What do you think?
Rate this book
Mike Shayne #6
The Corpse Came Calling
Mike Shayne is accused of homicide after a dying man stumbles into his office
When an old friend calls begging to see him immediately, Mike Shayne is surprised to say the least. He hasn’t set eyes on Jim Lacy in ten years, and time has not been kind. Jim’s face is deeply wrinkled, and his eyes are glazed. His skin is gray—and there is blood seeping through his shirt. Jim mutters a few last words as he collapses on Shayne’s office floor. His stomach is filled with lead and he is dead before he hits the ground.
Shayne reaches into Lacy’s pocket and pulls out his wallet. Emptying it, he finds $200—enough for a retainer fee. Mike Shayne has never let a client’s murder go unpunished, and he will not rest until he catches the men who shot Jim Lacy and sent him to die. But first he will have to convince the police that he was not the man who pulled the trigger.
When an old friend calls begging to see him immediately, Mike Shayne is surprised to say the least. He hasn’t set eyes on Jim Lacy in ten years, and time has not been kind. Jim’s face is deeply wrinkled, and his eyes are glazed. His skin is gray—and there is blood seeping through his shirt. Jim mutters a few last words as he collapses on Shayne’s office floor. His stomach is filled with lead and he is dead before he hits the ground.
Shayne reaches into Lacy’s pocket and pulls out his wallet. Emptying it, he finds $200—enough for a retainer fee. Mike Shayne has never let a client’s murder go unpunished, and he will not rest until he catches the men who shot Jim Lacy and sent him to die. But first he will have to convince the police that he was not the man who pulled the trigger.
- GenresMysteryMystery Thriller
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1942
3 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Brett Halliday
508 books62 followersAKA 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 26, 2022
The Corpse Came Calling is one of the early Mike Shaynes, the sixth one to be exact. At this point, Shayne is still married To Phyllis. This one was published in 1942 after America had entered the war and it's filled with German spies and FBI agents and government secrets. Shayne encounters corpses ringing his doorbell, femme fatales if the blonde variety, professional gunmen, kidnappers, ex-cons, and treasure hunters. It is a fairly short quick read and real entertaining.
February 7, 2019
I love this series. I believe I first read this some 20 years ago. Thanks to a lousy memory, I remembered none of it.
What a terific mystery with solid characters, plot, twists, turns and all fun reading. Why can'tall books be like this.
About Florida: Author Dresser knew Miami well nailed every thing he wrote. These books by Dresser place you in Miami and Miami Beach as it was at the time of writing. Excellent depiction and possibly best ever done in books.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 9 out of 10 points.
What a terific mystery with solid characters, plot, twists, turns and all fun reading. Why can'tall books be like this.
About Florida: Author Dresser knew Miami well nailed every thing he wrote. These books by Dresser place you in Miami and Miami Beach as it was at the time of writing. Excellent depiction and possibly best ever done in books.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 9 out of 10 points.
May 15, 2025
This was the first Mike Shayne mystery I've read. I've seen the B=movies from the 40s, some with Lloyd Nolan as Shayne, some with Hugh Beaumont (yes, of Ward Cleaver fame).
I quite enjoyed this (the 6th in a long run of 70+ books), and intend to keep looking for more of these Dell Books re-prints from the early 60s (face value of 35 cents, it was a $6 bargain at a used book store). I'm not going to recap the plot, but I will say it would have made a great noir movie -- murders, betrayals, femme fatale, wisecracking P.I., incompetent detectives . . . .
I quite enjoyed this (the 6th in a long run of 70+ books), and intend to keep looking for more of these Dell Books re-prints from the early 60s (face value of 35 cents, it was a $6 bargain at a used book store). I'm not going to recap the plot, but I will say it would have made a great noir movie -- murders, betrayals, femme fatale, wisecracking P.I., incompetent detectives . . . .
December 31, 2018
If you only know Brett Halliday's detective character Michael Shayne from the 1940s Lloyd Nolan movies, you'll be surprised that the Shayne of the book is far more callous than Nolan's Bogart-lite shamus.
The Shayne of the book is a little like the later Mike Hammer detective: he's cold, calculating, venal, and good with his fists. This is the kind of book where the detective punches a guy on the jaw, leaving him knocked out so that the detective is free to have a long drawn-out conversation with someone else while the guy lies on the floor out cold. All from one punch.
Like I said, as far as hard-boiled writing goes, this is closer to Spillane than Hammett or Chandler. And it's entertaining enough. The first eight or nine chapters move quickly, but then the middle of the book drags as the action comes to a stop and numerous conversations takes place in Shayne's apartment.
The most interesting aspect of the book is its setting six months after Pearl Harbor. It's got a spy ring in the background and a Hitchcockian MacGuffin involving top-secret advanced submarine technology on which the outcome of World War II will depend. No, really. There's some patriotic flag-waving that Halliday curiously treats with ambivalence. In hindsight the entire book is a recipe for widespread paranoia as pulpy double identities and criminal ambitions cross wires with wartime intrigue and technology. It's the kind of book that you might say Thomas Pynchon is channeling in Gravity's Rainbow. (I would never say that, but you might...)
After the saggy middle, the book's resolution is so convoluted it makes Chandler's mysteries look like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The penultimate chapter, the unraveling of the spy ring mystery, comes across as self-parody. It's amusingly scrambled and utterly impossible to believe. I was greatly amused by it.
So if Halliday isn't a stylist like Chandler or Hammett, his writing is good and lucid at the very least. I would read other Halliday books based on this one, hoping for a story with a little more depravity and weirdness than this one had to offer.
The Shayne of the book is a little like the later Mike Hammer detective: he's cold, calculating, venal, and good with his fists. This is the kind of book where the detective punches a guy on the jaw, leaving him knocked out so that the detective is free to have a long drawn-out conversation with someone else while the guy lies on the floor out cold. All from one punch.
Like I said, as far as hard-boiled writing goes, this is closer to Spillane than Hammett or Chandler. And it's entertaining enough. The first eight or nine chapters move quickly, but then the middle of the book drags as the action comes to a stop and numerous conversations takes place in Shayne's apartment.
The most interesting aspect of the book is its setting six months after Pearl Harbor. It's got a spy ring in the background and a Hitchcockian MacGuffin involving top-secret advanced submarine technology on which the outcome of World War II will depend. No, really. There's some patriotic flag-waving that Halliday curiously treats with ambivalence. In hindsight the entire book is a recipe for widespread paranoia as pulpy double identities and criminal ambitions cross wires with wartime intrigue and technology. It's the kind of book that you might say Thomas Pynchon is channeling in Gravity's Rainbow. (I would never say that, but you might...)
After the saggy middle, the book's resolution is so convoluted it makes Chandler's mysteries look like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The penultimate chapter, the unraveling of the spy ring mystery, comes across as self-parody. It's amusingly scrambled and utterly impossible to believe. I was greatly amused by it.
So if Halliday isn't a stylist like Chandler or Hammett, his writing is good and lucid at the very least. I would read other Halliday books based on this one, hoping for a story with a little more depravity and weirdness than this one had to offer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2025
This 1942 Michael Shayne novel is fantastic. This is the sixth book in the redheaded Miami PI's mysteries, and I absolutely loved this.
A man walks into Shayne's office and drops dead on the spot. Three bullets are in him. He doesn't know the man and searches the body to learn his identity. He's a PI friend of Mike's that he hasn't seen in ten years. Why would someone kill him and what's with the tiny torn piece of cardboard he was clutching in his hand? These questions are quickly addressed and it's a whirlwind of a mystery. This tale involves a wanton woman, Nazis, stolen plans, a missing hundred grand, and Mike's wife getting kidnapped! Chapter 10 had a surprise action that really sent the book in a spin and the ultimate reveal as to what's occurring is brilliant.
These early Shayne novels are immensely enjoyable. Absolutely recommended for fans of hardcore detectives.
A man walks into Shayne's office and drops dead on the spot. Three bullets are in him. He doesn't know the man and searches the body to learn his identity. He's a PI friend of Mike's that he hasn't seen in ten years. Why would someone kill him and what's with the tiny torn piece of cardboard he was clutching in his hand? These questions are quickly addressed and it's a whirlwind of a mystery. This tale involves a wanton woman, Nazis, stolen plans, a missing hundred grand, and Mike's wife getting kidnapped! Chapter 10 had a surprise action that really sent the book in a spin and the ultimate reveal as to what's occurring is brilliant.
These early Shayne novels are immensely enjoyable. Absolutely recommended for fans of hardcore detectives.
July 14, 2018
This is one of the early Mike Shayne where in twenty-four hours he drinks lots and lots of cognac, is beaten up a couple of times, is threatened by the police from two different municipalities, as well as by the federal government, and stands by as his wife is threatened with rape and kidnapped. As one might guess it moves along in breezy fashion. What makes this one especially interesting is that Pearl Harbor was bombed 6 months before the book came out so there is great fear of fifth columnists, German nationals, and anything that might hurt the war effort. The twist at the end is very good.
June 7, 2017
Blondes, Bodies, & More
The Corpse Came Calling is one of the early Mike Shaynes, the sixth one to be exact. At this point, Shayne is still married To Phyllis. This one was published in 1942 after America had entered the war and it's filled with German spies and FBI agents and government secrets. Shayne encounters corpses ringing his doorbell, femme fatales if the blonde variety, professional gunmen, kidnappers, ex-cons, and treasure hunters. It is a fairly short quick read and real entertaining.
The Corpse Came Calling is one of the early Mike Shaynes, the sixth one to be exact. At this point, Shayne is still married To Phyllis. This one was published in 1942 after America had entered the war and it's filled with German spies and FBI agents and government secrets. Shayne encounters corpses ringing his doorbell, femme fatales if the blonde variety, professional gunmen, kidnappers, ex-cons, and treasure hunters. It is a fairly short quick read and real entertaining.
August 10, 2020
A Dead Man for a Client
Mike Shayne takes on a case when a man dies in his office. Shayne knew him 10 years ago, but hasn't seen him till he died. But who killed him? And why? Mike is in a case involving a robbery in New York, Nazis(this takes place during WWII), and a blonde who lies everytime she.opens her mouth. Can Mike solve the case? Read it, and find out
You'll be glad you did!
Mike Shayne takes on a case when a man dies in his office. Shayne knew him 10 years ago, but hasn't seen him till he died. But who killed him? And why? Mike is in a case involving a robbery in New York, Nazis(this takes place during WWII), and a blonde who lies everytime she.opens her mouth. Can Mike solve the case? Read it, and find out
You'll be glad you did!
October 8, 2023
this was actually kinda entertaining but I did guess the plot twist so not a very good mystery! points off for sexism and old timey dialogue that made my brain hurt
July 4, 2013
The Corpse Came Calling (1942) is a relatively early entry in Brett Halliday’s Mike Shayne series. A woman comes to town and tries to get Shayne to murder her convict husband. Mike does in fact plug the guy but frames it on her anyway. A lot of people who aren’t who they claim to be, including an FBI agent. Typical Shayne-anigans.
July 9, 2012
Fantastic mystery. Love Mike Shayne; a bit like Sam Spade, down to the PI patter.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews