Michael Shayne, Private Detective, Vol. 3

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: full cast

Wally Maher, Jeff Chandler, and Edmund McDonald star as Brett Halliday’s red-haired Irish detective, Michael Shayne, in his nail-biting adventures from the Golden Age of radio.

Michael Shayne, “the reckless, red-headed Irishman”, was a popular hard-boiled detective created by crime novelist Brett Halliday. Mike settled in Miami just after WWII, making crime pay by fighting it with a license and an attitude. Like Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, Shayne was a loner. The backstory on Mike is that he was happily married, but suddenly his wife is tragically murdered, and that hit him hard. Grief-stricken, Shayne loses himself in his work as a private eye, prowling the dark streets of Miami seeking out his style of revenge on injustice. The radio version of Mike’s exploits debuted as Michael Shayne, Private Detective in the fall of 1944 with Wally Maher in the title role. In 1948, Mutual radio debuted The New Adventures of Michael Shayne starring movie star Jeff Chandler. Others to portray Shayne on radio included Edmund McDonald, Donald Curtis, and Robert Sterling. Richard Denning, who had starred for years on the radio comedy series My Favorite Husband opposite Lucille Ball, portrayed Mike Shayne in a 1960s TV version. Enjoy 16 half-hour episodes of one of the best detective shows ever heard on radio.

4/2/45 - “Meet Me at Oakland Depot” with Edmund McDonald

4/9/45 - “The Ghost of Captain Hill” with Wally Maher

4/16/45 - “The Left-Handed Clue”

4/23/45 - “The Body in the Trunk”

4/30/45 - “Pirates in San Francisco Bay”

5/28/45 - “Recreating a Murder”

6/11/45 - “Mary Noble Case”

7/9/45 - “The Gossip Writer”

7/16/45 - “Tyre Oriental Lines”

7/23/45 - “Strange Business Call”

7/30/45 - “Museum Thefts”

9/3/45 - “Signed, REM”

11/5/46 - “The Return to Huxley College”

11/12/46 - “The Case of the Poisoned Fan”

7/2/49 - “The Pursuit of Death” with Jeff Chandler

5/7/49 - “The Man Who Lived Forever” with Jeff Chandler

©2020 Black Eye Entertainment (P)2020 Black Eye Entertainment

Nice listen, old-time radio

This probably isn't that best show of the era, but not the worst and a worthy listen. Some of the episodes are definitely weaker than others - simple, reliable plots with mediocre performance. But like I said overall, good quality and enjoyable.

Shayne in these episodes (except a few at the end of the collection) is just a typical detective with required cop-buddy and female assistant that is plucky and capable but also used as a device to explain some of the plot gaps to the audience. There seems to be a lot more description of his backstory or location available than is every used in the actual episodes.

Audio quality is mostly good with some hiccups, which can be expected given the source material and medium

Old time radio

Story lines start to feel repetitive but still wonderful old time radio stories told with heart