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Like most of 20th Century-Fox's "Michael Shayne"detective series, Time to Kill was based on a source other than Brett Halliday's Shayne stories. In this case, the inspiration was The High Window, a "Philip Marlowe" mystery novel by Raymond Chandler. Substituting for Marlowe, of course, is flippant private eye Mike Shayne, again played by Lloyd Nolan. Hired by wealthy Mrs. Murdock (Ethel Gryffies) to retrieve a stolen rare coin, Shayne runs up against a clever gang of counterfeiters. The film's highlight (and ultimate plot resolution) is a murder in a high-rise building, covertly captured on movie film with a telephoto lens. The final entry in Fox's "Shayne" series, Time to Kill was remade in 1947 as The Brasher Doubloon, with George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe.