Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

This Is It, Michael Shayne

 This Is It, Michael Shayne
type
TVTItem
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
label
This Is It, Michael Shayne
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
page
ThisIsItMichaelShayne
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
comment
This Is It, Michael Shayne is a 1950 novel by Brett Halliday (a pen name for Davis Dresser).Private detective Mike Shayne makes his way to the office after a day out fishing. He finds three notes from his secretary Lucy Hamilton, informing him that a Miss Sarah Morton is urgently trying to contact him. Next to the notes is a special delivery envelope. Shayne opens the envelope and finds three threatening notes to Sara (no "H") Morton, telling her that she has three days, two days, and one day left to live. Enclosed with the threatening notes is a message from Sara Morton, telling Shayne that she has given up waiting for him to contact her, and that she hopes he will catch her murderer.Shayne hustles to Morton's hotel room, and sure enough, finds her murdered. But who did it? Edwin Paisly, Sara's shifty fiance? Ralph Morton, Sara's even slimier husband that she is trying to divorce? Leo Gannet, the hotelier and runner of illegal casinos that Sara was investigating? (She was a reporter.) Burton Marsh, the real estate developer that, as it turns out, Sara was blackmailing? Carl Garvin, Sara's editor who was in debt to Gannet? Surely not Sara's faithful secretary, Beatrice Lally. Shayne, feeling somewhat guilty about not coming to Sara's aid in time and not really trusting the cops, starts his own investigation.The character of Michael "Mike" Shayne is forgotten in the 21st century but at one time was a full-on franchise, with books and short stories, a B-Movie film series, a radio show, and a TV show. (This novel was used as the source material for the pilot of the Shayne TV series.)
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
fetched
2023-08-10T20:44:33Z
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
parsed
2023-08-10T20:44:34Z
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
processingComment
Dropped link to Blackmail: Not a Feature - ITEM
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
isPartOf
DBTropes
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_1300dc5c
type
Inspector Lestrade
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_1300dc5c
comment
Inspector Lestrade: As usual, Chief Gentry of the Miami police is weirdly accomodating of Shayne's antics. When Shayne flatly refuses to produce Beatrice Lally, a prime suspect in the Sara Morton murder, Gentry just lets him go about his business rather than, say, arresting him for obstruction of a police investigation.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_1300dc5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_1300dc5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_1300dc5c
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Shayne's internal monologue, and what he imagines Sara Morton to be saying, after he rushed to her room to find that she was dead.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_18d15922
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_18d15922
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_18d15922
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_27c09b00
type
Camp Straight
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_27c09b00
comment
Camp Straight: Edwin Paisly, Sara Morton's fiance. At one point when Shayne is grilling him, Edwin nearly bursts into tears. Shayne calls him "just a bit swishy" and thinks he's a gold digger, and towards the end he's described as being a "wrist-slapper", an archaic term for an effiminate man. But it appears that Edwin is not a closet case, as when he's dragged into the police station near the end, he's in the company of another woman that he was seeing behind Sara's back.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_27c09b00
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_27c09b00
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_27c09b00
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_281de59f
type
Extremely Short Timespan
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_281de59f
comment
Extremely Short Timespan: One very busy night, starting with Mike Shayne finding the note from Sara Morton shortly after 8 pm, and extending into the small hours of the next morning.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_281de59f
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_281de59f
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_281de59f
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_37ac98df
type
"Burly Detective" Syndrome
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_37ac98df
comment
"Burly Detective" Syndrome: The later, even more hacky Michael Shayne books written by ghostwriters are the Trope Namer. This one doesn't actually describe Shayne as a "burly detective", but the author is strangely compelled to remind the reader that Shayne has red hair, referring to "the redhead's tousled hair" or how he "jerked his red head" or how he "rubbed the red bristles on his face" or how his "bushy red brows" came together when he frowned.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_37ac98df
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_37ac98df
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_37ac98df
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_47b21ca6
type
Stress Vomit
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_47b21ca6
comment
Stress Vomit: Carl Garvin, who was both drunk and something of the cowardly type, vomits while getting the third degree at the police station.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_47b21ca6
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_47b21ca6
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_47b21ca6
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_4e7c4536
type
Wham Line
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_4e7c4536
comment
Wham Line: How The Reveal happens, as Shayne takes Beatrice Lally back to her hotel for what she obviously thinks will be sex, only for him to say "Why did you kill Ralph Morton?"
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_4e7c4536
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_4e7c4536
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_4e7c4536
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_58970413
type
Coincidental Broadcast
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_58970413
comment
Coincidental Broadcast: They happen in books too. Shayne flips on a radio, right in the middle of a news report about the Sara Morton murder.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_58970413
