Brett Halliday
Encyclopedia
Brett Halliday primary pen name
of Davis Dresser, was an American mystery writer
, best known for the long-lived series of Michael 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.
. Here he lost an eye to barbed wire
as a boy, and thus had to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life. At the age of 14, he ran away from home and enlisted in the U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, followed by a year of Border Patrol
duty on the Rio Grande
. After his service, he returned to Texas to finish high school. In search of adventure, Dresser traveled throughout the Southwest working at various odd jobs, including that of muleskinner, farm hand, deckhand on a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico, laborer in the California oilfields, etc. Eventually, he went to Tri-State College of Engineer, where he received a certificate in civil engineering. Back in Texas, he worked as an engineer and surveyor for several years before turning to writing in 1927.
After his first marriage (to Kathleen Rollins, who had two daughters from a previous marriage), Dresser was married to mystery writer Helen McCloy
from 1946 to 1961; they had a daughter named Chloe. As partners, they formed a literary agency called Halliday and McCloy. Dresser also established a publishing company Torquil Publishing Company, which published his books as well as those of other authors, from 1953 to 1965. In 1961, he married Mary Savage, also a writer; their son, Halliday, was born in 1965.
The first Shayne novel was rejected by 21 publishers before being accepted by Henry Holt & Co. in 1939. The Shayne series went on to be highly successful, reprinted in many editions and translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Japanese and Hebrew. A radio series based on the Shayne character was heard during the 1940s. Twelve motion pictures were made, seven of them featuring Lloyd Nolan as Shayne. Five of the Nolan films, which were produced by 20th Century Fox, have been released on DVD: Michael Shayne, Private Detective; Sleepers West; Dressed to Kill; Blue, White and Perfect; and The Man Who Wouldn't Die. After the Fox series ended, five more Shayne films were made by PRC which featured Hugh Beaumont as the detective. There was also a TV series in 1960, starring Richard Denning. The 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
is based partly on Halliday's novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them.
Dresser was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America
, and in 1954 he and McCloy were given Edgar Award
s for their critical writings on the genre.
He lived in Santa Barbara, California
, until his death at the age of 72.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Davis Dresser, was an American mystery writer
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
, best known for the long-lived series of Michael Shayne
Michael Shayne
Michael Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday. It was the title of a series of 12 films starring Lloyd Nolan, a radio series under a variety of names, between 1944 and 1953, and later in 1960-1961, a 32 episode NBC television series...
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.
Biography
Dresser was born in Chicago, Illinois, but mostly grew up in West TexasWest Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
. Here he lost an eye to barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
as a boy, and thus had to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life. At the age of 14, he ran away from home and enlisted in the U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, followed by a year of Border Patrol
United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency within U.S. Customs and Border Protection , a component of the Department of Homeland Security . It is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to...
duty on the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
. After his service, he returned to Texas to finish high school. In search of adventure, Dresser traveled throughout the Southwest working at various odd jobs, including that of muleskinner, farm hand, deckhand on a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico, laborer in the California oilfields, etc. Eventually, he went to Tri-State College of Engineer, where he received a certificate in civil engineering. Back in Texas, he worked as an engineer and surveyor for several years before turning to writing in 1927.
After his first marriage (to Kathleen Rollins, who had two daughters from a previous marriage), Dresser was married to mystery writer Helen McCloy
Helen McCloy
Helen McCloy , pseudonym Helen Clarkson, was an American mystery writer, whose series character Dr. Basil Willing debuted in Dance of Death . Willing believes, that "every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints, and he can't wear gloves to hide them." He appeared in 13 of McCloy's novels and in...
from 1946 to 1961; they had a daughter named Chloe. As partners, they formed a literary agency called Halliday and McCloy. Dresser also established a publishing company Torquil Publishing Company, which published his books as well as those of other authors, from 1953 to 1965. In 1961, he married Mary Savage, also a writer; their son, Halliday, was born in 1965.
The first Shayne novel was rejected by 21 publishers before being accepted by Henry Holt & Co. in 1939. The Shayne series went on to be highly successful, reprinted in many editions and translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Japanese and Hebrew. A radio series based on the Shayne character was heard during the 1940s. Twelve motion pictures were made, seven of them featuring Lloyd Nolan as Shayne. Five of the Nolan films, which were produced by 20th Century Fox, have been released on DVD: Michael Shayne, Private Detective; Sleepers West; Dressed to Kill; Blue, White and Perfect; and The Man Who Wouldn't Die. After the Fox series ended, five more Shayne films were made by PRC which featured Hugh Beaumont as the detective. There was also a TV series in 1960, starring Richard Denning. The 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 crime/dark comedy film, which engages many conventions of the classic film noir genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. It is based, in part, on the novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday. The cast includes Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan...
is based partly on Halliday's novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them.
Dresser was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
, and in 1954 he and McCloy were given Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
s for their critical writings on the genre.
He lived in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, until his death at the age of 72.
Novels
- Dividend on Death (1939)
- The Private Practice of Michael Shayne (1940)
- The Uncomplaining Corpses (1940)
- Tickets for Death (1941)
- Bodies are Where You Find Them (1941)
- The Corpse Came Calling (1942)
- Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask (1943; AKA In a Deadly Vein)
- Blood on the Black Market (1943; Heads You Lose)
- Michael Shayne's Long Chance (1944)
- Murder and the Married Virgin (1944)
- Murder is My Business (1945)
- Marked for Murder (1945)
- Blood on Biscayne Bay (1946)
- Counterfeit Wife (1947)
- Blood on the Stars (1948)
- A Taste for Violence (1949)
- Call for Michael Shayne (1949)
- This is It, Michael Shayne (1950)
- Framed in Blood (1951)
- What Really Happened (1952)
- When Dorinda Dances (1951)
- One Night with Nora (1953)
- She Woke to Darkness (1954)
- Death Has Three Lives (1955)
- Stranger in Town (1955)
- The Blonde Cried Murder (1956)
- Weep for a Blonde (1957)
- Shoot the Works (1957)
- Murder and the Wanton Bride (1958)
- Fit to Kill (1958)
- Date with a Dead Man (1959)
- Target: Michael Shayne (1959)
- Die Like a Dog (1959)
- Murder Takes no Holiday (1960)
- Dolls are Deadly (1960)
- The Homicidal Virgin (1960)
- Killers from the Keys (1961)
- Murder in Haste (1961)
- The Careless Corpse (1961)
- Pay-Off in Blood (1962)
- Murder by Proxy (1962)
- Never Kill a Client (1962)
- Too Friendly, Too Dead (1962)
- The Corpse that Never Was (1963)
- The Body Came Back (1963)
- A Redhead for Michael Shayne (1964)
- Shoot to Kill (1964)
- Michael Shayne's 50th Case (1964)
- The Violent World of Michael Shayne (1965)
- Nice Fillies Finish Last (1965)
- Murder Spins the Wheel (1966)
- Armed...Dangerous... (1966)
- Mermaid on the Rocks (1967)
- Guilty as Hell (1967)
- So Lush, So Deadly (1968)
- Violence is Golden (1968)
- Lady, Be Bad (1969)
- Six Seconds to Kill (1970)
- Fourth Down to Death (1970)
- Count Backwards to Zero (1971)
- I Come to Kill You (1971)
- Caught Dead (1972)
- Kill All the Young Girls (1973)
- Blue Murder (1973)
- Last Seen Hitchhiking (1974)
- At the Point of a .38 (1974)
- Million Dollar Handle (1976)
- Win Some, Lose Some (1976)
External links
- The Toughest Red head Ever Brett Halliday explains the creation of Mike Shayne