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Some innocent people were going to be badly hurt. But he had to remember that there was no innocence in this trade, that anyone and everything touched by junk became irretrievably rotten and then had to pay the price. If he began to think of checks and balances, levels of thought, then he was beginning only to think like a cop or a bureaucrat again. That was why the enforcers were only another component of the disease; because they refused to accept responsibility and follow it through.To fight vermin you had to be one.Burt Wulff is beyond forgiveness, beyond vengeance. He is the Lone Wolf.

It is a hot, sticky Philadelphia night. And teenager Johnny Broom is ready to score. He's got his gang's rumble set up with the Violets, the perfect cover for his real plans for the evening-opening up the warehouse his brother guards for Comber's boys to clean out. Johnny's got it all figured. What he doesn't figure is that the creepy kid Mike will show up and start taking over the action. He doesn't figure that officer Vallera will be one step ahead of him, ready to bust the heist. He doesn't figure that John Dexter Stephens, whom everyone knows is the only adult friend the kids have, will be tagging along on the bust. Johnny's got the perfect plan, so why does everything start to go so wrong...

MAKE MY COFFIN STRONGSteve Galloway has been away for a while, making his fortune in Saudi oil. Then he gets the letter: his mentor and old friend, Sam Goulding, is dead, and it looks like murder. Now he's back in NYC with a score to settle. It's clear to Galloway that the syndicate is behind Sam's death, but he has no way to prove it. So he gets himself introduced to Jack Barr, a fellow gambler, to see what he can find out-and that's how he meets Fay. The attraction is immediate. But there's also Virginia, who knows a thing or two about the syndicate and wants to help. Galloway is soon over his head in women and cold-blooded killers. And as he draws closer to discovering who killed Sam, he jeopardizes not only the lives of those around him, but pits himself against a man he genuinely admires-Jack Barr. Unfortunately, his new friend may be the very man he is looking for.

HIGH SIERRABig Mac buys Roy Earle's pardon because he needs a gunman on a heist job in California. There are three of them in on it besides Roy: Red, Babe and Louis, the inside man. But Roy didn't figure on Marie, Babe's girl. At first Roy wants Marie out of there, but he soon realizes that she's got more brains than the other three put together. Besides, she makes good company. But Roy's heart already belongs to Velma, a club-footed girl he meets on the road. She reminds him of his youth, and better days... before life hardened his heart. But Velma's heart belongs to another. And Roy's got a job to do. And now Babe's out of the picture, and it's just Roy and Marie...THE ASPHALT JUNGLEWhen Riemenschneider is released from prison, he heads right to Cobby the bookie. Riemenschneider has the plans for the perfect jewel heist, a place ripe for the picking. Cobby has got the connections. But first of all, they need cash. And that's where Emmerich comes in. Emmerich, a smooth criminal lawyer, has always got plenty, plus connections of his own. So they pull in Gus as the driver, Bellini as the safe man, and Dix as strongarm. This could be the perfect crime. Except that Emmerich is broke and desperate-and that's where everything starts to go wrong.When Riemenschneider is released from prison, he heads right to Cobby the bookie. Riemenschneider has the plans for the perfect jewel heist, a place ripe for the picking. Cobby has got the connections. But first of all, they need cash. And that's where Emmerich comes in. Emmerich, a smooth criminal lawyer, has always got plenty of both. So they pull in Gus as the driver, Bellini as the safe man, and Dix as strongarm. This could be the perfect crime. Except that Emmerich is broke and desperate-and that's where everything starts to go wrong.

KILLERHoward Gorman has to have Marie all to himself. She's everything he wants in a woman, and more. But in order to have Marie, he must first get rid of his wife, Ethyl. So Howard hires a hit man, Lee Floyd, a polished professional, to do the job-and remove Ethyl. But Marie has plans of her own, and they don't involve Howard. He's too fat and old for her. Marie is only in it for the money. So when she finds out about the hit man, she decides to get in touch with Lee herself. After all, if he's been paid to shoot Howard's wife, perhaps he can be persuaded to get rid of Howard as well...

