National Network for Equitable Library Service

A double shot of iconic Miami PI Mike Shayne-"one of the best of the tough sleuths" (The New York Times). Dead Man's Diary: Florida private investigator Mike Shayne's in New Orleans at the behest of a distraught wife whose war-hero husband, Jasper Groat, has gone missing-along with his diary, a harrowing soon-to-be-published daily account of being set adrift in a lifeboat with two shipmates. Rumor has it it's also an incriminating confessional. With two corpses-and counting-it looks to Shayne like someone would prefer if Jasper and his damning revelations had been buried at sea. A Taste for Cognac: One minute, PI Mike Shayne's having a quick afternoon cocktail in a Miami dive. The next, he's been solicited to investigate an intoxicating conspiracy involving the parole of an aging bootlegger, a secretive old sea captain tortured to death, a missing female reporter, and two dozen bottles of prewar cognac-vintage, valuable, and apparently worth killing for. If anybody can pop the cork on this case, it's Shayne. Brett Halliday's "fast-paced world of violence, intrigues, complex twists and voluptuous women" inspired film, radio, and television adaptations, as well as the long-running Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (The New York Times).