The Uncomplaining Corpses

Mike Shayne #3

by Brett Halliday

The honeymoon is over—and it’s time for Mike Shayne to prepare for Miami’s killing seasonFor years, Mike Shayne has tangled with the toughest crooks the country has to offer, outsmarting some and outpunching the rest. He was good at his job, but he had no one to come home to—until he met Phyllis. After rescuing his damsel in distress more than once, the hard-boiled PI found himself falling in love, and before he knew it, they were married and on their honeymoon in Cuba. Unfortunately for the lovebirds, their migration home to Miami marks the height of tourist season, when every gangster in America travels south to play. He may be a married man, but Mike Shayne won’t be spending this balmy winter cozied up at home. When a real-estate developer tries to hire Shayne to break into his home as part of an insurance-fraud scam, the scheme quickly turns to murder. With more deaths on the horizon, Shayne will have to be careful if he doesn’t want to celebrate his first wedding anniversary behind bars.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

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

[Alistair Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Uncomplaining Corpses, Brett Halliday, 1940

My favorite quote: “‘By God, I’m beginning to think you did have a perfect crime planned. Too bad an accident had to upset it.’”

Notable characters: Mike Shayne, the PI; Phyllis Brighton, his newlywed wife; Arnold Thrip, a man interested in a job; Leora Thrip, a woman who pays the price; Ernst and Dorothy, the Thrip siblings; Joe Darnell, a guy in bind in search of work; Carl Meldrum, an insatiable playboy who likes to keep it in the family

Most memorable scene: Dora, pulling her gun on Mike and Phyllis — and Phyllis coming to the rescue. I liked seeing some heroism from her

Greatest strengths: Halliday has what my collaborator, Tamara Thorne, and I call “the gift of name.” What I mean is that the author has a knack for naming characters. A few from this book include Buell Renslow, Leora Thrip, Will Gentry, Peter Painter, and Larry Kincaid. They all just have a nice ring to them, right?

Standout achievements: The great chapter titles. My favorite: “Danger — Sulking Tigress”
Fun Facts: Brett Halliday is a pseudonym for Davis Dresser and this is the third book in the Mike Shayne series

Other media: N/A

What it taught me: That “fixity” is an actual word — and one I think we ought to use more often. It’s fun. Say it. See?

How it inspired me: I love this series, I truly do, but as a writer, I have to say that it inspires in me an even firmer resolve to avoid cheesy dialogue tags. Seriously. No one in these books ever actually SAYS anything. They grunt, groan, growl, and grate — sometimes, they even howl, chortle, tear out, snap, spit, hiss, giggle, or sigh their words … but they rarely just say them. After a while it gets to be comical … and I don’t think that’s the idea. I think it’s perfectly okay to simply say “said,” but that’s just me

Additional thoughts: While reading this book, I finally figured out who Mike Shayne reminds me of: Jimmy Stewart. With red hair. I don’t know why

Haunt me: alistaircross.com

Buy The Uncomplaining Corpses: https://amzn.to/3GRXft3

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were something like 77 Mike Shayne novels published between 1939 and 1976 under the house name, Brett Halliday. Davis Dresser wrote the first thirty. "The Uncomplaining Corpses" was published in 1940 and is the third Shayne novel. It's a good one filled with an action-packed tale of one tough Redhaired Irish detective who has half the Miami police force looking to put the cuffs on him as an accessory to a murder. The book has murder, blackmail, nightclubs, missing wives, a huge inheritance, and more. Shayne is one tough bruiser, a lone wolf who fights for what he believes in, including clearing his name. He doesn't care whose toes he steps on or who he has to duke it out with. It's a solid mystery that may keep you guessing as Shayne fights and drinks and detects his way to solving the riddle. Compared to other PI novels of the early forties, this one was written with the idea of it having broad appeal. The prose and the descriptions are not overly dense. The tone is of Miami bright with sunshine, not dark and dreary. It's hardboiled in its cynicism, but not noir. This is also one of the few Shayne novels where he is married. A very enjoyable read.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty weak Mike Shayne and one in which he drinks more than usual! He’s asked by a businessman, Mr. Thrip, to be part of an insurance fraud, He says no, but tells an ex-con, Joe Darnell about it. Joe is shot by Thirp, ostensibly for strangling his wife. Thrip and his two children will benefit, but will he long estranged ex-con brother as well? There are a couple of other suspects, all of who drink with Shayne, and all of whom are unpleasant. Shayne’s wife Phylis tries to help and gets arrested for murder. Despite all the carrying on, the incessant drinking, and fighting, and playing fast and loose with the facts, it’s pretty obvious that Thirp was responsible for it all.

[Frank Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading books in the Mike Shayne series by Brett Halliday for many years. I especially like the earlier ones, starting in the 1940s. Writers like M. Ruth Myers can come close in her Maggie Sullivan books, but there is no substitute for the ambience that a writer contemporary to that period provides.

