In depths of despair, the beautiful, lonely Madeline contemplates suicide. She gently strokes an ugly revolver, the sole legacy of an alcoholic father. Holding the barrel to her temple, she pulls the trigger. There is only the click of the hammer on an empty chamber. The failure of the weapon brings on a rush of joy, and renewed hope for her future. She throws down the gun — and it explodes with deadly fury. The bullet strikes an innocent young woman passing in the street outside, who in the next moment dies in Madeline’s arms. So begins Into the Night, the quintessential Cornell Woolrich novel, never before published. Although Woolrich worked on it for years, this tale of hatred...

A collection of suspense stories, puzzle stories, whodunits and tricky whydunits involving police detectives, private eyes, talented and sometimes lucky amateurs, armchair detectives, and ethnic detectives.

Cornell Woolrich published his first novel in 1926, and through-out the next four decades his fiction riveted the reading public with unparalleled mystery, suspense, and horror. America’s most popular pulps — Dime Detective, Black Mask, and Detective Fiction Weekly — published hundreds of his stories. Classic films like Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Mississippi Mermaid, Tournier’s Black Alibi, and Siodmak’s Phantom Lady, as well as dozens of other motion pictures, came chillingly to the screen from his work. And novels like Deadline at Dawn, Rendezvous in Black, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes gained him the epithet “father of noir.” Now, with this new...

The Good Old Stuff is a selection of thirteen of John D. MacDonald’s best mystery stories written between 1947 and 1952, at the beginning of his career. While many readers know about MacDonald’s success from recent books such as Cinnamon Skin, Free Fall in Crimson and The Empty Copper Sea, few but the hardcore mystery addicts remember when MacDonald wrote for magazines. The Good Old Stuff has been chosen carefully to give readers a taste of his early best and to show the range of his abilities in the mystery genre. “The Simplest Poison” is a straight detective story, “Miranda” psychological suspense, “Noose for a Tigress” a real thriller. “Murder for Money” gives us an early glance at...

A great holiday gift for mystery fans, this new short story collection of over thirty Christmas tales of crime contains contributions from some of the best writers of the genre: Patricia Moyes, John D. MacDonald, Rex Stout, Julian Symons, Georges Simenon, Margery Allingham, Lawrence Block, John Mortimer and many others. These holiday tales with a murderous twist include suspicious Santa's helpers; a Christmas pageant player who assumes the role of a killer; and evil elves with malicious intentions. Beware of hanging mistletoe and stuffed stockingsthisseason, as you celebrate a creepy Christmas withMurder Most Merry.