Results for 'vern'

1. Laurie R. King

The Lantern's Dance

The intriguing mystery for Sherlock Holmes fans

1. James Ronald

They Can't Hang Me

‘I shall kill you, one by one, and I’ll get away with it.  They can’t hang me.’   Stories of Crime & Detection Volume Four contains a novel and three short stories: They Can’t Hang Me Lucius Marplay has spent the past twenty years in an asylum, having made countless threats against the four men who took over The Echo, the London newspaper that he once owned.  A visit from an old friend gives Marplay an opportunity to escape, and soon he begins a scheme of revenge.  His daughter Joan, having just discovered that her father is in fact alive, rather than dead as she had always been told, endeavours to track him down to talk sense into him. But as the four newspaper men begin to die one by one, can anyone catch this clever murderer, a man capable of vanishing into thin air?  They Can’t Hang Me was adapted for the screen as The Witness Vanishes (1939). The Man Who Came Back. An escaped convict has a minor road accident and discovers something unexpected. Accident The unpleasant Marlay’s death was an accident, but Daphne and Peter are afraid to call the police for fear they will be implicated. Instead, they concoct a plan…. Out of the Fog A short story set during Prohibition in the U.S.   JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged seventeen to ‘earn his fortune’, later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).

1. James Ronald

Death Croons the Blues

Crime reporter Julian Mendoza is neither young nor good-looking, nor blue-blooded.  He smokes a filthy pipe, has a marvellous landlady from Scotland, walks with a limp, is kind to down-and-outs but unkind to policemen, is rude to society ladies; and is quite prepared to do anything to ensure his reputation as the greatest crime reporter in Fleet Street. Burglar Bill Cuffy breaks into blues singer Adele Valée’s apartment to steal her jewellery and cash, assuming she is at a night club performing. He stumbles across her dead body in the bathroom and is shocked to discover she has been brutally murdered. He flees the scene and ends up at Julian Mendoza’s home where he faces the formidable Mrs. MacDougal. Cuffy is one of several murder suspects that materialise as Mendoza sets out to uncover the truth about Adele Valée’s life and discover her murderer.

1. James Ronald

Hard Boiled

1. James Ronald

The Dark Angel

Miss Elspeth Brownrigg, an elderly spinster who devotes her money and her life to an orphanage, receives a letter threatening her with death unless she is willing to pay £5,000 within 48 hours. When she has raised the money, she is to place a plain postcard in her window. She calls in her nephew, Norman Brownrigg, who is a member of Scotland Yard. His superior, Detective Inspector Evans, accompanies him to investigate the case. Slight suspicion attaches itself to Sydney Martin, Miss Brownrigg’s secretary. However, the investigators determine  to place the card in the window and await developments. A further communication tells Miss Brownrigg that she is to make a parcel of the money and go to the bargain basement of a large department store. She takes a dummy package and her bag is snatched in the crowd. She receives a last warning—unless she pays by 11.00 p.m. the threat will be fulfilled. It is signed like the previous notes by a pair of black wings. Inspector Evans, Norman Brownrigg, Sydney Martin, and Elsa Waring, a young friend of Miss Brownrigg, agree to spend the evening with her to see that no harm befalls her. The fatal hour strikes, nothing has happened. Miss Brownrigg suggests refreshments. She takes one sip of her coffee and the next instant crashes forward into her nephew’s arms.

1. James Ronald

Murder for Cash

‘If that ain’t jest like life!  King Kennedy goin’ fifteen hundred miles t’ git shot with his own gun.’  Stories of Crime & Detection Volume Nine contains a novel and a novelette: Murder for Cash (The Fatal .45)  When aged millionaire rancher King Kennedy is murdered in Chicago, his old friend Sleepy Gus Williams and Kennedy’s son Dolf hunt the killers. They are soon identified as the well-known racketeers, Whispering Benny and The Carnation Kid, who will bump off anyone for money. But who inherits Kennedy’s millions? The murder weapon, a Colt .45, is disposed of in the river after the shooting, but it harbours an important secret, and doesn’t stay submerged for long.  An inventive gangster thriller.   The Man Who Made Monsters This pulp thriller tells a Fellinian horror story of kidnapping, plastic surgery and madness.     JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged seventeen to ‘earn his fortune’, later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).