Weeep for a Blonde is the 27th Mike Shayne mystery. It was published in 1957. The DELL paperback version on the right was published in 1964 with a Robert McGinnis cover. Mike Shayne, a red-headed private investigator based in Miami, stumbles into a case where a beautiful blonde wife is being physically abused by her wealthy husband. When the blonde is murdered, Mike Shayne becomes the Prime Suspect.
I read Mike Shayne DELL paperbacks in the early 1960s. The McGinnis covers had a lot to do with that. But Mike Shayne was the first private eye character I read about. Later, I graduated to Mike Hammer, Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Lew Archer. But Mike Shayne was first. Do you have a favorite Mike Shayne novel?
I was waiting to see what Blonde would make the cut today. I haven’t read enough of Halliday and Shayne to have a favorite.
Jeff, I have a couple dozen books with BLONDE in the title. Plenty of choices!
Mike Shayne’s Long Chance is a good one, it takes place when he’s in New Orleans. He comes back to Miami for Marked for Murder which is the one I’m reading right now.
Rick, I’ll have to find my copy of MIKE SHAYNE’S LONG CHANCE. I read MARKED FOR MURDER years ago and liked it.
I was a big Mike Shayne fan as a teenager. My memory is that the Shayne stories based in New Orleans were a cut above those in Miami, which were saddled with tiresome secondary characters.
Richard, I agree with you that the New Orleans Mike Shayne novels were superior to the Miami ones.
Having a favorite Mike Shane mystery is like having a favorite McDonald’s hamburger.
Dan, some of the later Mike Shayne mysteries are a little uneven.