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Hugh Beaumont is Michael Shayne in Private detective Michael Shayne (Hugh Beaumont) is hired by respected civic leader Burton Stallings (Gordon Richards) to locate his missing stepdaughter, Helen Stallings (Marie Hannon), who has mysteriously disappeared shortly before reaching her twenty-first birthday. Concerned for her safety, Stallings claims the young woman may be in danger, prompting Shayne to begin what appears to be a routine missing-person investigation. Assisted by his loyal friend Tim Rourke (Paul Bryar) and watched closely by Sgt. Pete Rafferty (Ralph Dunn) and Chief Gentry (Charles C. Wilson), Shayne follows a series of puzzling leads, unaware that he is being drawn into an elaborate plot built upon deception and greed.

The case takes a shocking turn when Shayne returns to his office-apartment and discovers the body of a young woman. Circumstantial evidence points toward the detective, placing him under suspicion for murder and forcing him to investigate while trying to clear his own name. As the clues multiply, Shayne realizes that nothing about Helen's disappearance is what it first appeared to be, and that every answer only uncovers a deeper layer of the conspiracy.

His investigation brings him into contact with Phyllis Hamilton (Cheryl Walker), Arch Dubler (Charles Quigley), Doc Patterson (Douglas Fowley), Lucille (Julia McMillan), Whit Marlowe (Lee Bennett), and Dr. Porter (Henry Hall), each of whom possesses information that gradually reveals a more elaborate deception. Piece by piece, Shayne uncovers evidence suggesting the murdered woman is not Helen Stallings, but Barbara Brett, a look-alike deliberately used to conceal the truth.

Determined to expose the conspiracy, Shayne discovers that Burton Stallings has secretly confined the real Helen to a private asylum, preventing her from claiming the inheritance that will become hers upon reaching adulthood. By substituting Barbara for Helen and engineering the deception surrounding her disappearance, Stallings hopes to seize the fortune for himself before Helen's twenty-first birthday.

In the climactic showdown, Shayne exposes the entire scheme, proving both Helen's survival and Stallings' fraud. The conspiracy collapses as the innocent are freed and the guilty brought to justice. With his own name finally cleared of suspicion, Shayne proves Helen is alive before her inheritance can be stolen, bringing the case to a successful conclusion through persistence, keen observation, and his determination to uncover the truth.

A 1946 American Black & White crime mystery romance film directed by Sam Newfield, produced by Sigmund Neufeld, screenplay by Raymond L. Schrock, based on "Michael Shayne" by Brett Halliday, cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh, starring Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Ralph Dunn, Paul Bryar, Charles C. Wilson, Douglas Fowley, Gordon Richards, Charles Quigley, Julia McMillan, Marie Hannon, and Gene Roth Released by Producers Releasing Corporation.

This was the second of five appearances as Michael Shayne for Hugh Beaumont (the father in "Leave it to Beaver"). Four years after 20th Century-Fox wound up its series of programmer mysteries with Lloyd Nolan as Brett Halliday’s PI Michael Shayne, PRC picked up the rights.

Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday. Abut 5 years prior to these film releases, Lloyd Nolan played the detective onscreen in the early 40s. And, after Hugh Beaumont, both Jeff Chandler and Wally Maher portrayed the detective on radio and Richard Denning on television. The 'pulp' novels were notable for being reproduced with salacious covers.

Brett Halliday (1904-1977), in Chicago, Illinois, is the primary pen name of Davis Dresser, an American mystery and western writer. Halliday is best known for the long-lived series of Michael Shayne mysteries he wrote, starting with "Dividend on Death" (1939), and later commissioned others to continue. Dresser also wrote westerns, non-series mysteries, and romances under the names Asa Baker, Matthew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Anthony Scott, Peter Field, and Anderson Wayne. He mostly grew up in West Texas. When he was 13 years old a horse threw him into a barbed-wire fence causing the loss of most of the vision in his left eye. Thus, he had to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life. At the age of 14, he ran away from home and enlisted in the U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, followed by a year of Border Patrol duty on the Rio Grande. Dresser was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America. In 1954, he received anEdgar Award.

This second entry of the Michael Shayne detective series is an amusing, twisty little mystery, with and intriguing setup, disappearing bodies, and good supporting characters. The actors have good chemistry, and Beaumont handles the humor well as the glib Shayne. Recommended for fans of Michael Shayne, classic detective mysteries, and Hugh Beaumont completists.