Charmingly insidious, satisfyingly devious 100 Malicious Little Mysteries is the perfect book to fit your most malevolent mood. Each story has its own particular and irresistible appeal — that unexpected twist, a delectable puzzle, a devastating revelation, or perhaps a refreshing display of pernicious spite. These stories by some of the many well-known writers in the field, including Michael Gilbert, Edward Wellen, Edward D. Hack, Bill Pronzini, Lawrence Treat and Francis Nevins

If you don't shudder with every twist and sudden thrust of these 16 terror tales… if you are able to turn off your bedside lamp after closing this volume and drift off to a deep, dreamless sleep… if you can drink your morning coffee without thinking there just might be a peculiarly bitter taste to it, or turn your back on your spouse or best friend without feeling a funny itching between your shoulder blades… then that lovable old master of menace, Alfred Hitchcock, apologizes and personally guarantees you your full payment in horror. All you have to do is meet him in the cemetery under the next murderer's moon…

ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S HOW-TO-DO-IT BOOK Including: • How to solve your marital problems       —(poison) • How to dress properly when admitting to first degree murder       —(black tie) • How to take off a few pounds fast       —(a knife) • How to ruin a perfect friendship       —(a homemade bomb) And many, many other helpful hints from such specialists as: EVAN HUNTER, JOHN CORTEZ, RAY BRADBURY, RICHARD STARK, RICHARD MATHESON, HELEN NIELSON, DONALD WESTLAKE, RICHARD DEMING, JACK RITCHIE, JONATHAN CRAIG, C. B. GILFORD, JAY STREET, ROBERT ARTHUR, FLETCHER FLORA, CHARLES EINSTEIN

Harrowing tales of mayhem, murder versus moonshine acting as counter irritants and prescribed by spine-tingling specialists chosen for you this month by the MASTER OF SUSPENSE

Dan Fancy had fashioned a perfect frame for a crime giant when he went after Big Jim Calhoun. But how could it fit the grim picture, when the boss’s victim seemed to prefer his death-cell to the good air of freedom?

“You still haven’t searched my person,” she said. “The warrant says ‘the premises and person of Beverly Arden.’” “It’s a pleasant thought,” Sergeant Matt Rudd said dryly, “but women have to be searched by matrons.” “Don’t be silly,” Beverly said. “You can’t search a woman forcibly, but you have my permission...” Rudd hesitated. “All right,” he said, “hold your arms straight out.” He ran his hands along her arms and sides and down her legs. She felt firm and shapely, and when he finished he was perspiring slightly. “I guess you’re clean,” he said huskily. “You didn’t do nearly as thorough a job as you did on the apartment,” she said. There was a momentary pause, as Rudd took her in with his eyes. “All right,” he said. Then he reached out and loosened the top button of her pajama top

Tutter King had it made. Every time he spun a platter on “The King’s Session,” gold came out: TV earnings, returns on his secret holdings in recording companies, the old payola that some bright young men think only their rightful due. Tutter was a gay young man-around-town. He was also involved in some highly romantic hanky-panky with his pretty blond assistant, Lola Arkwright. And then the roof started to cave in. Senate Investigating Committees. The angry emergence of the wife who Lola never knew existed. The canceling of his network contract. Poor Tutter, it looked like he was going to lose everything. Even his life!

Death called a day early for Maida — and wore a madman’s face!

He never should have gotten into it in the first place. But when you need money, sometimes you things you wouldn’t ordinarily think of doing. Nothing illegal, nothing like blackmail, something just a shade this side... At least that was the way Barney Calhoun had it figured. It looked like the easiest ten thousand bucks he’d ever make. And she was lovely, though in the end she led him to murder... An ex-cop turned private eye ought to know all the answers on how to commit the perfect crime. But somewhere along the line, he slipped up, and before he realized it they had him where the hair was short

He found her in a quiet bar — a sulky-mouthed, awkward, green-eyed kid trying desperately to pick up a man. He taught her how to dress, to walk, to laugh, turned her into the kind of woman who makes every man reach into his pocket for hundred-dollar bills. Looking at her now, Sam was proud of himself. He had done a good job on her. Yeah, it was too bad she had to go... the same way as the others

In Manny Moon’s book there’s a dame behind every murder... and murder behind every dame. But the murder of the Lieutenant-governor of a large mid-western state abruptly left Moon’s book one chapter shy — while the steady hand of the killer promised to write the finish

Two gambling kingpins go to war — and Manville Moon is caught in the middle When an upstart gangster named Byron Wade threatens Louis Bagnell’s gambling empire, Bagnell attempts to hire Manville Moon, a detective whose loss of a leg has not diminished his reputation as a tough guy. Preferring to remain neutral, Moon turns down Bagnell’s offer and refuses Wade’s as well. But Wade does not want another gunman. He wants a sleuth — to investigate his own murder, should the coming war leave him dead. They are negotiating over a platter of chop suey when Louis Bagnell turns up murdered. Was Wade using Moon as an alibi, or did Bagnell’s killer come from within his own gang? Double-crosses come faster than bullets in this twisting novella, but even on one leg, Manville Moon will have no trouble keeping up

If someone had told Gamble Clancy Ross that a stenographer — just out of secretarial school, at that — could start a gang war, he would have grinned and suggested an immediate sojourn in a mental institution for the prognosticator. Even if that same someone had described the chick in question — blond, shaped like a Don Juan’s dream girl and measuring 38-28-38 — he still would have suggested a tonic for tired blood and mental fatigue. And yet that’s exactly what transpired. Stella Parsons just happened to be privy to information which would put a Syndicate biggie on the hot seat. Clancy just happened to think it would be a waste of natural resources to expose Stella to the disease known as rigor mortis, and he therefore endangered his own future enjoyment of Stella’s services (nonsecretarial) by engaging two rival gangs in a war for the control of town ironically named Saint Stephen

An unstoppable anthology of crime stories culled from Black Mask magazine the legendary publication that turned a pulp phenomenon into literary mainstream. Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared. It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like “Murder Is Bad Luck,” “Ten Carets of Lead,” and “Drop Dead Twice.” Collected here is best of the best, the hardest of the hardboiled, and the darkest of the dark of America’s finest crime fiction. This masterpiece collection represents a high watermark of America’s underbelly. Crime writing gets no better than this. Featuring • Deadly Diamonds • Dancing Rats • A Prize Fighter Fighting for His Life • A Parrot that Wouldn’t Talk Including • Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon as it was originally published • Lester Dent’s Luck in print for the first time

The first two bodies were found in a lover’s lane... His girl friend, still alive, described the stick-up artist as mild-mannered, courteous, of medium build and wearing glasses. It was a description that fitted half the male population of Los Angeles. It was almost the only clue Joe Friday and Frank Smith had to catch the murderer. The courteous killer struck again! Then again! This time Joe Friday was waiting for him with a gun. But the criminal escaped with only a bullet wound. When Joe Friday opened his mail, there was an unsigned, misspelled note. It read: “You chink your a smart badge. Nobody burns me and lives, cop. Start swetting.”

Wednesday, April 16th — 8:32 A.M. Frank and I sped over to West Sixth and Bixel. When we got there the shooting was over. One cop was dead, another wounded. No sign of either suspect. We exchanged grim looks. The gang’s take was now nearly a quarter million. From a letter we’d taken from one of the syndicate, we knew their goal was half a million — then they’d head for Honduras and we’d lose them for good

Her one request: “Treat me like a tramp.”

Somebody had killed his father, then framed him. He knew who that somebody was, but how could he prove it?

Only Mr. Moon, dizzy murder specialist, would dust off the hot squat for his pal, Mouldy — then try it on, himself, for size!

Manville Moon thought the process through step by step as he trained his pistol on a desperate killer. Here was the climax of a case in which the life of a young man had already been taken, and the life of a young heiress hung by a hair. Actually, Moon got off one of the fastest snap-shots in history, and went on to wrap up the case for the most beautiful client he ever had

Richard Deming (1915–1983) wrote prolifically for magazines (more than 200 short stories) as well as for major book publishers (more than two dozen novels, ranging from original crime novels to media tie-ins (Dragnet and The Mod Squad) to even a pseudonymous nautical series involving submarines. He was a meticulous professional who never disappointed readers

Richard Deming (1915–1983) was an American pulp writer who specialised in mystery and detective fiction. In addition to original novels, he found a lucrative niche writing books based on movies TV series (such as Dragnet) and also ghost-wrote no less than ten “Ellery Queen” novels. In addition to numerous stand-alone books and stories, he created series featuring Manville (Manny) Moon and Matt Rudd. This volume provides a great sampling of his work

Mr. Deming has developed so neatly an idea so fresh and striking that we feel no introduction is necessary. Go ahead to this completely new kind of time-travel story, with a concept that will stick in your mind through all your future reading of science fiction

Betty Case opened her eyes, fear gripping her. She lay very still for a moment, listening. Then she heard the sound again, like someone walking on the roof. Instantly she thought of the cat burglar, who’d been terrorizing his victims with an axe. She sat up and reached for the gun under her pillow. A rasping sound came from the hall window; the she heard footsteps outside the bedroom door. She held her breath, her eyes straining in the darkness, her hand gripping the gun tighter. Suddenly the door opened. A shadowy figure stood there, a glittering blade in his hand. Betty screamed and pulled the trigger — setting off a chain of events that enmeshed her deeper and deeper in a vicious game of murder and violence

Too many bodies... — spoil even the best of parties... unless, of course, it’s one of Miss Sedalia’s exclusive soirees — for murderers only!

It was just Manny Moon’s luck — or misfortune — that he decided to dine at El Patio the evening the Lieutenant Governor was shot

Manny Moon, the agile one-legged detective of “The Gallows in My Garden” and “Tweak the Devil’s Nose,” is back again. Naturally it’s murder and this time the murder is committed after a banquet arranged, ironically enough, to celebrate the incorporation of a company to manufacture a safety device for hunters. During the investigation, Manny learns a great deal about inventors and inventions, murders and murderers. The beauteous Fausta Moreni is also on hand, along with a generous helping of blackmail, kidnaping and hoodlumism

После 1961 года под именем Элери Квин был издан ряд произведений, написанных другими авторами, эти проведения выходили под контролем и редактированием Элери Квина (Дэниела Нэтана - Daniel Nathan и Манфорда Лепофски - Manford Lepofsky). «Жена или смерть» написана Ричардом Демингом (Richard Deming)

Трое студентов поспорили, возможно ли совершить идеальное ограбление банка… и решили проверить на практике. Ведь ограбление будет только шуткой!