Framed in Blood

Mike Shayne #20

by Brett Halliday

When a blackmail scheme goes wrong, Mike Shayne is left to pick up the pieces

Bert Jackson could have been a great reporter, if he had the patience for it. Married to a woman with expensive taste, Jackson has spent himself into the kind of debt that he’ll never pay off at $62.50 a week. He needs a big score, and he needs it tonight. Working the city hall beat, Jackson has stumbled upon the greatest corruption scandal in Miami history. If he publishes it, he could win a Pulitzer. But it’s money that he wants, and he’ll risk death to get it.

Using the information in his story, Jackson plans to blackmail a powerful local official for $10,000, and he asks Mike Shayne for help. Shayne has seen too many blackmail artists wind up dead to get involved with something like this, and he warns Jackson to stay away. When the reporter turns up dead, it’s up to Shayne to uncover his final scoop.

Genres: Mystery

Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

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

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were quite a few private eyes who came out of the late fifties/ early sixties and, of those, one of the most popular and longest lasting was Mike Shayne. Big, redheaded Shayne became the Miami private eye in 77 books written under the house name Brett Halliday. Murder,
corruption, bored widows, and hoods of all types filled the Shayne novels.

Framed In Blood includes all of the usual Shayne characters, including secretary Lucy Hamilton, best friend reporter Tim Rourke, and chief Will Gentry. It figures into murder, corruption, blackmail, suicide,
adultery, and more. It's one of the odd Shsyne stories where he doesn't exactly have a client but still gets cute with the local police trying to protect would-be client's confidences. It features real knock-down bloody brawls with hoods, cat fights, and a trail of corruption a mile long. It all behins with a young reporter and a money-hungry wife and a deal Shayne can't agree to.

There's a lot of great stuff in this novel and, for those of us who have read lots of the series, it's got a real familiar feel. But it's not the best of the lot. Perhaps the plot is a bit too winding and convoluted.

[Me · Rating 4 out of 5]

for what it is, a fast, quick read on a tough guy PI trying to sort out a mystery. I like the writing style.

I also like how not all loose ends were tied up. who's Mr Big? maybe I missed that somewhere?

looking back, that era of social civility, seems quaint from my jaded modern perspective.

[Michael Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty typical (though very enjoyable) detective novel. I enjoyed it enough to stay up late into the night reading it, finishing it in one sitting.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

My dog was sick when I started this book, and I would read her passages of it when she was curled up on her pillow. She died. I finished Framed in Blood and wish that I had read her something better.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Shayne is approached by a reporter who has dug up a scandalous story on a big shot and intends to use it for blackmail rather than publish it. Shayne isn't interested in helping, so he refuses the assignment and shows the guy the door. Then the reporter's beautiful wife comes to Shayne in tears, hoping the private eye can help convince her husband to stay out of danger. The next day, the reporter is dead, and it is up to Shayne to find the killer without pointing the finger at his friend.

Framed in Blood is a dizzying who-done-it filled with smarmy stereotypes and dialogue that would fit right in on an old time radio program (and indeed Michael Shayne was on the radio, and the silver screen). I am astounded by how many times Shayne gets away with lying to the police with no consequences, and in fact, the police rely on his digging to solve the crime. This is a fun and quick read, but it is not outstanding.