Redheaded, Irish-American private detective, Michael Shayne (Richard Denning) had a taste for cognac, brawls and broads, and an office at 483 Adams Street in the city of Miami, Florida.
Mike never saw a client before ten in the morning. He was relaxed and easygoing and tried not to fly off the handle. He would avoid violence if possible, offered a cigarette to clients and suspects to relax them, and managed to sneak in a kiss when the client was a gorgeous female.
Mike gathered the evidence, sorted through the clues and used every dirty trick in the book to get the truth from both clients and suspects. He used Brazer’s Chemical Lab to do his analysis, and he was a member of the Private Investigators of America.
He was assisted in his work by his voluptuous blonde secretary Lucy Hamilton (Patricia Donahue) – who he called “Angel” – and occasionally by her college student brother, Dick (Gary Clarke). Lucy was replaced in the second half of the season by a new secretary, coincidentally also called Lucy (Margie Regan).
Mike’s friends included MiamiTribune reporter/photographer Tim Rourke (Jerry Paris) and Homicide Lt. Will Gentry (Herbert Rudley) who was based in the Municipal Justice Building and who Mike regarded as “one of the most cooperative police officers I’ve ever worked with.”
Actors who guested in the NBC show included Burt Reynolds, Julie London, Adam West, John Banner, Yvonne Craig, John Astin, Ellen Burstyn, Robert Lansing, James Drury, Ken Berry, Gavin MacLeod, Rita Moreno, Vic Perrin, Victor Buono and Michael Pate.
Michael Shayne
Richard Denning Lt. Will Gentry
Herbert Rudley Tim Rourke
Jerry Paris Lucy Hamilton
Patricia Donahue Dick Hamilton
Gary Clarke Lucy Carr
Margie Regan
