...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Death Has Three Lives

98 statements
18 feature instances
2 referencing feature instances

Death Has Three Lives	type	TVTItem
Death Has Three Lives	label	Death Has Three Lives
Death Has Three Lives	page	DeathHasThreeLives
Death Has Three Lives	comment	Death Has Three Lives is a 1955 novel by Brett Halliday, the pen name for Davis Dresser.It is another installment in the long-running series (37 years!) about hard-boiled Miami private detective Michael Shayne. This one opens with Shayne's Sexy Secretary Lucy Hamilton preparing to receive him at her apartment one evening, probably for Friends with Benefits sex. She responds to the knock at her door and is greeted not by Shayne, but by one Jack Bristow, a casual acquaintance of hers from New Orleans. It's an unpleasant surprise, made more unpleasant when Lucy realizes that Bristow is clutching a bullet wound in his abdomen.A bleeding Bristow tells her that he was shot by "a dead man." He also tells her that she must not call the police, and she can't tell Shayne either, because if she does he'll tell all sorts of lies about Lucy's private life in New Orleans. So when Shayne does show up, Lucy doesn't tell him that she has a man with a bullet wound hiding in her bedroom. When the cops arrive, looking for a man who was seen running away from an apartment building where a prostitute was murdered, Shayne sends them on their way. He is appalled when Lucy finally tells him, and goes into the bedroom, only to find that Bristow is gone, apparently through the open window of Lucy's bedroom. Only Bristow isn't gone; he's under Lucy's bed, and he's dead. From a slashed throat...
Death Has Three Lives	fetched	2024-01-24T05:59:39Z
Death Has Three Lives	parsed	2024-01-24T05:59:39Z
Death Has Three Lives	isPartOf	DBTropes
Death Has Three Lives / int_281de59f	type	Extremely Short Timespan
Death Has Three Lives / int_281de59f	comment	Extremely Short Timespan: As per formula in the Michael Shayne series, where stories almost never lasted more than 24 hours. This is even quicker than most, as three murders, two separate visits to the morgue, a kidnapping, a suspect going down in a hail of bullets, Shayne getting a friend to rig him up a knockout gas bomb, and more, all of that and more happens over a single evening and night.
Death Has Three Lives / int_281de59f	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_281de59f	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_281de59f
Death Has Three Lives / int_304e16ed	type	Smithical Marriage
Death Has Three Lives / int_304e16ed	comment	Smithical Marriage: Although it isn't played the usual way, with two people checking into a No-Tell Motel for sex. Instead, Shayne checks the woman he finds outside the crime scene into a vacation cabin, which he reserves under the name "Mr. and Mrs. Pete Smith." He's pretty sure that she's related to the mystery he's trying to solve, and he's right.
Death Has Three Lives / int_304e16ed	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_304e16ed	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_304e16ed
Death Has Three Lives / int_361a1d26	type	Anguished Declaration of Love
Death Has Three Lives / int_361a1d26	comment	Anguished Declaration of Love: The ransom letter that the killer forces Lucy to write to Shayne has her calling Shayne "dearest" and "my sweet" and saying that "I shall love you even to the very end." Subverted when Shayne figures out that there's a coded message in the letter.
Death Has Three Lives / int_361a1d26	featureApplicability	-0.3
Death Has Three Lives / int_361a1d26	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_361a1d26
Death Has Three Lives / int_37ac98df	type	"Burly Detective" Syndrome
Death Has Three Lives / int_37ac98df	comment	"Burly Detective" Syndrome: The later, hackier Mike Shayne novels by ghostwriters were the Trope Namer. This one does not have the narration describe Shayne as "burly", but he is described over and over and over and over again as a redhead, once twice on the same page. Similarly, Shayne's friend and unofficial sidekick, Intrepid Reporter Tim Rourke, is called a "lanky reporter" more than once.
Death Has Three Lives / int_37ac98df	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_37ac98df	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_37ac98df
Death Has Three Lives / int_3b4bd0b4	type	Killer Cop
Death Has Three Lives / int_3b4bd0b4	comment	Killer Cop: Mark Switzer, the Dirty Cop from Baton Rouge who, after finding out about Hugh Allardyce and Jack Bristow's plot to steal $80K, forces his way into the scheme as a partner. He then follows Hugh and Jack to Miami and kills several people in a quest to get all the money for himself.
Death Has Three Lives / int_3b4bd0b4	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_3b4bd0b4	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_3b4bd0b4
Death Has Three Lives / int_4143f84f	type	Leg Focus
Death Has Three Lives / int_4143f84f	comment	Leg Focus: Lucy "crossed her nice legs" (she's wearing a gown that apparently shows a lot of leg) as she desperately tries to stall Shayne and prevent him from finding the man in her bedroom.
Death Has Three Lives / int_4143f84f	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_4143f84f	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_4143f84f
Death Has Three Lives / int_5937a87c	type	No Honor Among Thieves
Death Has Three Lives / int_5937a87c	comment	No Honor Among Thieves: The reason for all this orgy of violence. Mark Switzer the Dirty Cop conspired with Jack Bristow and Hugh Allardyce to steal $80,000. Having done so, he's unwilling to share the money, which is why he kills Jack Bristow, the hooker that Bristow was hiding out with, and Hugh Allardyce's wife Beatrice.
Death Has Three Lives / int_5937a87c	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_5937a87c	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_5937a87c
Death Has Three Lives / int_6b35bdff	type	Serious Business
Death Has Three Lives / int_6b35bdff	comment	Serious Business: Lucy takes firm hold of the Idiot Ball when, after Jack Bristow makes dark threats about ruining Lucy's reputation with Shayne, she does not tell him about Jack hiding in the bedroom. Because apparently Shayne will be done with her forever if he finds out she's not a virgin?
Death Has Three Lives / int_6b35bdff	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_6b35bdff	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_6b35bdff
