The Sucker Punch by James Hadley Chase

Confession By A Killer

He wanted her. Wanted her like he had never wanted anything else in his life. And he was ready to kill to get her. Chad Winter's violent infatuation for woman inspired him to attempt what he thought would be the perfect murder. But murder's never simple..........

Chad Winters was a small-time bank clerk, until he was put in charge of the Shelley account. Vestal Shelley was plain, a bitch and worth over seventy million dollars. No one had ever dared to stand up to her before, but Chad was determined to get his hands on her money. He found the perfect way to treat her and ended up as her husband. But he hadn't reckoned on failing violently in love with Vestal's secretary, a ruthless woman who also wanted her share of the fortune and who cunningly turned Chad's thoughts to murder...

 

Printing History

Written by René Lodge Brabazon Raymond (1906-1985)

Jarrolds Publishers Ltd.
1954

Granada Publishing Limited
Panther Books Ltd 1963
ISBN 58601473
Reprinted 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970

5th Anniversary

Today marks this blogs 5th anniversary 

This year, instead of rehashing the two book titles that got me started enjoying reading mysteries and spy stories. I will highlight the introduction of the characters of my favorite author, Mr Carter Brown. He brought into the world numerous characters with his stories and novelettes. He would settle on a handful of reoccurring characters, seven to be exact. His most famous would be Police Lieutenant Al Wheeler, in which he would appear from 1955 until 1984.
 

Al Wheeler (1955-1984)

Police Lieutenant in Pine City California

Danny Boyd (1957-1984)

New York City Private Eye that moves to California later in the series

Rick Holman (1961-1984)

Hollywood Trouble Shooter

Mavis Seidlitz (1955-1974)

 Blonde private investigator with Gracie Allen tendencies

 Randal Robert (1971-1976)

Lawyer 

Paul Donovan (1974-1979)

Millionaire Adventurer 

Larry Baker (1955-1975)

TV Gag Writer with his partner Boris Sivka

Off to another year

The Pipes Are Calling (1976) by Carter Brown

This month will be my second entry into Past Offences' monthly roundup of various blogs posts about crime fiction written or filmed in a particular year. For the month of September, the year of 1976 was chosen. I will post about the Carter Brown tale The Pipes Are Calling. 

The Pipes Are Calling

Carter Brown

A jet set beauty involves private eye Danny Boyd in her high powered world of orgies, investment's and cold blooded murder.

Corpse On A Chandelier

Private eye Danny Boyd and his beautiful buxom client Melanie Rigby walk right into a set up. The cabin was deserted, the lights were out, and Melanie's millionaire hubby was dangling above their heads with his throat slit. Boyd was not about to be the fall guy for anyone, especially when Melanie was ready to foot the bill if he could catch the killer. But in the tight-knit world of Santo Bahia's upper crust, pinning the knife blade on the murderer was no kid's game. Danny found his work really cut out for him when  he started playing hide-and-seek with the wealthiest people in town, but one orgy, kidnapping, and bed-to-bed leap later. Danny was almost convinced he had the killer. All he needed was a little more proof to slam the cell door on this stab-and-run artist. Unless his quarry twisted the knife into Danny first!

Printing History

Written by Allan G Yates (1923-1985)

New American Library

Signet Books

In association with Horwitz Publications Inc

ISBN 451 Y7182

October 1976

w/The Early Boyd
in association with Horwitz Grahame Publications
ISBN 451 AE2073
February 1983 

    

Horwitz Publications

Horwitz Group Books Pty, Ltd.

Hong Kong B.C.C.

 Horwitz Double Edition #17A 

ISBN 7255 13934

April 1983

Bonus Covers
France
1978

Germany
1977

  Sweden

1978

Rio Passion by James Luceno

Sudden death on the Mexican border sends Matt Terry down a dangerous trail

 Wilderness guide, Matt Terry, escorts an adventurous couple into the heart of war-torn Guatemala in the early 1980s, only to be drawn into a dangerous quest for a long-sought Mayan artifact.

Printing History

Written by James Luceno (1947- )

Ivy Books

#8263

November 1988

The Man From St Petersburg by Ken Follett

Set just before the outbreak of the First World War. The story is an account of how the lives of the main characters were interwoven with the success or failure of secret naval talks between Britain and Russia. As a result, Czar Nicholas’s nephew Prince Alexei is sent to London for high level bilateral talks.

