In response to the James-Tim exchange below, I'm sure this
newbie is not telling most of you anything new, but the
Thrilling Detective entry on Mike Shayne and Brett Halliday
is pretty good, and seems to cover the ghost-writers angle
well: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/shaynemike.html
I've read a handful of the Mike Shayne novels, and I quite
like them--especially the earlier ones that are praised in
the link above.
(I have not read the earlier ones programmatically, but given
the praise in the above I may do so.)
I also like the Shell Scott novels, which are to my mind a
pretty direct descendent of the Shayne novels--though to be
fair (and no disrespect to the recently departed Mr. Prather)
I don't think even the best of the Shell or Shayne novels are
terribly well-written, though they are often charming.
I have been, over the years, amassing large stacks of Shell
and Shayne books, and also Carter Brown, not least for the
covers--including the McGinnis, of course, but also some of
the non-McGinnis are great, especially the Shaynes. I have
yet to read a Carter Brown--they look a little unreadable on
a skim, but I'd love opinions; man, that guy was
prolific.
By the way, if anyone knows of a good resource that lays out
all of the different editions of both the Shell Scott and
Mike Shayne series in a clear "checklist" form, so I can
assess what I have and what I'm still looking for, I'd be
very appreciative. Some of those books were reprinted what
seems like dozens of times, with different covers, and it
seems that in some cases McGinnis created 2 or even 3
different covers for a single title over the years. I have
been able to re-create McGinnis lists from the excellent
Graeme Flannagan web-site, but have not yet been able to
complete create series lists.
Mark Nevins
Clipped text:
> Didn't Dennis Lynds (maybe even Gayle) write Mike
Shayne novels? I
> once worked decades ago for a NYC magazine publisher
that included
> The Saint Magazine in its stable. Of course
Charteris never wrote a
> word of it or edited any of it. I did meet him once
when he visited
> the office.
>
> Tim
Dennis Lynds wrote Shayne novellas for MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY
MAGAZINE, two or three of which he expanded into full-length
Shayne novels. I don't believe Gayle ever had any connection
with the character. At least two other authors ghosted Shayne
novels: Ryerson Johnson and Robert Terrall. Others probably
did, too. And numerous people wrote Shayne stories for the
magazine as well.
James Reasoner
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