Brett Halliday Books in Order

An early Powder Valley western that helps set the tone for the long-running series, this book brings together frontier danger, strong friendship, and men who have to prove they are not the villains everyone assumes.

A killer announces murders in advance through personal ads in an El Paso paper, then delivers right on time. Jerry Burke and writer Asa Baker chase a criminal with nerve, imagination, and no obvious trail.

With a price on his head, the Rio Kid gets swept into a treasure hunt involving hidden gold, two rival gangs, and a frightened father and daughter. He rides in looking for trouble and finds more than enough.

Phyllis wants time alone with Mike Shayne, but a dead girl in his apartment ruins the plan quickly. When the body disappears, the case turns stranger, more political, and much more dangerous.

When masked gunmen terrorize miners near Powder Valley, Pat Stevens tries to stay out of the fight, until the violence threatens his own household. Then he calls in Sam and Ezra and rides straight at the gang.

A payoff in Powder Valley never stays simple for long. Pat Stevens has to figure out who is buying silence, who is selling it, and who plans to collect with a gun.

A tip-off sends Mike Shayne after trouble that already has a schedule and a destination. Once the tickets are in play, he knows somebody intends the journey to end in murder.

This paired western volume leans into revenge, ambushes, and hard frontier payback. In both stories, Powder Valley becomes the place where old scores finally come due.

This double western puts the badge at the center of the action, with law, revenge, and old grudges driving both stories. Powder Valley becomes a place where justice and payback are hard to tell apart.

A message from New Mexico sends Pat Stevens south to repay an old debt to the man who once saved his life. The rescue mission becomes personal fast, with danger waiting all along the trail.

This darker Shayne novel drops him into profiteering, grief, and postwar corruption. Personal loss hangs over the case, giving the usual hardboiled momentum a sharper emotional edge.

Two Mike Shayne tales share this volume, one tied to disguise and performance, the other to danger already running deep. Both move fast and keep appearances under suspicion.

A badge lands on the wrong chest at exactly the wrong time. Pat Stevens has to act as sheriff under pressure, knowing every decision could spark a wider fight.

This double Mike Shayne volume plays with one of the series' favorite pleasures, bodies that appear where they should not and cases that refuse to stay tidy. Expect quick setups, panic, and sharp reversals.

Powder Valley faces a powerful land speculator whose greed is changing the whole region. Pat, Sam, and Ezra move against him before debt, fear, and hired gunmen finish the job for him.

Foreign money, frontier guns, and shifting loyalties stir up trouble in this fast-moving western. Pat Stevens has to sort out who belongs, who is bluffing, and who plans to shoot first.

A slim chance is all Shayne gets in this early case, but he has built a career on less. The book pairs hard luck with hardboiled persistence, then lets Shayne fight his way through.

Pat Stevens, Sam Sloan, and Ezra go up against a corrupt judge whose gang threatens everything they have built in Powder Valley. The trio must break his scheme before the valley's security disappears overnight.

The title tells you plenty about the uneasy tone of this Mike Shayne case. Respectability, desire, and murder collide, and Shayne has to work through the contradictions before the killer slips away.

Young Ben Thurston rides south after a plea for help from Katie Rollins near the Mexican border. Pat Stevens knows the country is lawless and joins the fight before Ben's dreams get him killed.

Three men have already died after celebrating with an unknown blonde, and Mike Shayne's best friend may be next. To stop the pattern, Shayne has to find the woman and the hand guiding the scheme.

A rich man's dirty scheme and a woman's murder drag Mike Shayne into a case of blackmail, greed, and false appearances. He starts suspicious and stays that way until the real killer runs out of room.

A battered range and the men fighting over it give this Powder Valley novel its hard edge. Pat Stevens rides into damage already done and tries to stop the next round before it gets worse.

As the trail narrows and the stakes rise, this Powder Valley adventure pushes Pat Stevens toward a hard finish. Old enemies, rough country, and frontier justice carry it to the last stretch.

