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Hoodlums steal a worthless painting, and Kent Murdock wants to know whyDIVA collection of valuable Italian paintings finds its way to Boston, placed in the care of Professor Andrade. Before passing them to a museum, the professor hires newspaper photographer Kent Murdock to document them. On his way to the assignment, Murdock is stopped by a gunman named Erloff, who steals the reporter’s identification—and pays his own visit to the professor./divDIV /divDIVBut Erloff is not after the expensive stuff. He cracks Andrade on the skull and leaves with nothing but a worthless painting of a green-hued Venus. Murdock is perplexed. Why all the trouble for an ugly piece of modern art? But the jade Venus holds a terrible secret—and blood will flow before it comes to light./div
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From Mystery Writers of America Grand Master George Harmon Coxe: His job was to protect a friend from suicide, but he didn’t count on murder. After a car crash takes his daughter’s life, John Gannon doesn’t want to live anymore. He tries twice to kill himself—first by jumping, next with pills—but doesn’t succeed. His doctors recommend a beach vacation with close supervision. For a week Dave Barnum watches his despondent friend drink, fish, and gamble, and gradually grows sick of his ill temper. Finally, convinced that John Gannon has gotten past his suicidal tendencies, Barnum lets his guard down. The mistake proves fatal. That night, at Club 80, someone drugs Barnum’s brandy. By the time he makes it home, Gannon is dead. As he inspects his friend’s body, the killer wallops him on the skull and escapes unseen. Barnum’s job was to protect John Gannon. He failed, and now it’s time for some payback.
The Big Gamble It had started out as a normal weekend for Kent Murdock. A drive to the coast, a late dinner, a round of golf in the morning. But when he's stopped for a traffic accident, his instincts kick in and he takes pictures. Nothing out of the ordinary for a newspaper photographer. That is until his car is stolen, the film goes missing, and he stumbles upon a dead blonde in the cabin next to his. Written by one of Black Mask's stable of writers during its heyday, The Big Gamble is hard-boiled fiction at its best.
Flash Casey snaps a photo that holds the key to a corrupt lawyer’s murderDIVCasey shouldn’t have had to go back for more pictures of Stanford Endicott. He was at the court with the other newspaper photographers when the wealthy lawyer was arraigned, and got pictures of him smiling as he put on a hat to hide his bald head. But before Casey can get the negatives developed, a pair of urchins steal his camera case and expose the plates to the sun. At his editor’s orders, Casey visits Endicott’s office for another round of photos. The picture he takes there is altogether more interesting: Stanford Endicott, dead on his office floor./divDIV /divDIVCasey hears a sound in the next room and knows the murderer is close. He gives chase out the front door, and takes a picture just as the killer drives away. Suddenly, Flash Casey has a bigger story than he bargained for./div
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An amateur appraiser gets trapped in a chaotic diamond dealDIVAfter years trying to make their fortunes in the Guyanese diamond trade, Barry Dawson and Colin Lambert have crossed paths once too often. The last time Lambert hired Barry as an appraiser, Lambert cheated his old friend out of his share. Soured on the diamond business, Barry wants to return to the States and marry his hometown girl. Desperate for travel money, he takes one last job from Lambert. He will find that there is no safe exit from the diamond trade./divDIV /divDIVFor hours Barry sifts through a pile of stones, appraising them for sale to a tough named Hudson. They are the most beautiful diamonds he has ever seen—as a group, worth more than $100,000. The sealed package is pillow-shaped, weighs less than a pound, and will cost the blood of many men./div
Trying to help a model, a fashion photographer exposes a sinister plotDIVThe photo in Fashion Parade galls Jerry Nason. It’s not the picture itself—an ordinary shot showing off a slim, Spanish-inspired dress and a few pieces of jewelry. It’s the model, Linda Courtney, who stood him up for a date a few months earlier. The morning after the magazine’s release, the woman who spurned his affection turns up to offer him some work. She’s come with the same set of costume jewelry she wore in the Fashion Parade picture, and her bosses, a strange pair of men who claim to work in advertising, want shots of the fake gems. Nason obliges, the two men leave, and Linda begins to tell the truth./div