T he Private Practice of Michael Shayne includes most of the characters that were to become stock in the Shayne saga. Shayne is tough and fearless, and his reputation is that of taking any job for a high fee; the unfolding case shows this to be inaccurate. This tough, seemingly immoral character sounds much like Hammett's Sam Spade.

Mike's love for a woman in this and later novels and his loyalty to friend Kincaid, however, are softening qualities not to be found in Spade. A scene at a bar, the Round-Up, in which Shayne, in an attempt to get information repeatedly goes back inside to be beaten again and again, is reminiscent of the beating scene in Hammett's The Glass Key (1931), although less brutal.

Also appearing prominently in this novel is Phyllis Brighton, whom Shayne asks to marry him. In later novels Shayne does...