Vintage Golden Age Mystery
Scavenger Hunt Category: Object of Any Other Color
Date Finished: June 27, 2016
TBR #57

“Michael Shayne in Kentucky!”

In the 17th Michael Shayne mystery, he leaves his usual haunts of Miami or New Orleans to head to a Kentucky mining town to investigate the murder of a young mine owner. The miners are all out on strike, so the town is in turmoil, and it is also run by a brutal police force and other corrupt interests. With the two factions, there are a variety of possible motives and suspects, including the dead man’s wife, brother, and general manager. Thankfully, Shayne is somewhat sympathetic to the miners, even though we don’t get to meet any directly, and also even though he takes money directly from the mine owners’ organization. In an somewhat unusual way of cleaning up the town, he gets himself appointed police chief and also takes over the local newspaper. This is definitely a change of pace for Shayne and is a welcome one from his usual battles with the Miami Beach police chief.

The object of any other color (other than blue, red, green, or yellow) is Shayne’s pink necktie, though I’m not sure that really goes with his brown suit and red hair.