Death Has Three Lives / int_7ab2fe59	type	HandGag
Death Has Three Lives / int_7ab2fe59	comment	Hand Gag: Mark Switzer does this with Lucy as he's kidnapping her from the morgue.
Death Has Three Lives / int_7ab2fe59	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_7ab2fe59	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_7ab2fe59
Death Has Three Lives / int_82518cf7	type	Motor Mouth
Death Has Three Lives / int_82518cf7	comment	Motor Mouth: Joe Agnew, the cabbie who gave a ride to a gutshot Jack Bristow. Joe, starstruck by Michael Shayne the famous private detective, starts babbling about how "hackies" (cabbies) develop a sixth sense about their fares, about how he's always on call to give someone a ride, how some people are cheap tips but the people he picks up late at night are usually big tippers—Shayne has to repeatedly drag him back to the topic to find out what he needs to know about Jack Bristow. After Shayne and Tim Rourke leave, Rourke says "What a monologuist."
Death Has Three Lives / int_82518cf7	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_82518cf7	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_82518cf7
Death Has Three Lives / int_9d0f2549	type	Public Secret Message
Death Has Three Lives / int_9d0f2549	comment	Public Secret Message: Mark Switzer forces Lucy to write a ransom note to Shayne telling him that Switzer has kidnapped her and wants the whole $80,000. Lucy, writing under pressure, manages to write a clever code to Shayne telling him where she is. It's a sort of reverse acrostic where the last letter in every line spells out the location of the abandoned house where Lucy and Arlene Bristow are being held.
Death Has Three Lives / int_9d0f2549	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_9d0f2549	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_9d0f2549
Death Has Three Lives / int_ad54954f	type	Punk in the Trunk
Death Has Three Lives / int_ad54954f	comment	Punk in the Trunk: When the bad guy's car is fished out of the bay, the cops find the dead body of Beatrice Allardyce in the trunk. Shayne blames himself as it was his bomb that sent the car into the water, and is relieved to learn that Beatrice asphyxiated in the trunk and was dead before the car hit the water.
Death Has Three Lives / int_ad54954f	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_ad54954f	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_ad54954f
Death Has Three Lives / int_bb30b9e9	type	Danger Takes a Backseat
Death Has Three Lives / int_bb30b9e9	comment	Danger Takes a Backseat: By the hero! Joe the gullible cabbie drives to a rendezvous with the killer, Mark Switzer. Switzer is approaching the cab when Michael Shayne, who was hiding the whole time behind the seats of Joe's cab, bursts out.
Death Has Three Lives / int_bb30b9e9	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_bb30b9e9	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_bb30b9e9
Death Has Three Lives / int_c0d32460	type	Sexy Secretary
Death Has Three Lives / int_c0d32460	comment	Sexy Secretary: Lucy Hamilton, who as the book opens is waiting to receive Shayne in her apartment for an intimate evening, wearing a sexy "hostess gown." She answers a knock from the wrong man and all sorts of mayhem ensues.
Death Has Three Lives / int_c0d32460	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_c0d32460	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_c0d32460
Death Has Three Lives / int_da484c4a	type	Drunken Master
Death Has Three Lives / int_da484c4a	comment	Drunken Master: Michael Shayne was always The Alcoholic but a Functional Addict. Sometimes he said that drinking actually made him think better. He is puzzling over Lucy's letter, trying to decipher the coded message he finds inside, when he starts downing cognac. When Tim and Will suggest that maybe now is not the time to get drunk, He says "we're all too goddamned sober" to figure it out and that "I can get drunk enough to maybe figure out what Lucy was trying to say." It works, as after chugging cognac he figures out the code. In the last paragraph of the book he apologizes to Lucy for being slow to figure out the code, saying "If I hadn't been so damn sober I might have done better."
Death Has Three Lives / int_da484c4a	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_da484c4a	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_da484c4a
Death Has Three Lives / int_e3109dae	type	Switching P.O.V.
Death Has Three Lives / int_e3109dae	comment	Switching P.O.V.: Most of the Michael Shayne novels stick with Shayne, but this one has a few chapters from the POV of Lucy, and also has a chapter from the POV of Joe Agnew, the absurd Motor Mouth cabbie.
Death Has Three Lives / int_e3109dae	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_e3109dae	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_e3109dae
Death Has Three Lives / int_f005bd1c	type	Friend on the Force
Death Has Three Lives / int_f005bd1c	comment	Friend on the Force: Chief Will Gentry of the Miami police. Always a friend to and indulgent of Shayne, he really goes beyond the call of duty in this book. It's just an appetizer when Gentry blows it off after Shayne punches a cop in the face. Once Shayne finally confesses all he's done over the evening to Gentry all the crimes he's committed—lying to police, obstructing a police investigation, dumping a dead body in the street (Jack Bristow's, so that it isn't found in Lucy's apartment), not telling the cops about "Mrs. Pete Smith" aka Beatrice Allardyce which contributed to Beatrice getting murdered, and planting a bomb in the bad guy's car which caused the bad guy to drive a car off a bridge and into the bay—after all that, Gentry doesn't arrest him. Instead, Gentry gives Shayne a gun to use in his showdown with Mark Switzer.
Death Has Three Lives / int_f005bd1c	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_f005bd1c	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_f005bd1c
Death Has Three Lives / int_name	type	ItemName
Death Has Three Lives / int_name	comment
Death Has Three Lives / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Death Has Three Lives / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Death Has Three Lives / int_name
Death Has Three Lives / int_name	itemName	Death Has Three Lives

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

	Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Drunken Master / int_e25ea6fc
	Death Has Three Lives	hasFeature	Public Secret Message / int_e25ea6fc

Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.