in mystery fiction, who is always two steps ahead of the other people in the books and three steps ahead of the reader. I think most of the other authors who ghosted full-length Shayne novels were able to capture this to a certain extent, and Terrall did, too, at first, but as his stint on the series went on, I believe he lost his handle on the character. However, I could be wrong about this, and I plan to read more of his books to see what I think.
In the meantime, should you read ARMED . . . DANGEROUS . . .? Absolutely. It’s well-written and a lot of fun. If it had featured anybody but Mike Shayne, I’d give it an unqualified recommendation. But if you’ve never read a Shayne novel before, this is definitely not the place to start.
(This post originally appeared on July 10, 2009. And despite what I said in it, I haven't read any more of Terrall's Shayne novels since then. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to most of you, who know by now that I have the attention span of a six-week-old puppy.)
7 comments:
This Mike Shayne reader very much enjoyed your review, James. I believe the covers of the Mike Shayne paperbacks from the fifties are absolutely terrific. But I was recently surprised to learn how few of the Dresser Shayne novels I have actually read. I began reading Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine when I was in high school and continued to read it until it died in 1985. From what I understand, Davis Dresser didn't write any of the Shayne novellas in MSMM but some very talented writers turned out fine stories.
Jim Meals
I read a few of Terrall’s Mike Shayne books a few years ago, including one of the last few to be published, LAST SEEN HITCHHIKING from 1974. I remember liking its somewhat sleazy 70s vibe but I did notice that Shayne himself didn’t spend a lot time doing typical P.I. type stuff in it.
The McGinnis covers are my favorites, although if I’m honest, most of them could just as easily be Carter Brown or Shell Scott covers. They’re not very story-specific, generally. I love the Robert Stanley covers on the ‘50s Dell paperbacks — that’s the guy I see in my mind’s eye when I read a Shayne novel. I used to hate the photo covers on the later editions, but they’ve grown on me over the years. Well, some of them anyway. Shayne barefoot and wearing Madras Plaid slacks, ugh ….
b.t.
Jim,
I think you're right, none of the Shaynes in the magazine are by Dresser. One of the novels was serialized, but I believe it was after they were being ghosted.
b.t.,
You can add some of the John D. MacDonald books to that list of great McGinnis covers that don't actually have anything to do with the books. Not that I cared a bit when I was buying them off the spinner racks growing up. I just loved the way they looked. The Stanley covers on the Dell mapback Shaynes are really excellent. You could still find those easily in the used bookstores when I was a kid and I grabbed every one I came across. As for the photo covers, some of them are less terrible than others. And all of them are probably better than the Shell Scott photo covers.
Good lord yes, those Shell Scott photo covers are notoriously, hilariously awful! According to Lynn Munroe, they were shot by illustrator Morgan Kane, who also photographed many stylish photo covers for various publishers in the 60s and 70s. The first printings of the Michael Crichton ‘John Lange’ books are a good example. That the same guy was also responsible for those ugly ‘Shoe Polish Hair Shell’ covers is kinda baffling. I guess everyone is entitled to bad day. Or twelve ;)
There is actually a very nice pair (ahem) of Pocket photo covers — far as I can tell, a single printing of DEAD-BANG and DEAD MAN’S WALK featured leggy ladies in dimly-lit settings, with Shell himself represented only as a hi-con headshot graphic in the upper right corner. They’re both relatively sophisticated-looking, especially compared to most 70s photo covers. I’ve often wished that Pocket had re-issued more of the Prather books with similar covers, but I suppose they must not have sold very well or something. Maybe they looked TOO sophisticated for the target audience.
b.t.
I didn't recall those particular editions of DEAD-BANG and DEAD MAN'S WALK, so I had to look them up and I agree, they're not bad. Much better than the later ones. I seem to recall reading that the Scott novels Pocket Books did never sold as well as the earlier ones from Gold Medal, although I think they did all right in the Sixties and early Seventies. I have a special fondness for DEAD MAN'S WALK, by the way, since it was the first Shell Scott novel I ever read.
Although I have this book on my shelf, I’ve somehow never gotten around to reading it. I enjoyed your review of it because I share your love for the big redhead PI from Miami. Dave Dresser’s THE PRIVATE PRACTICE OF MICHAEL SHAYNE (what a great title!) was the first “adult” novel I ever read around 13 or 14. I was such a pup, I remember looking up the word “blackmail” in the dictionary! But I’ve been a Mike Shanye fan ever since. For me, the best Shayne novel is BODIES ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM with MURDER WEARS A MUMMER’S MASK a close second. All of the early novels in the series have their moments with Mike assisted by an engaging cast of regulars. Over time Dresser’s weak point proved to be plotting, with the hardboiled aspects too often marred by overly contrived, hokey plots, WHEN DORINDA DANCES being a perfect. Being a Shayne fanboy, I’ve read all of the series ghost writers. Since my two favorites are James Reasoner and Robert Terrall, I naturally found particular interest in your comments regarding his Shayne work. I love Terrall’s run of Dell paperbacks from MERMAID ON THE ROCKS (1967) through BLUE MURDER (1973). I bought ‘em new as they first came out and have read a few of them more than once. I can see why you take issue with Terrall’s approach. The Reasoner approach was to stay with the original Dresser style with great stories like “Murder in the Magic City,” etc. Terrall, as you say, eschewed all of the series supporting cast except for Shayne. But IMHO he did stay with Dresser’s original conception of the character there. His Shayne novels that I’ve read use BODIES ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM (1941) as their template: complicated plots driven almost exclusively by physical movement and the redhead’s tough, rule-breaking determination to get to the truth, often in less than 24 hours. GUILTY AS HELL, VIOLENCE IS GOLDEN and LADY, BE BAD are prime example of Terrall’s approach. The defense rests.
Steve, I've read those three books you recommend, but it was more than 50 years ago before I had any idea that Terrall wrote them. I'll have to give them another read!
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