Sam Sloan gets a chance to help break in a new Pony Express route from Colorado to Wyoming. To reach Laramie on time, he needs speed, ammunition, and the help of Pat Stevens and Ezra.

Miami water is no protection when Mike Shayne gets pulled into murder on Biscayne Bay. The setting is bright and open, but the motives underneath are anything but.

Luck, greed, and frontier nerve all collide when a gambler's stake turns deadly. Pat Stevens has to decide whether the real prize is gold, land, or control of the whole game.

Joan Wilcox comes west searching for the father who disappeared into Powder Valley under a new name. When he is found dead, Pat Stevens must untangle inheritance, identity, and murder before the farm erupts in violence.

A fake marriage, or the appearance of one, gives Mike Shayne plenty of room for suspicion. Identity games and romantic manipulation soon open into something much more dangerous.

This double western throws Powder Valley into battles over land, power, and who gets pushed aside. Pat Stevens faces the kind of frontier greed that never stops at one fence line.

The trail out of Needle Rock carries secrets, danger, and the kind of trouble that follows riders farther than they expect. Pat Stevens soon learns that the road itself is only the beginning.

This double-title volume gives you two sharp Mike Shayne cases, one built on fatal glamour, the other on crime becoming second nature. Both lean into the series' brisk, hardboiled pace.

After the deaths of his wife and child, former sheriff Pat Stevens returns to Powder Valley and finds it changed for the worse. Gold fever, a crooked sheriff, and a ruthless gambler force him back into action.

An apparently simple death opens into a stranger case than Mike Shayne expects, with polished surfaces hiding blunt force underneath. The deeper he goes, the more obvious it becomes that violence was part of the plan all along.

When the call comes, Shayne answers, and lands in another fast-moving case with little patience for delay. Somebody needs help, somebody is lying, and murder is already close.

A valley already on edge grows worse when outlaw rule starts to feel normal. Pat Stevens has to break that grip before honest people stop believing the place can be saved.

After three years in Mexico, the Rio Kid heads back toward Arizona to clear his name. Wanted posters, a crooked rancher, and a hard Texas Ranger make the ride home more dangerous than the exile.

When a town badly needs a sheriff, the badge comes with more danger than honor. Pat Stevens knows that the men advertising for law may be the same ones trying to bury it.

The Blacksnake Trail winds through country made for ambush and bad decisions. Pat Stevens follows it knowing that anyone ahead of him may be ready to strike from cover.

An ambush in Powder Valley proves that the enemy is bold and close at hand. Pat Stevens and his friends have to hit back before the next trap claims someone they cannot spare.

When the moment of truth arrives, Mike Shayne gets the full force of a case with nowhere left to hide. He has to outthink a clever killer before the closing move lands on him instead.

A dead man's diary and a taste for expensive cognac lead Mike Shayne into a smoother-looking case with very rough edges. Good liquor, bad secrets, and murder make a potent mix.

The safest-looking route proves anything but safe when Pat Stevens circles back into old trouble. The back trail offers cover, but it also gives enemies plenty of room to set a trap.

Mike Shayne knows a setup when he sees one, but that does not make it easier to escape. Somebody wants the wrong person blamed, and they are willing to spill more blood to make it stick.

A performer at the center of too much attention brings Michael Shayne into a case where charm and threat move together. Once Dorinda takes the floor, danger is not far behind.

Pat Stevens does not have to look far for trouble when the saddles are loaded and the guns are out. The fight is frontier simple, stop the wrong men before they bury the right ones.

A holdup rips through Powder Valley and leaves Pat Stevens sorting out who planned it, who profited, and who is about to get hit next. What looks like one robbery quickly turns into something bigger.

The outlaw trail is crowded with men riding for money, revenge, or survival. Pat Stevens and his partners have to cut across all three motives before the trail runs red.

