Stranger in Town is a 1955 novel written by Brett Halliday, the pen name of Davis Dresser.
It is another installment in Halliday's long-running series about tough guy private detective, Michael Shayne. This one starts out with Shayne in a bar in (fictional) Brockton, Florida. Shayne is driving back home to Miami from a vacation and has merely stopped in Brockton for a drink, so he is surprised when a startlingly gorgeous young woman enters the bar, makes eye contact with him, and walks right up to his table. He is even more surprised when two goons, following behind her, assault Shayne. The bad guys eventually knock Shayne out and drag him out of the bar.
Shayne comes to in the back of a car driven by the mooks, Gene and Mule. The two mooks are planning to kill Shayne at that very moment in a murder that they will dress up to look like a hit-and-run accident. Shayne turns the tables and it's Mule that's hit by the speeding car. Shayne gets away, but is left wondering why he was almost murdered, since he doesn't know anyone in Brockton and no one could have possibly guessed he'd be there since he stopped at random. He sets out to find the answers, and uncovers a plot that involves dirty cops, illegal abortions, and murder.
Tropes:
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Will Lomax, the 20-year-old boyfriend of recently deceased Jeanette Henderson, belongs to a biker gang. Shayne goes to meet him and finds him in a bar with his biker buddies, all of them wearing "a sort of uniform worn by...young cyclists"—leather jackets, T-shirts with club emblems, the works. They're also violent and they are about to beat up Shayne when he gets the better of them, punching Will in the nose and dragging him outside.
- Bad Guy Bar: Hardly anyone even bothers to notice when Shayne is violently assaulted and knocked out in the bar. Later, he finds out that the bar is the sort of place where you can find an illegal bookie or a pimp if you ask the right person.
- Back-Alley Doctor: A back-alley abortion clinic. This is what the Brockton Sanitarium actually is, and why poor Jeanette Henderson was there. After she died on the operating table, the people at the clinic faked a car accident.
- Blackmail: Mr. Magner the mortician figured out that Jeanette actually died of a botched abortion rather than a car accident, then tried to blackmail the Brockton Sanitarium. It would have turned into Blackmail Backfire as the Brockton goons set out to kill him, but Jean saved his life by picking Shayne instead of him at the bar.
- "Burly Detective" Syndrome: Later, hackier editions of the Michael Shayne series done by ghostwriters were the Trope Namer. He's never called a "burly detective" in this one, but there are nine, count 'em, nine separate references to Shayne having red hair.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Right before the sexy babe and the mooks come in to the bar looking for Shayne, he notices a middle-aged man wearing a bow tie in the next booth. That turns out to be Mr. Magner, the guy that the babe, Jean Henderson, was supposed to be identifying for the mooks.
- Continuity Nod: A sentimental Shayne tells Jean that "many years ago I was married to a girl whom you remind me of very much." That's Phyllis, Shayne's wife and a recurring character in the earliest novels, until she was killed off between books.
- Dirty Cop: Chief Ollie Hanger of the Brockton police. He is deeply involved with Gene and the back-alley abortion clinic, has covered up murders for them before, and is about to kill Shayne when the state police barge in.
- Dramatic Drop: When Shayne finally finds Jean, she is working as a waitress. When she sees Shayne, she dramatically drops the tray of plates she was carrying, and then tries to run away.
- Dramatic Irony: The desk clerk at the hotel where Shayne gets a room brags about the hospitality of Brockton and how it's a very friendly town. This is after Shayne has been assaulted, nearly murdered, then arrested and jailed.
- Easily Forgiven: Say what you will about Brockton and its sleazy bars and dirty cops and crime, but it's pretty cool that Shayne is let go with nothing more than a fine after not only resisting arrest, but also punching a cop in the face.
- Easy Amnesia: The mysterious blonde in the bar, first identified as "Amy Buttrell" and later correctly identified as Jean Henderson. She was found wandering the side of the road, with the standard Easy Amnesia lack of memory, but still being completely able to function and speak English and such.
- Extremely Short Timespan: Part of the formula of the Michael Shayne novels. This one takes 24 hours from Shayne getting knocked out in a bar to Shayne wrapping things up and driving the three hours back to Miami.
- Finger-Tenting: Dr. Philbrick "carefully placed the tips of five fingers agains the tips of five others" before answering Shayne's questions. In this case it's misdirection as Philbrick actually isn't involved in the conspiracy.
- Functional Addict: In several editions of the Michael Shayne series he comes off as a high-functioning alcoholic, drinking cognac morning, noon and night but never getting impaired. In this one he is drinking cognac in his room before meeting off-duty cop George Grimes for lunch. Shayne is downing brandy when Grimes sits down with him and says "You private eyes do slobber up that stuff all hours of the day."
- Groin Attack: Shayne tries to do this with Mule, the biggest of the guys who are attacking him at the bar, but he misses and this is why he loses the fight. Later he hits his target, and is able to throw Mule in front of the oncoming car driven by Gene.
- Head-Turning Beauty: "The two men on stools turned to stare" as the stunning blonde walks up to Shayne's booth at the bar.
- Jailbait Taboo: How Shayne gets Will Lomax to tell what he knows, by pointing out that the late Jeanette Henderson was only 17 and he could get in trouble for "contributing to the delinquency of a minor."
- Made of Iron: Every novel in this series had Shayne getting battered and knocked around by bad guys, but this is one of the most extreme examples. He is punched, kicked in the head, hit in the head with a lead pipe, knocked out for a second time when he's hit with a blackjack, then shot twice the next day—both superficial wounds, but still. He keeps on going.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The standard MO of Gene and the goons who work with him. They tried to kill Shayne by setting up a fake hit-and-run accident. Earlier, they killed the DA and staged another car accident. And before that, they faked a car accident after Jeanette Henderson died on the operating table.
- Murder by Mistake: Poor Flo, the unfortunate waitress, goes down in a hail of bullets only because she had changed dresses with Jean, the killers' actual target.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Shayne is shot twice, with a bullet wound in the thigh that is actually described as a "flesh wound" and a more superficial grazing wound in his shoulder. He keeps on going, because he is Made of Iron.
- Quizzical Tilt: The nurse at Dr. Philbrick's office "tilted her head slightly on one side as she looked" at Shayne, before asking him what he wanted.
- Seven Minute Lull: When Shayne returns to the Bad Guy Bar the bartender says that he'd better leave, because they don't want any trouble. But the jukebox stopped just as the bartender stopped talking, so "his words rang out clearly above the hum of talk."
- Sexy Secretary: Lucy Hamilton, Shayne's secretary and lover. Mostly off-screen in this novel, except when she calls Shayne in a panic about a strange man in her room, and when she greets him in a negligee after he finally makes it to her apartment at the end of the novel.
- Sexy Silhouette: Lucy, when Shayne finally makes it to her apartment at the end of the book after the story is wrapped up. She greets him in a translucent "hostess gown" that "clearly outlined her slender figure in the light from beyond."
- Shout-Out: Flo the waitress gets excited when she finds out that Shayne is a PI. She asks if he's "one of them private eyes that goes around slapping dames and taking their clothes off? Like that Mike Hammer in the movies?
- Theme Naming: Professor Henderson named his two daughters Jean and...Jeanette.
- Title Drop: The younger and more obnoxious of the two policemen who arrest Shayne outside the bar says "Stranger in town, huh?"
