MSMM – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

Vault January 31, 2020

Mike Shayne Oct. 1957

Brett Halliday: Variety and Range
Contents Page
Brett Halliday “One Death Too Many”
Robert Turner “Accident”
Earl Basinsky, Jr. “The Prison Break”
Robert Sheckley “Charter for Murder”
Theodore Sturgeon “A Crime for Llewellyn”
Roe Richmond “Assignment at Las Vegas”
Dick Boylan “Blueprint for a Blonde”
Hal Ellson “Sooner or Later”
Stan Mumme “Eye-Witness”

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 2 No. 4 Oct. 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 128 pages 35¢

Vault January 22, 2020

Mike Shayne Dec. 1957

Brett Halliday: Weddings . . . and Funerals
Contents Page
Brett Halliday “Lilies for the Bride” art by Leo Morey
John Jakes “The Affair of the Second Dracula”
D.E. Forbes “The Fifth One” art by Bowman
Rufus King “Murder on Her Mind” art by Leo Morey
Henry Slesar “Fly Home to Betsy” art by Leo Morey
Frederic (Fredric) Sinclair “Sky Caper”
John Bennett Stacey “The Dangerous Decision”
Curtis W. Casewit “You Can’t Buy Guts” art by Leo Morey
W.R. Drobnich “Who Else, Mac?

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 2 No. 5 Dec. 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 128 pages 35¢

Vault December 9, 2019

Mike Shayne June 1957

Brett Halliday: The Challenge in Mystery Writing
Contents Page
Helen Nielsen “The Long Walk to Death”
Fletcher Flora “Only the Best for Bowser”
James Shucker “Carny Blood”
Tedd Thomey “Slay-ride to Eternity”
Ted Reynolds “Identification in Red”
D.E. Forbes “In a Neat Package”
Brett Halliday (Davis Dresser) “Weep for a Blond Corpse” part three
Murray Wolf “The Little Glass Tubes”
Keston Clarke “Poison at Eight”

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 2 No. 2 June 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 144 pages 35¢

Vault November 22, 2019

Mike Shayne April 1957

Still a bi-monthly in April 1957, this issue is the first to use the new title “Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.” Page count drops from 160 to 144.

Brett Halliday: Dr. Shamus Shayne
Contents Page
Frank Ward “Death Aboard the Cruiser”
Lawrence Treat “Twice Around the Block”
Brett Halliday (Davis Dresser) “Weep for a Blond Corpse” part two
Walt Sheldon “Line of Fire”
C.L. Sweeney, Jr. “Soft, White Body”
William R. Cox “Who Wants You?”
Richard Deming “The Strange Collaboration”
Arthur Feldman “The Cardinal Sin”

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 2 No. 1 April 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
Cover: Vic Donahue
5.25” x 7.75” 144 pages 35¢

Vault October 22, 2019

Michael Shayne Feb. 1957

Most of the Mike Shayne short novels that appeared in his digest magazine were ghost written under the Brett Halliday pseudonym. But this issue features the first of a three-part series presenting a brand new full-length novel by Davis Dresser himself. “Weep for a Blond Corpse” ran in the Feb., April, and June 1957 issues. This issue was the last one with “Michael,” in the title; it was strictly ”Mike” from here on.

Brett Halliday’s Goal to Go! (intro)
Contents Page
Brett Halliday “Weep for a Blond Corpse” part one
Veronica Parker Johns “The Cannibal Oxen”
Lee E. Wells “Desert of Death”
Robert O’Niel Bristow “The Naked Trap”
Jay Carroll “A Dress for May Lou”
Irving Burstiner’s Find the Detective (puzzle)
Henry Slesar “The Right Kind of House”
Samuel W. Taylor “Night of the Full Moon”
Robert Bloch “The Real Bad Friend”
Frank Kane “The Rumble”

Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 6 Feb. 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages 35¢

Vault October 8, 2019

Michael Shayne No. 5

Contents
Leo Margulies’s Big Shayne Coming UP
Brett Halliday (unknown ghost writer) “A Challenge in Corpses”
Will Cotton “A Long Time Dying”
Jonathan Craig “Sunday’s Slaughter”
Thelma L. Beach “The Frightened Passenger”
Tedd Thomey “Brother, Brother . . .”
Theresa Anne O’Malley “No Questions”
William Campbell Gault “I’ll Be Waiting”
Richard Deming “Comfort for the Grave”
Peter Cheyney “He Walked in Her Sleep”

Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 5 Jan. 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Editor: Sam Merwin, Jr.
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages 35¢

Vault October 1, 2019

Michael Shayne No. 4

Contents
Brett Halliday’s (Leo Margulies?) The Heel’s the Thing
Brett Halliday (Sam Merwin, Jr.) “Mark Me for Murder” (Mike Shayne)
Mann Rubin “The Gold Ring”
George Fielding Eliot “Emergency Call—State Police”
De Forbes “The Secret Secret Secret”
Kenneth Fearing “Shadow of Fame”
Margaret Manners “Hard Way Out”
David Margerson “Cyanide Cocktail”
Walt Sheldon “The Silent Weapon”
W.T. Ballard “Crescent City Blues”
Val Morrow “The Black Box”

Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Dec. 1956
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Editor: Sam Merwin, Jr.
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages 35¢

Vault September 28, 2019

Michael Shayne No. 3

Contents
Brett Halliday’s (Leo Margulies?) Salute from Mike Shayne
Brett Halliday (Sam Merwin, Jr.) “Who Shot the Duke?”
Theodore Sturgeon & Don Ward “The Deadly Innocent”
Walt Sheldon “Dead Man’s Cat”
Vic Rodell “To Anita—With Murder”
Herbert Harris “A Grave for Lydia”
Raymond Drennen “The Generous Corpse”
De Forbes “Lie Down—You’re Dead”
Colin G. Jameson “Blood on the Golden Fleece”
G.B. Gilford “Marked for Murder”
Norman Struber “New Man in Town”

Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 3 Nov. 1956
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Editor: Sam Merwin, Jr.
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
Cover: Ed Emshwiller
5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages 35¢

Interviews September 25, 2019

Michael Bracken’s “A Matter of Policy”

Excerpt from Michael Bracken’s interview for The Digest Enthusiast No. 8:

TDE: Another Shayne story, “A Matter of Policy,” about a crooked claims adjuster, is tightly plot-ted, with elements that all come together by the story’s end. Are you a plotter or pantser? What’s your writing process today and how has it evolved over the years?

MB: I had to reread “A Matter of Policy” because I didn’t remember it, and I was pleasantly surprised how well the story holds up after all these years.

Alas, nothing in my notes reminds me how this story came together, so I’ll talk more generally about my process.

I am a combination plotter and pantser—a plantser, if you will. Many of my stories begin when I write an opening scene that introduces a character or characters and an inciting incident. Too often, that’s all I have. Then the story sits—sometimes a few days, but occasionally several years—before I return to it. I may then plot the next few scenes or the entire balance of the story before continuing the writing. So, I often begin a story as a pantser and finish it as a plotter.

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 49 No. 2 Feb. 1985
Contents
Hal Blythe & Charles Sweet writing as Brett Halliday “The Quick and the Dead”
Mike Taylor “The ‘B’ Murders”
Stewart Street “Music Man”
Joseph A. Sekelsky “The Charm Bracelet”
Mel Washburn “Sweet Sister”
Alan Warren “Smithereens”
Michael Bracken “A Matter of Policy”
Richard Connolly’s Purloined Letter (art quiz)
Lane Marsh “A Delicate Situation”
John Ball’s Stiff Competition (book reviews)
Best By Mail (classifieds)

Publishers: Edward & Anita Goldstein
Editor: Charles E. Fritch
Art Director: Robin Schaffer
Founder: Leo Margulies
Cover: Pecoraro
5.25” x 7.75” 130 pages $1.75

Interviews September 19, 2019

Michael Bracken: Excerpt from the Interview

In his interview for The Digest Enthusiast No. 8, Michael Bracken gives us the background on one of his early stories:

“Vengeance to Show in the Third,” my first appearance in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (October 1983), was heavily influenced by reading a great many Dick Francis novels, and I was clearly trying to write an American Dick Francis story. At the time I wrote the story, I lived in southern Illinois, near a racetrack where I placed several losing bets, but I had a personal connection as well. My first wife grew up riding English and, through connections made in that environment, knew people who owned race horses, and she briefly worked as a groom.

In a way, that describes how I do a fair bit of my research: use personal connections. If I don’t have the necessary personal experience and I can’t find what I need with an Internet search, I reach out to friends and family. Additionally, other writers are a great resource, and I have tapped them for information about Catholicism, the odor of a fired handgun, and the like.