Can you A Mike Shayne novel without hoods and nightclubs? In this 1960-era novel, which was probably written after Halliday became a house name rather than Dresser's pseudonym, we are treated to an easy to read, page-turning private eye novel that takes a few unusual turns.

To begin with, it opens with Shayne assuming a secret identity right out of a spy novel, and possibly agreeing to murder for hire.

Moreover, Shayne neither tangles with hoods nor gets beaten up, shot up, or stabbed. And, he's made a complete fool of by an imposter.

What's great about it is a deepening mystery as to what exactly is going on and who is involved that makes you as the reader keep turning the pages. And I enjoyed the banter between Shayne and
secretary Lucy Hamilton.

Overall, it's a mystery worth reading, although not quite the hardboiled stuff that the earliest Shayne novels were. ( )