Blondes’ Requiem is a thriller with a surprise, by a writer who can always hold the suspense to the end. When Marc Spewack, private investigator, arrives in Cranville, he is aware of the terror, violence and sudden death that are to come. He has been engaged by Lewes Wolf, Czar of Cranville, to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances. No less than five young girls have vanished without trace, and the panic-stricken citizens of Cranville are demanding immediate action to find the girls and bring their kidnapper to justice. Wolf is determined to be elected mayor of Cranville and he has only hired Spewack to gain favour with the voters. The two other candidates for the election, Esslinger, the City’s mortician, and Starkey, a gambler, also make plans to find the missing girls. It soon becomes obvious that whoever is the first to solve these mysterious disappearances will become mayor. Esslinger engages Audrey Sheridan, a woman investigator, and Starkey relies on the crooked police chief to find the missing girts. The case is complicated enough by itself without rival investigators stealing each other’s clues and double-crossing each other at every turn of the game. Despite these handicaps, Marc Spewack succeeds in breaking the case. The story is full of fast dramatic action, grotesque situations and weird characters who will leave the reader with an eerie sensation he will not soon forget

Lucille Aitkin was the kind of woman who encouraged men to run around after her and most men were more than happy to do so—so why did she suddenly want to learn to drive rather than being chauffer-driven in style? And why was Chester Scott's Cadillac covered with bloodstains on the wrong side? And at the same time, why was patrol officer O'Brien run over on a deserted beach road when he should have been on duty on the highway? It seems that somebody knows how these events are connected, and whoever it is seems intent on blackmail

Told in the slick underworld idiom, this story of violence, mystery and sudden death crackles with action. Nick Mason, a reporter, witnesses on execution and gains a clue from the condemned man which precipitates him into a network of crime and murder. He meets and marries Mardi, a beautiful secretary, whom he believes will help him in his dangerous work. He is repeatedly warned against the danger of continuing his investigation, but hangs on against innumerable odds. Finally, the gang is trapped and sentenced, and Nick and Mardi settle down happily together. Nemesis is around the corner — and, well, read for yourself. The end comes like the crack of a whip

For years, the operations of a mysterious and ruthless extortioner, who called himself “The Tortoise”, had baffled Scotland Yard and the police forces of Europe. But the Tortoise made a mistake of interfering with Don Micklem, millionaire settled in London, with friends in high places. And once Micklem was aroused, he tracked down the Tortoise to his lair in a remote place in Italy…

He was a big strapping fellow around thirty, broad and well-built, but far from muscular; soft, just this side of fat. “Hello, Baby,” he said. “You one of her boy friends?” “Go jump in a lake,” I said. “Jump into two if one won’t hold you,” and I turned back to Netta’s door. He giggled. “There’s no one there,” he said, added in an undertone. “She’s dead: died by her own hand.” I felt a little cold breath against my cheek. There was something wrong here. I knew Netta well. She wasn’t the suicide type. And that’s how it began. From then on Steve Harmas, American newspaper correspondent, was never out of trouble. Netta’s body was kidnapped, then her mysterious sister Anne also committed suicide. Harmas, working on his own to try to solve the mystery of these two girls’ deaths, became so involved in the murders that followed that he was in danger of being arrested himself. No Business of Mine, written with tremendous speed and punch, has an ending that comes like the crack of a whip

Greed and lust led lovely Julie Holland down the dark road to murder. Being in love with a cheap crook promised to be exciting, but she found he already had a jealous mistress. He also had a friend called Theo, who specialized in disfiguring beautiful women with an acid bath in the face. Suddenly Julie found she was a partner in the most sensational robbery London had seen for a decade. She had agreed to work as a ladies’ maid, but had not counted on the woman being mad, nor on a blind husband who sometimes appeared to see extremely well. Still, Julie might have escaped from it all, if only she could have resisted the fabulous furs, but death was no warmer in a mink coat

Helen Chalmers had the kind of looks and body, which could make a man do almost everything she wanted. So when she asked pressman Ed Dawson to spend a month alone with her, in a scheduled Italian villa, he found himself accepting—even though it was against his better judgment. Because Helen was the daughter of Sherwin Chalmers, owner of New York Western Telegram, where Dawson worked. Moreover, Sherwin had left Helen in Dawson’s care in Rome. But Dawson had not quite imagined that he would find Helen’s dead body, when he arrived at the villa. Chalmers entrusted Dawson with finding the killer of Helen—the rest would be taken care of by Chalmers himself. Dawson found himself in a race against time to find the true killer of Helen, before the Italian police accused him of killing Helen, and the mob, with whom Helen had associated, caught up with him

В настоящий сборник, «Детектив США», включены произведения известных представителей криминальной литературы М.Коллинза, П.Беннона, Р.Маршалла и Д.Хэммэта 1.0 — создание файла