In 1914, Germany arms for war and the allies are preparing their defences. Both sides need Russia. The Earl of Walden and Winston Churchill plan a secret Russian alliance, but a man steals into England, intent on leaving his mark on history. Fate catches up with a beautiful woman, a young girl and a star-crossed lover, while the police close in on the man who might bring England to her knees. His name was Feliks.  He came to London to commit a murder that would change history.  A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself.  These odds would have stopped any man in the world-except the man from St. Petersburg.

 Printing History

Written by Kenneth Martin Follett (1949- )

William Morrow and Company

1982

 

Lust Is No Lady by Michael Avallone

When he saw her there...

Beautiful, naked, and dying...

Staked to  the burning desert in that startling way.

Ed Noon knew he would have to look for a different breed of man.

Ed Noon is heading out on a vacation when he car blows a tire on Highway 80 in Wyoming where he is immediately the helpless target for a diving Piper Cub, which bombards him with bricks. He finds Brandy, a naked Indian girl, staked out in the sun, and she leads him to a cabin, where her Uncle Charlie Redwine has been tortured to death. Noon encounters the Riker Gang, which is determined to find a missing gold bullion shipment, dating back to the Civil War. But the main distraction is P.J., the murderous dwarf pilot of the Piper Cub, who has some very bad plans of his own.  

Printing History

Michael Angelo Avallone, Jr (1924-1999)

Belmont Productions, Inc

Belmont Books 

90-318

 December 1964

as

The Brutal Kook

WH Allen

Brown Watson Limited

1965

Women Heroes of World War II by Kathryn Atwood

26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance and Rescue

 

Noor Inayat Khan was the first female radio operator sent into occupied France and transferred crucial messages. 

Johtje Vos, a Dutch housewife, hid Jews in her home and repeatedly outsmarted the Gestapo. 

Law student Hannie Schaft became involved in the most dangerous resistance work sabotage, weapons transference, and assassinations. 

In these pages, readers will meet these and many other similarly courageous women and girls who risked their lives to help defeat the Nazis. Twenty-six engaging and suspense-filled stories unfold from across Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, and the United States, providing an inspiring reminder of women and girls’ refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history. An overview of World War II and summaries of each country’s entrance and involvement in the war provide a framework for better understanding each woman’s unique circumstances, and resources for further learning follow each profile.

Printing History

Written by Kathryn J Atwood 

Chicago Review Press

ISBN 55652 961 2011 (Hardback)

ISBN 61374 523 2013 (Paperback)

The Saint to The Rescue by Leslie Charteris

A collection of Six short stories

 

1) The Ever-Loving Spouse: Simon Templar is asked for help by a man who was tricked into being in a compromising position.

2) The Fruitful Land: The man that the Saint has targeted for justice does not believe the Saint really exists.

3) The Percentage Player: The con man that the Saint goes up against does nothing that is not mathematically favorable to him.

4) The Water Merchant: The invention was too good to be believed and the Saint was the chief non-believer.

5) The Gentle Ladies: Two elderly ladies in a small village in England are being preyed upon by a blackmailer.

6) The Element of Doubt: A shady lawyer gets a arsonist acquitted and the Saint wants to see justice is done. 

 Printing History

Written by Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin (1907-1993)

 Crime Club Doubleday
1959

H&S
1961

The Diary Of Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl)

A book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended on this day in 1944 by the Gestapo. Anne Frank would die of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945.

Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that Anne's diary had been saved by one of the helpers, Miep Gies, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It has since been translated into many languages. It was translated from its original Dutch version and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. The diary, which was given to Anne on her thirteenth birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.

Printing History

Written by Annelies Marie Frank (1929-1945)

as 

Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944 

(The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944)

Contact Publishing 

Amsterdam 

1947 

as

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl 

Doubleday & Company

1952 

Play

Screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

1955

Movie

1959

Directed by George Stevens

Screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett 

Cast

Millie Perkins as Anne Frank
Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank 

Shelley Winters as Petronella van Daan
Richard Beymer as Peter van Daan
Gusti Huber as Edith Frank
Lou Jacobi as Hans van Daan
Diane Baker as Margot Frank
Douglas Spencer as Kraler
Dodie Heath as Miep
Ed Wynn as Albert Dussell

Blue Murder by Walter Wager

It began with mayhem....

 It could end with a massacre 
 

 

Several employees of an electronics factory are gunned down by carloads of gunmen. Hired by the sister of one of the victims, Alison Gordon tracks the killers and finds there is a conspiracy to stage a coup including the assassination of the President.

 

Printing History
Written by Walter Wager (1924-2004)

Arbor House Publishing Company

ISBN 877 95286

May 1981 

Berkley Books

ISBN 425 5444

August 1982