Never Kill a Client

Mike Shayne #44

by Brett Halliday

Used Book

Genres: Crime

Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1963

About the author

AKA David Dresser
Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 - February 4, 1977), primary pen name of Davis Dresser, was an American mystery writer, best known for the long-lived series of Mike Shayne novels he wrote, and later commissioned others to write. Dresser wrote non-series mysteries, westerns and romances under the names

Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, and Anderson Wayne.

Reviews

[K. Counihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best Mike Shayne of All

The story starts off with Shayne getting an airplane ticket to L. A. , for a job to be explained upon arrival. When he gets to L.A. a limo picks him up. they go to a hotel. He gets shot at. He calls Miami, they think he is still in Miami? He was spotted with his Secretary Lucy leaving by car headed up-state for a vacation? The Police in Miami also want him for a murder. I really liked this book.

[BlueMastiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Shayne and his secretary Lucy are set up to make it look like they murdered a client in their office. Lucy is missing and Mike is determined to find her and whoever is responsible for the murder.

This was the first Mike Shayne book that I have read and I must say it was a fun fast book that I enjoyed reading. I am looking forward to reading more in this series. Worth checking out.

[A.K. D'Onofrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cracked this open expecting a dated pulp mystery, and that's exactly what I got. I haven't read any of the others in the series, and some of the meta-humor fell pretty flat, but it was decent for what it was.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never read one of these before. It was fun, filler reading! I would read more for sure.

[JOSEPH M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Mike Shayne books.

Enjoyed Mike's mission to find Lucy. Mike was fooled for a time by a sexy blonde but ultimately saw thru her.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big redheaded Shayne, no matter who penned the stories, was a very popular and some might say even generic hardboiled detective. Based in Miami, Shayne had a long term relationship with his secretary Lucy Hamilton, often tangled with the local police who didn't want him butting into police business, and was best buds with a local reporter. This one is probably not the pinnacle of the Shayne series as the plot is a bit convoluted and it's a bit slow to get rolling. Despite that, none of the Mike Shayne stories are really a bad read. This particular tale involves a trip to Hollywood, a night chasing Fidel Castro's ex-mistress, a man with a knife in his gut in Shayne's office, and strange mysterious twists.

[Adam Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never Kill a Client is a book that starts off with an interesting premise and many of the tropes of good Michael Shayne novels but doesn't quite pay off. Michael Shayne gets half of a thousand dollar bill and a ticket to Los Angels where he chases a phantom woman around who gives him a nonsense story. However, while he's away, someone impersonates and uses his office for a murder. The story has its moments but is a bit of a dud with both its pay off and the overall solution. This one felt like going through the motions.