THE UNCOMPLAINING CORPSES, originally published in 1940 and now available as an e-book, is a good example of what I am talking about. Consider some of the following references:

• “Beyond the polished mahogany railing three girl typists presented their backs to him, heads bowed over clacking machines.”

• “Shayne took a cigarette from his shirt pocket and stuck it between his lips.”

• “Shayne lit a fresh cigarette from the smoldering butt of his old one.”

• “Shayne moved past a row of stalls to a frosted window which was lowered from the top for ventilation.”

• “…where newsboys were getting rid of their morning Heralds in a hurry. Their raucous calls reached his ears faintly but he drove on to the causeway without stopping to buy a paper.”

• “A milk truck lumbered past…”

Used by a writer in today’s world, references like these would be ironic, at best. Here, they are the real articles, like prehistoric dragon flies caught in amber. These alone would make the book worth reading, even without the non-stop action, consistent characterization, and complicated plot that are hallmarks of a Mike Shayne story.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Shayne has been married for two weeks and takes his first case, which he turns down. A rich relator wants to teach his richer wife a lesson by having someone stage a burglary. Shayne turns it down, but passes it along to a thief who needs the money. Unfortunately, that friend is found dead in the same room with the wife. Mike is now the chief suspect for the murders and he's on the run trying to prove his innocence. And then his wife has doing something very foolish.

The pace of the book was terrific, with everything happening within 48 hours, creating some excellent tension and having Mike really go through the wringer. There are some excellent twists and turns with an outstanding ending.

I really need to read more books by Halliday. They've all been winners.

[terry stallings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is He Washed Up?

In this Mike Shayne mystery, Shayne refuses to go along with an insurance scam. Enter an ex-con, a blackmailed wife, her former lover, her brother, and a frame that will end Mike's career in Miami, and send him to jail. Is he washed up? Can.he catch the real killer? Read it, and find out. You'll be glad you did!

[K. Counihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Frame Up

Mike walks straight into a frame while helping his new wife out. The police believe that he killed his client but he refuses to tell the truth . Now he is on the run. Good Story, fast paced and engaging.

[Jim Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oldie but goodie with author Davis Dresser writing under the pseudonym of Brett Halliday presenting us with the 3rd Michael Shayne excursion. I like the old ones best since other authors wrote under the name Brett Halliday after Dresser had written around three dozen or more in the Shayne series. Dresser based his Shayne character on a real man he saw drinking cognac and after a fight broke out the big, red headed cognac drinker practically cleared the room, knocking one man after another down and many out. He pulled Dresser out of the bar before the young man who was yet to be an author had a chance to thank him. Years later, he saw the big guy in another bar in Texas I believe, bought him a drink and was starting to tell him that his first meeting with him was one of the most memorable happenings in his life. Before they exchanged more than a few more words, two other rough looking guys walked in and Shayne (author never got the guy's real name) left and Dresser never saw him again. When he decided to write the detective series he had the perfect person to base his somewhat real life hero on because as Dresser told it, he felt like his fictional character could be as tough as any of the great private eyes and he would not have to exaggerate one bit. Knowing the background to author Halliday's creation makes the stories seem like they could have happened. They are not in the class of a Hammett or Chandler but who is? Tough as Spillane without the sadistic streak and yet one of the cleverest of not the most clever of the real tough guy detectives. All the mysteries are about equal since I know I've read a couple dozen and I can't name one that stands out more than another although the early ones are all worth reading if you like the oldies but goodies of the hard boiled school of detective fiction. This is my 2nd reading of this particular novel. Shayne was somewhat of a loner but one young woman really got to him and surprisingly Shayne is one of the few, if any, of the tough detectives who was married - at least for a while until she got murdered. This one is set in Miami but there is a time when Shayne moves to New Orleans so some of his cases are in that setting.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got tipped to the Mike Shayne series after watching the film 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'.
Bought a bundle of them on eBay.

Mike Shayne is hard drinking (either it was weaker alcohol in the past or he is a highly functioning alcoholic).
He antagonises everyone around him, pushes friendships beyond breaking, then some.

This is no police procedural and the plot tie-up is shakey if you pause to think about it, but there was no DNA then, he's not using fingerprints or science and the sleuthing is a comparison of typing machines. Dated in that respect.

Who cares. Classic pulp of it's time. A fun read for a rainy day, with toast and tea.

[Neil]

Bought a bundle of these on eBay a few years ago, after finding out they were the inspiration for kiss kiss bang bang.

Pretty easy reading and great pulp from the 40's

He certainly piled his way through the alcohol, cognac, brandy and sidecars.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best one of the four Mike Shayne novel's I've just blasted through. Some very convoluted plotting, with twists inside twists.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ei yhtään pöllömpää yksityisetsiväilyä, lisäksi vielä ajalleen harvinaisen hyvin suomennettuna. Mukavaa luettavaa.