Who Was Brett Halliday?

Hmmm… sounds like a case for Mike Shayne…

“I was thrilled to be Brett Halliday.”
— James Reasoner

Davis Dresser, the original Brett Halliday, allegedly wrote only fifty (ONLY!) of the Mike Shayne books, with a little help from ghostwriters such as Ryerson Johnson, while twenty-seven more were written by Robert Terrall. And then there were the 300 or so short stories that appeared in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, most of which weren’t written by Dresser at all.

But, as our friend Ben — and numerous others — have pointed out, it’s not entirely clear if Davis Dresser wrote even 50 Shayne novels. Ben goes on to say:

“I’d guess the origin of this claim might come from the fact that around the time of the 50th novel, Dresser had just sold the series to Dell. But what I’ve read is that he had stopped writing the books some years before that. The last one written by him is supposed to be Murder and The Wanton Bride from 1958 which was the 29th novel. After this maybe Dresser was still making contributions to some novels with other writers. After Mike Shayne’s 50th Case the last 20 novels are written by Robert Terrall. It’s the 19 novels after Wanton Bride and up to 50th Case that are the most fuzzy as to the authorship.”

Dresser may have also co-written some of the Mike Shaynes (see “Under Oath” below) with the help of his first wife, Kathleen (née Tulula Kathleen Rollins), whose previous writing credits included several romance novels. And for sure, together they wrote a couple of non-Shayne mysteries, Before I Wake (1949) and A Lonely Way to Die (1950), under the joint pen name of Hal Debrett. Oddly, though, by 1946 Dresser had already remarried — to mystery writer Helen (1937), Helen McCloy. Kathleen was already a published author when they married, having penned  Enchanted Interlude (1935), Love’s Tapestry (1936), Spring Came Too Late (1936), This World of Ours (1937), Impassioned Foothills (1937), Tryst with the Stars (1937), and When the Heart Strays (1938), all romance novels. 

Fuzzy or not, here are the writers who sailed under the Brett Halliday flag:

• Robert Arthur (short stories?)
• Michael Avallone
• Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet
• Edward Y. Breese
• Hal Charles
• Richard Deming
• Davis Dresser (the original Brett Halliday-fifty novels!… maybe)
• Peter Germano
• Ryerson Johnson (allegedly “helped” Dresser with the first fifty Shayne books)
• Frank Belknap Long
• David Mazroff (1 story, possibly others)
• Dennis Lynds (the most prolific, with approximately 80 short stories)
• Sam Merwin Jr. (MSMM‘s first editor)
• Bill Pronzini and Jeff Wallman (short stories)
• James Reasoner
• Robert Terral (27 novels)
• Robert Turner

UNDER OATH

• “I married a Rollins. It was known by family members that Davis Dresser’s wife, Kathleen (née Tulula Kathleen Rollins) wrote many of the Michael Shayne mysteries. If you look inside A Taste for Violence you will see “For(not to) Levin Hampton Rollins Sr.,” her brother.
  — Curtis Edewaard (July 2025)

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS

• Ghost Writers: Have Pen, Will Travel
  Don’t be afraid of no ghosts…

Respectfully compiled by Kevin Burton Smith.