MURDER ME FOR NICKELS

Walter Lippit makes music all over town. He owns the juke boxes that play the tunes that keeps the bars and the diners hopping. Jack St. Louis works for Lippit, smoothing the customers and keeping the nickels coming. But then along comes Benotti and the Chicago syndicate to louse up the operation. It's everything Jack can do to stay one step ahead. One step ahead of Benotti's gang, Lippet--and Lippit's willing wife Patty, who wants to be a singer and is convinced that Jack can make that happen too. And maybe he can. It's all in a week's work.

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Blood on the Desert

Anthony Wheeler didn't want the job. When Major Pitt called him into the London office, Wheeler was trying to track down his old mentor, Fairchild. It had been Fairchild who had pulled him into the business. Not everyone is cut out to be a spy--Wheeler excelled at it. And Pitt would simply not accept his refusal. Now he is off to Kaden in North Africa, where three Arab chieftains who had been feuding for years are suddenly acting very friendly. Wheeler's mission--find out why. The last person he expects to run into is Fairchild. It is good to see his old...

MY LOVELY EXECUTIONER

Jimmy Gallivan is only three-and-a-half weeks from his prison release for trying to kill his wife's lover seven years ago. But fellow-inmate Rand has other plans for Gallivan. A break-out is engineered, and now they're hiding out in a sanitarium. But the whole set-up seems suspicious. Rand's boss wants Gallivan to help him with his drug operation. But is that all there is to it? Because it begins to seem like the whole escape was engineered just for him. And what about Jesse? Where does she figure in all of this? Is she the bait--or has she become...

ANATOMY OF A KILLER

Sam Jordan never lets emotion interfere with his work. He is a precise and ruthless killing machine, dealing out death for hire. But his last job had ended wrong for Jordan, and now Sandy is sending him out again--without a break, yet--to take care of someone named Kemp. Hell, he even has to case the job himself. The whole thing feels jinxed. That's when Jordan meets Betty, who works at the diner. To her he is Mr. Smith, a button salesman. But to Jordan, Betty is a sweet moment in his life, a safe haven. And that's where he makes his first mistake--he...

DIG MY GRAVE DEEP

Daniel Port works for Stoker as his number two man, the brains behind all the crooked deals that's kept Stoker's gang going for years. But there's a new set-up in town, a supposed reform party led by Bellamy. Trouble is, Bellamy's worse than Stoker and Port wants out of the whole rotten mess. But Stoker needs him and won't let him go, and Bellamy is putting a lot of pressure on Port to force him to join his side. All Port wants is a ticket out of town, with Shelly by his side. What he's got to do to make it happen is put together one more deal for Stoker....

THE CUT OF THE WHIP

Daniel Port is driving through Texas when the other car appears out of nowhere. When Port eventually wakes up, he finds a ministering angel named Jane and her father, Carl Heering, the richest man in town. Heering admits that it was his son, Robert, that ran into Port and that the kid has run off with important business papers. He offers Port an easy grand to bring his son and the papers back. But when Port tracks the kid down, all is not as it seems. The business papers are love letters, the Heering heir is kidnapped, and Port finds he must solve the...

THE SILENT WALL

Matty Matthews has been to the town of Forza d'Aguil before. Stationed there with a small group of soldiers during WWII, it was here that Matty fell in love with Rosanna. It was a sweet, short-lived affair until the soldiers unexpectedly got orders to pull out. Matty never got to say goodbye. Now he's back in Sicily, drawn to the mountain town after all these years. But the citizens of Forza d'Aguil are easy to offend, and when Matty inadvertently crosses Pino, the mafioso sabotages his leaving. Trapped in Forza d'Aguil, hemmed in on all sides by...

KILL THE BOSS GOOD-BY

Tom Fell, the boss, is gone, and Pander has temporarily taken over the rackets in town. He's got some ideas of his own how the bookies should be operating. The business needs some fresh blood. Then Fell is back, back from his rest at Desert Farm where Dr. Emilson has been treating him for manic depression; back with Cripp, his right-hand man. Fell knows he's been gone too long, that Pander has stepped in and made some changes. Pander thinks he's got the big bosses behind him, but what he doesn't know is that Fell may be manic, but he knows what he...