Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday. The character appeared in a series of seven films starring Lloyd Nolan for Twentieth Century Fox, four films from the low-budget Producers Releasing Corporation with Hugh Beaumont, a radio series under a variety of titles between 1944 and 1953, and later in 1960–1961 in a 32-episode NBC television series starring Richard Denning in the title role. Shayne debuted in the novel Dividend on Death first published in 1939, written by Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. Dresser wrote fifty Shayne novels. Twenty seven more were written by a variety of ghost-writers for a total of 77; 300 short stories, a dozen films, radio and television shows, and a few comic book appearances have included the character. The books were typically very well plotted, with Shayne always gathering the suspects at the end and explaining the crime and naming the murderer. Shayne was initially married in the novels, his wife being Phyllis Shayne, who was a somewhat limited character, and was often out of town. Dresser "killed her off" when he sold the movie rights to the series. In the book Blood on the Black Market, the comedy aspect of the earlier novels disappears, and Shayne is forced to deal with his wife's death. A recurring character in the stories was reporter Tim Rourke. The 1940 film Michael Shayne, Private Detective was the first in a series of 6 films. Lloyd Nolan starred as Shayne until the series was dropped by Twentieth Century Fox. ***All of these films were originally produced long before the advent of High Definition TV, therefore they are best viewed on a small screen. HD TVs tend to stretch and skew the picture. Set your HD TV on 4:3 aspect ratio. Films List: Michael Shayne – Private Detective (1940) Sleepers West (1941) Dressed to Kill (1941) Blue, White and Perfect (1942) The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942) Just Off Broadway (1942) Time to Kill (1942)