The Last Match by David Dodge

Would Interpol Get Him First...

Or Would She?

Cover by William George

 When a handsome swindler working the French Riviera meets a beautiful heiress on the beach at Cannes, sparks fly.  But so do bullets – and soon he’s forced to flee the country with both the police and the heiress on his trail.

From the casinos of Monaco to the jungles of Brazil, from Tangier to Marrakesh to Peru, the chase is on.  And not even a veteran of Monte Carlo’s baccarat tables would dare to place odds on where it will end… 

Printing History

Written by David Dodge (1910-1974)

Hard Case Crime #25

Dorchester Publishing Company

October 2006

ISBN 8439 5596

Triva

The manuscript, which remained unsold at the time of his death, was discovered among his papers and is the first new Dodge material to be published in 35 years.

Mansion Of Evil by Caroline Farr

Lovely Diane Montrose came to the mansion called Ravensnest to save a life.

And finds her own threatened as she seeks love in a house shadowed by death.

Violent Death Stalked The Towering Cliffs Of Ravensnest

Lapped by the Gulf Of Maine waters, Ravensnest brooded like a specter from the past, over the fishing town of Tregoney. To the gloomy ruin of a mansion came beautiful Diane Montrose on a nursing assignment.

More than illness threatened the life of her young charge, Robyn Warburton, whose Mother perished under mysterious circumstances. Diane found herself drawn into a web of evil. What was the terrible secret that dominated everyone's lives at Ravensnest? What horror was hidden in the cell, hewn from the living rock of the cliffs below it? What was the danger that lurked in Diane's attraction to David Warburton, heir to the family's fortune?

Printing History

Richard Wilkes-Hunter (1906-1991)

Horwtiz Publications Inc

1966

Signet Books

D3008

November 1966 

T4858

December 1971

Bonus Cover

Australian Edition 

Force 10 From Navarone by Alistair MacLean (II)

Fontana Books Edition

copyright 1968

Cymbeline Productions Ltd.

Fontana Books 1970

13th Impression August 1974

Originally posted in July 2015

Force 10 From Navarone

The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert van Gulik

Gold Smuggling, 

Corruption, 

A Floating Brothel, 

An Ingenious Murder Weapon

Judge Dee is a recently appointed magistrate to the miserable town/district of Peng-lai. His predecessor has been murdered and so Judge Dee must investigate. The investigation is made more complex due to the disappearance of his chief clerk as well as the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner. Meanwhile, a tiger is terrorizing the district, the ghost of the murdered magistrate is stalking members of the court, a prostitute has a secret message for Judge Dee, and the body of a murdered monk is found to have been placed in the wrong grave. What could possibly relate all these events?

Printing History

written by Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-1967)

Michael Josephs (UK)

Harper & Brothers (US)

1959

 

Dell Publishing Company

#1265

August 1963

The 39 Steps by John Buchan

The Thirty-Nine Steps

 

  Set during May and June 1914 when war was evident in Europe, Richard Hannay the protagonist and narrator, returns to his new home in London, after a long stay in Rhodesia to begin a new life. One night he is interrupted by a stranger, a well-traveled American, who claims to be in fear for his life. The man appears to know of a plot to destabilize Europe, beginning with a plan to assassinate the Greek Premier during his forthcoming visit to London. The man reveals his name to be Franklin Scudder, a freelance spy, and remarks that he is dead. Scudder explains that he has faked his own death in order to avert suspicion. he then claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone who are trying to steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Hannay lets Scudder hide in his flat, and sure enough the next day another man is discovered having apparently committed suicide in the same building. Four days later Hannay returns home to find Scudder dead with a knife through his heart. He decides to go into hiding in Scotland and it goes down hill from there. The plot is eventually thwarted, and the United Kingdom enters the First World War, having kept its military secrets from the enemy.

The Movies

1935 Film

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Starring

Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll

1959 Film

Directed by Ralph Thomas

Starring 

Kenneth More and Taina Elg 

1978 Film

Directed by Don Sharp

Starring

Robert Powell and Karen Dotrice

2008 Film

Directed by James Hawes

Starring 

Rupert Penry-Jones and Lydia Leonard

Printing History

written by John Bucan (1875-1940)

William Blackwood and Sons

1915

Seven Footprints To Satan by A Merritt

An American explorer was catapulted into a strange and seductive world of evil ruled by Satan himself.

The most beautiful and powerful people in the world had bargained with the Devil. They played Russian Roulette with seven footprints to world domination, and lost. They had become subject to the Collector of Infernal Revenue...Satan. The Master Player of games would glut his lust with souls and gain world power through diabolical manipulation. But into his collection comes James Kirkham, an American explorer determined to prove that the steps are stacked.

Printing History

written by Abraham Grace Merritt (1884-1943)

Boni & Liveright

ISBN 1-127-49176-6 (1928)

Avon Books 

ISBN 380-00690 (1942)

ISBN 380-20208 (1955)

ISBN 380-02417 (December 1971)

Bonus Cover