Leslie Ford

Zenith Brown

The Idyllic life in Eden, Devon County, home of Spig and Molly O'Leary, is suddenly menaced by the spectre of a long-forgotten death and the grim reality of imminent murder. Meanwhile, the march of 'progress' in the form of a new bridge, a super highway, and a real estate boom -- complete with rumors that their neighbors are planning to sell part of their land to a gambling syndicate -- hangs over everything...

Murder Comes to Eden

Murray Leinster

Robert Silverberg

Randall Garrett

Lester del Rey

Lester Dent

Jerome Bixby

Eando Binder

Hal Charles

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

Dale Clark

This issue has been fun to put together. As a Maryland resident, I’ve always been partial to stories set in my home state, and Golden Age mystery author Zenith Brown is here this time with Murder in Maryland, a classic mystery originally published under her “David Frome” pseudonym. (She also wrote as Leslie Ford.) Add to that more mysteries by Hal Charles (another Solve-It-Yourself mystery challenge), Lester Dent (author of the famous Shadow pulp novels), Murray Leinster (whose name most science fiction readers should recognize), plus a great tale by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera (selected by Barb Goffman), and you have a terrific lineup. Alas, I wasn’t able to get to another Frank Lovell Nelson story, but his telepathic detective will be back next week. In the words of TV hucksters, But wait, there’s more! Remember, we also include great science fiction and fantasy in every issue, and here we have a bunch of classics by Lester del Rey (a rare fantasy from John W. Campbell’s Unknown first published in 1940), a devilish fantasy tale by Jerome Bixby, and a science fiction story by Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett in collaboration. Plus I’m sneaking in one of my own Zelloque fantasies, written when I was reading the Richard Burton translation of The Thousand and One Nights. The influence shows. Our science fiction novel this issue is Get Off My World, by Eando Binder. —John Betancourt, Editor Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries “This Will Slay You,” by Dale Clark [novelet] “Playing by the Rules,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “The Pipeline Juggernaut,” by Lester Dent [short story] “Pink Ears,” by Murray Leinster [short story] “The Right Profile,” by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera [Barb Goffman Presents Mystery] Murder in Maryland, by Zenith Brown [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy “The Pipes of Pan,” by Lester del Rey [fantasy short story] “The Incomplete Theft,” by Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett [science fiction short story] “The Last Guardian of Ru Ishtl,” by John Gregory Betancourt [fantasy short story] “The Battle of the Bells,” by Jerome Bixby [fantasy short story] Get Off My World, by Eando Binder [novel]

Black Cat Weekly #11

The town was dark and heavy with doom. Hate, generations old, flowed through it like a malevolent river. Julie knew the force of that hate... and the violence which had issued from it in the past. It could erupt again; she lived in terror. Ben, the stranger, saw Julie and fell in love. A secret voice warned him to stay away, but he did not. They clung together in the darkness; meanwhile, through the midnight shadows of the town a killer moved to wreak his vengeance on them both.

Burn Forever

The Philadelphia Murder Story: A Colonel Primrose Mystery

Magnolias and murder—live oaks and dead women—romance and violence—are what three unsuspecting women find on the Garden Club Pilgrimage to glamorous old Natchez. Expecting to recapture the magic of the Old South, they become involved, instead, in an ancient feud of love and death, where the romantic sins of the past come to life in very modern murder.

Murder with Southern Hospitality

She was a dangerous female, beautiful, cold-blooded, predatory. The people she lived among were the very nicest sort. Yet, strange to say, it was she who was found dead. And she was only the first victim... She was a dangerous female, beautiful, cold- blooded, predatory. The people she lived among were the very nicest sort. Yet, strange to say, it was she who was found dead. And she was only the first victim . . . “A prime mystery . . . told with Leslie Ford’s usual skill.” —The New York Times "Exciting." -- The New Statesman "Excellent Leslie Ford at top form. -- New York Herald Tribune

Ill Met by Moonlight

IN THE MANSION OF MURDER... A self-made millionaire, whose true story was not fit to print... His beautiful "friend"... His wife, and her friend, a very suspect psychiatrist... And a man from the haunted past, with his father's blood on his hands, and every reason in the world to kill and kill again... "You'll find screams at midnight, multiple slaughter, knockout drops, love and money in generous quantities...much brilliancy." -- New York Herald Tribune "Absorbing." -- New York Times "The best mystery I've read this year. It's got something." -- Norman Klein, New York Post

The Clue of the Judas Tree

WHO IS THE WOMAN IN BLACK? A living ghost, dressed in black, crashes a Washington cocktail party -- and touches off a chain of violence and murder. Who is the Woman in Black? The answer is a matter of life and death for a pretty young matron, a legendary captain of industry, a rich and dazzling hostess -- and for lady sleuth Grace Latham and her friend Col. Primrose. "Mrs Latham works wonders with the clues. A major Ford opus." -- New York Herald Tribune

Zenith Brown

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