Three seasoned riders head out from Colorado into a new fight. Pat Stevens, Sam, and Ezra carry the story with the mix of loyalty, action, and frontier justice that defines Powder Valley.

Michael Shayne spends this case stripping away rumor, performance, and convenient lies. The hardest part is not finding a story, it is finding the truth underneath several competing versions.

When the only way out is forward, Pat Stevens and his friends ride harder. This is a straight-ahead Powder Valley western about grit, speed, and pushing through trouble before it closes in.

Gunfire, hard trails, and frontier pressure carry this Powder Valley adventure at full pace. Pat Stevens faces the kind of trouble that spreads quickly once the first shot is fired.

A tough newcomer in Montana finds that independence comes with a target on his back. This western leans on stubbornness, open spaces, and the trouble a maverick naturally draws.

This paired volume delivers two quick-hit suspense stories built around women who arrive with trouble close behind. In both, desire and mystery meet after dark, and the consequences turn dangerous.

A tense standoff grips Powder Valley when neither side is willing to back down. Pat Stevens must break the deadlock before fear and pride turn the whole valley into a killing ground.

A stampede, literal or otherwise, sends Powder Valley into chaos. Pat Stevens has to restore order before panic becomes a weapon in somebody else's scheme.

An urgent ride toward Trinidad becomes a race against violence and bad timing. Pat Stevens has to move fast, because the people waiting at the end of the trail may not have long.

A woman waking into fear and uncertainty sets off a tense, shadowy Mike Shayne case. Memory, identity, and danger all feel unstable as Shayne tries to find out what really happened.

The Painted Buttes become the center of a frontier war where land, pride, and gunpower all collide. Pat Stevens is drawn into a conflict that could leave the whole range scarred.

Narrow ground and relentless pressure make Breakneck Pass the kind of place where every mistake counts. Pat Stevens rides into the bottleneck knowing his enemies chose it for a reason.

One death is hard enough. This Mike Shayne case keeps returning in new forms, forcing him to figure out which version is true before a killer gets another chance.

Castle Canyon shelters a man the law wants and others want dead. Pat Stevens has to decide whether he is hunting an outlaw, a victim, or someone who has become both.

Mistaken for an outlaw, Pat Stevens infiltrates a lawless crew to expose rustling, a train holdup, and a bank robbery. It is one of his riskier games, because one wrong move could leave him hanging with the men he is hunting.

A ride toward Santa Fe turns into a test of endurance, loyalty, and gun skill. Pat Stevens and his partners find that the road west is crowded with men who mean to stop them.

An outsider arrives carrying secrets, and Mike Shayne quickly learns that nobody is as new to the trouble as they claim. The stranger brings old motives back to life.

A late Mike Shayne mystery built around chance, pressure, and the high cost of choosing wrong. One flip of fortune is all it takes to turn hustle into homicide.

A renegade figure throws Powder Valley into uncertainty and forces Pat Stevens to choose between patience and force. Old loyalties fray quickly when violence starts to look like the easiest answer.

Pat Stevens, Sam, and Ezra try to help a widow claim a mine she has inherited, but there is no map and too many greedy men. Fire, rough country, and a slippery lawyer stand between them and the truth.

A blonde woman's panic brings Michael Shayne into a case where the accusation may be true, false, or something worse. Either way, the cry leads straight to real danger.

Speed, open country, and a dangerous chase drive this Powder Valley western. Pat Stevens rides into a fight where wild horses and wilder men can both turn deadly in an instant.

Grizzly Flat needs more than talk when armed men start deciding the future of the place. Pat Stevens brings the kind of answer that only works when the shooting starts.

A fugitive chase sends Pat Stevens across rough country with little margin for error. The manhunt grows more complicated the closer it gets to the truth behind the original crime.

Raiders hit hard at Medicine Bow, leaving Pat Stevens to sort out whether the attack was simple theft or something more organized. Either way, the answer lies at the far end of a dangerous ride.

