A 1001 Midnights PI Review: BRETT HALLIDAY – Nice Fillies Finish Last.

A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review by Art Scott & Bill Pronzini BRETT HALLIDAY – Nice Fillies Finish Last. Dell, paperback original, 1966. Reprinted several times. Around 1958, Davis Dresser cut back on his writing and the Halliday by-line was passed along to various ghosts. A number of mystery writers-including Dennis Lynds, Mike Avallone, and James Reasoner-have produced the Mike Shayne novelettes in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. As to the novels, Ryerson Johnson did a couple of them, and Robert Terrall wrote two dozen. Terrall is a fine writer, a more subtle and accomplished stylist than Dresser, and his Shayne novels deserve attention. He injected new life into a rather played-out series, and came up with fresh story material. Some of the books find Shayne mixed up in international intrigue; and several have interesting gambling and sports backgrounds — this one, for instance. Tim Rourke gets a tip from a rummy at the harness track that someone’s planning lo pull off a complicated multi-race…