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_58970413
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_58970413
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_6a1a1f8a
type
Glasses Pull
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_6a1a1f8a
comment
Glasses Pull: Beatrice turns around "and lifted her face, sliding the glasses off," when Shayne reveals that he knows she killed Ralph Morton and she realizes that she's going to have to win his sympathy.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_6a1a1f8a
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_6a1a1f8a
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_6a1a1f8a
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_9e0c3153
type
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_9e0c3153
comment
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Shayne grills Garvin about where he was at the time of Ralph Morton's murder, asking "Where were you at twelve-fifteen?"
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_9e0c3153
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_9e0c3153
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_9e0c3153
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_ad6593eb
type
Cut-and-Paste Note
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_ad6593eb
comment
Cut-and-Paste Note: The envelope from Sara Morton contains notes with words cut and paste from magazines, saying "YOU HAVE THREE DAYS TO GET OUT OF MIAMI ALIVE," "TWO MORE DAYS," and "ONE DAY LEFT."
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_ad6593eb
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_ad6593eb
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_ad6593eb
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_afcafc5d
type
Drop Dead Gorgeous
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_afcafc5d
comment
Drop Dead Gorgeous: A rather creepy part of the book describes Shayne finding the corpse of Sara Morton. She was wearing a gown with a "plunging neckline", and the blood from her slashed throat ran between her "firm breasts."
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_afcafc5d
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_afcafc5d
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_afcafc5d
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b41b9606
type
Never One Murder
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b41b9606
comment
Never One Murder: Towards the end Ralph Morton is shot and killed in his room. It turns out that Beatrice killed him because she knew he could explode her alibi.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b41b9606
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b41b9606
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b41b9606
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b58b4e3c
type
Too Dumb to Live
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b58b4e3c
comment
Too Dumb to Live: Subverted. People wonder why, once Sara Morton gave up on contacting Shayne, she sat in her hotel room and waited for death rather than call the police. It turns out that she wasn't afraid of being murdered after all and the whole thing was a smoke screen concocted by Miss Lally.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b58b4e3c
featureApplicability
-0.3
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b58b4e3c
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_b58b4e3c
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_c0d32460
type
Sexy Secretary
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_c0d32460
comment
Sexy Secretary: Lucy, as usual in the Michael Shayne books, although it's played down here, other than a scene where he gives her a long, passionate "Shut Up" Kiss when she starts acting jealous about Beatrice.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_c0d32460
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_c0d32460
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_c0d32460
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_e07d3d72
type
Uncle Tomfoolery
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_e07d3d72
comment
Uncle Tomfoolery: Some racist humor with a "Negro boy" elevator operator who shivers and rolls his eyes with fright and says stuff like "When they gonna bring out the daid man?"
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_e07d3d72
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_e07d3d72
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_e07d3d72
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_eed6d1c3
type
The Glasses Gotta Go
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_eed6d1c3
comment
The Glasses Gotta Go: There's more than one reference to how Miss Lally looks like a prim, efficient secretary with her glasses on, but becomes much more alluring and seductive when she takes them off. Then near the end Beatrice herself takes her glasses off when she's trying to seduce Shayne to win her over. Glasses Pull: Beatrice turns around "and lifted her face, sliding the glasses off," when Shayne reveals that he knows she killed Ralph Morton and she realizes that she's going to have to win his sympathy.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_eed6d1c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_eed6d1c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_eed6d1c3
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_f70710ae
type
Blackmail Backfire
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_f70710ae
comment
Blackmail Backfire: Seemingly played straight, then played with. Shayne guesses that either Burton Marsh, the man Sara was blackmailing, or Marsh's prospective son-in-law Carl Garvin, might have killed Sara to shut her up. It turns out that the blackmail did backfire, but in a different way. It was Beatrice Lally the secretary who was blackmailing Burton Marsh with stuff she'd learned from Sara's reporting. Sara found this out, so Beatrice killed her.
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_f70710ae
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_f70710ae
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_f70710ae
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
type
ItemName
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
comment
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
 This Is It, Michael Shayne / int_name
itemName
This Is It, Michael Shayne

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

 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
Camp Straight / int_7ed55beb
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
Drop Dead Gorgeous / int_7ed55beb
 This Is It, Michael Shayne
hasFeature
Glasses Pull / int_7ed55beb