RARA-AVIS: Question and Comment

From: Mark D. Nevins ( nevins_mark@yahoo.com)
Date: 22 Feb 2008


Brief de-lurk:

Jim:
    In Brett Halliday's FOURTH DOWN TO DEATH, Mike Shayne
    is hired by the Miami Dolphins and is paid off with
    several shares of Dolphin stock. This is a late entry
    in the Shayne series, which means that Halliday
    probably had little, if anthing, to do with the actual
    writing of the book.

I thought "Brett Halliday" was a pseudonym, no? Wasn't the original Brett actually David Dresdner or something like that?

I have a pretty large collection of Mike Shayne books--mostly for the cover art. I have only read a few--all early ones--and they seem perfectly capable. I've liked the Hallidays and the Prathers I've read a lot more than, for example, the Spillanes.

Are there any Halliday/Shayne fans here? Any perspectives on the series?

Ron:
    I just read Victor Gischler's SUICIDE
    SQUEEZE which has a passing connection to baseball.

    A great read, BTW. I'd read GUN MONKEYS before upon
    a recommendation from Jason Starr and liked it,
    but didn't enjoy it quite to the extent that I did
    this one. I'll be picking up more of his stuff.

FWIW, I think Gischler's best book so far is PISTOL POETS. However, I have not read at least one other of his books--SHOTGUN OPERA?--but I believe that one may be a trunk novel.

Best, Mark Nevins



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