The stakes go all in when Mike Shayne walks into a case built on risk and nerve. Once the first bluff is called, the violence comes quickly.

A stranger rides out of bad country carrying trouble with him. Pat Stevens soon learns that the man from Robber's Roost is tied to old crimes and fresh danger in Powder Valley.

A grieving or frightened blonde usually means trouble in a Mike Shayne novel, and this one follows through. Shayne has to decide who needs saving and who is using tears as cover.

Michael Shayne faces a case where someone looks polished, capable, and perfectly ready to murder. The title fits the suspects as much as the crime, which keeps Shayne guessing until the last stretch.

The trail ahead promises judgment as much as travel, and Pat Stevens knows both can turn deadly. This western rides on pursuit, suspicion, and the threat of violent reckoning.

Marriage should calm things down, but not in Mike Shayne's world. This case turns on desire, money, and the kind of bride who brings danger with her.

When stock thieves claim strong ground and dare anyone to challenge them, Pat Stevens rides straight at the problem. The showdown hinges on nerve, timing, and who can hold the rocks when bullets start flying.

A frontier scam dressed up as honest business pulls Powder Valley into trouble. Pat Stevens has to expose the swindle before decent people lose money, land, and maybe their lives.

A missing survivor of a plane crash and a diary filled with dangerous secrets send Mike Shayne after a man who walked away and vanished. The case moves from disappearance to murder fast.

A wealthy woman asks Mike Shayne to prove her brother was poisoned, and his best lead turns out to be a dead dog. The investigation digs up family motives, strychnine, and a very human kind of greed.

Pat Stevens, Sam, and Ezra get pulled into a rescue mission involving rustlers, strong-arm men, and a captive whose freedom matters to more than one side. It is a daring ride with trouble waiting at every turn.

Railroad trouble and outlaw ambition collide in a western that moves as fast as its title. Pat Stevens has to stop a scheme built on speed, violence, and the belief that nobody can catch it.

When too many winning tickets are claimed at the track, everybody's target becomes Mike Shayne. Horse-race money, pressure from crooks, and a stubborn detective make for a fast, bruising case.

Any place called Troublesome is bound to earn its name, and this trail certainly does. Pat Stevens rides it knowing the country ahead may be rough, but the people may be worse.

A strange case involving women, performance, and danger puts Mike Shayne on uneven ground from the start. The deeper he gets, the more obvious it becomes that somebody is using appearance as camouflage.

Betrayal comes from more than one direction when Pat Stevens heads into canyon country. In a place made for traps, every alliance looks uncertain and every promise comes at a price.

The Lazy Mare ranch comes under pressure from marauders who think fear will make the owners fold. Pat Stevens steps in before raids turn into open war.

Time off does not last long in Mike Shayne's world. Even a change of pace turns into another fast, dangerous case once murder arrives and everybody starts hiding something.

A bold theft shakes Powder Valley and leaves Pat Stevens chasing men who think they can vanish into open country. The hunt turns into a battle over who gets to keep what honest people built.

A bizarre classified ad promising good money for anything, even murder, draws Tim Rourke and Mike Shayne into a very strange case. What begins as a stunt turns into a life-or-death tangle with serious cash at stake.

Two friends fall for the same woman, and the rivalry turns tragic when Elizabeth is found murdered soon after her sudden engagement. This is a compact suspense story about jealousy, bad luck, and suspicion closing in.

A dancer named Sloe Burn draws Mike Shayne down into the Florida Keys and into fresh trouble. Sun, water, and easy charm give way to a hard case with killers never far off.

When people rush the cover-up, Michael Shayne gets interested. This case moves fast from the opening shock to the deeper mess underneath it, leaving Shayne to sort panic from calculation.

On a stretch of country as dangerous as its name, Pat Stevens and his partners ride into a new frontier feud. Rustlers, hidden guns, and rough terrain make every move risky.