THE WANTONIn which Lieutenant Al Wheeler must figure out-who killed the youngest member of the Randall family by hanging her from a tree-what the mysterious "W" brand on her neck signifies-who''s next as the Randalls are each threatened with a similar fateTHE DAMEIn which Lieutenant Al Wheeler is called upon to -discover who murdered the secretary of famous actress, Judy Manners-find out who is lying about the signed contracts which the producer claims are legit-maneuver his way around Camille, the mistress of Judy''s philandering husbandTHE DESIREDIn which Lieutenant Al Wheeler finds himself in the midst of murder-when he almost collides with a car with a dead body in its trunk-involving a beautiful, spoiled vixen who had been driving the car-with a prime patsy for the killing in the form of the vixen''s labor boss father  

UNLUCKY MONEYWhen Chinese American private-eye Wendy Lu takes on her first murder case, she doesn''t realize how dangerous it''s going to be. Probing into the murder of Susan Fontaine, the wife of her client, wealthy real-estate developer Whit Fontaine-the primary suspect in the case-Wendy fights to prove he was framed. Wendy used to be a cop but quit after a rookie mistake caused the death of her partner. Now she leads a more traditional life, dealing with her guilt, feeling she has disappointed her parents. Yet despite hostility from Fontaine''s arrogant business partner, opposition from the police, and violent threats on her life, she perseveres in the case.And that''s when Wendy discovers things that Fontaine, his partner Tom McKenna, and even Ryan Connolly, the police detective in charge of the murder investigation, would like to keep secret-that Fontaine-McKenna Associates is using criminal-syndicate money to finance the casino the firm wants to build. Now she is forced to use everything she''s learned just to stay alive.

THE FLAMING JEWEL Deep in the woods of upstate New York lives the disreputable Mike Clinch and his stepdaughter Eve. Clinch possesses a case full of jewels which he acquired, not entirely honestly, from the thief, Quintana. Quintana wants them back. To that end, he has assembled a gang to reacquire the jewels. But the jewels really don''t belong to Quintana either. He stole them from Theodorica, Grand Duchess of Estonia. And hot on Quintana''s heel is James Darragh, posing as a thief as well, who has pledged to return them to her. Meanwhile, state trooper Stormand, having fallen for Eve, also becomes involved. Together this motley group will play out a deadly game in search of the purloined treasure, and most especially, the Flaming Jewel! THE TALKERS From the moment when Sadoul first meets Gilda Greenway, he becomes mad about her. Unfortunately, she does not share the feeling. Then comes the masked ball, when Gilda meets Stuart Sutton. The spark between them is instant. Everything changes for her. Then, too, that is the night that Gilda dies. Or does she? Sutton certainly thinks she is dead. But then Pockman performs an operation on her, and the girl opens her eyes. Now Gilda seems in thrall to Sadoul. She becomes the new after hours belle of the ball. But she confesses to Sutton that another soul entered her body when she died, and now wants control of her-Sadoul exerts a hypnotic control over her and her Other. It is up to Sutton to figure out how to save Gilda. For not only is her life in danger, but quite possibly her very soul.

THE MONEY TRAPIt starts with a break-in. Detective Joe Baron and his partner, Pete Delanos, interview a Dr. Pantell who has just shot a man he found breaking into his office. Before he dies, the thief confesses that he was there to rob the safe, which though now empty, had earlier held at least a million dollars. So right away, Baron and Delanos know that something here is screwy. And then there''s the thief''s girlfriend who claims that Pantell set him up for the killing. Convinced that Dr. Pantell is not what he seems and that the cash in the safe is drug money, he and Delanos set about a robbery of their own. If only things had stayed that simple.... LOVE TRAPWhat would you do if you were an aspiring architect, more or less happily married, and working for two guys who had made their fortune on your designs? You resent the hell out of them, but don''t want to quit. And one day you overhear a plot to rob the business on payroll day. Would you warn your two bosses? Call the cops? Tell your wife? Harold Wilkenson doesn''t do any of these things. He doesn''t feel he owes the business a thing. But on the day of the robbery he''s dragged along by his boss to deliver the payroll cash. There is a crash, a stickup, guns fired. Harold wakes up in the hospital. Now what can he do? If he confesses that he knew about the heist, he''ll be arrested. If he rats on the thieves, they''ll kill him. Quite a trap...

THE LYING LADIESA rich woman''s maid is brutally murdered. What do you do if you believe that the young man who has been arrested for the crime is innocent? What do you do when you can see that the sheriff and the prosecutor want to close this case without looking at any of the contradictory evidence? If you''re news reporter Dan Banion, you start digging. After all, a man''s life is on the line. Does Mrs. Hibley, the maid''s employer, know more than she admits to? Could Beth Ridgely, owner of the local cat house, be involved? Is Mrs. Hibley''s daughter, Gail, to be trusted? And what of the murder victim herself? Is she who she appears to be? With the help of a local farmer and a courageous prostitute, Banion risks his life and career to cut through the lies and set things right.THE BANDAGED NUDEDan Banion has returned from the war and moved to San Francisco, writing for the local paper. Today he is sitting in a bar called The Wreck. There used to be a popular nude painting behind the bar, but someone bought it. The artist himself walks in, trying to find out who purchased it. But no one remembers. Later that evening, a dead body is found inside a spaghetti crate and Banion gets a look at the corpse in the morgue. To his surprise, it is the young artist, poisoned to death. Banion starts his own investigation, and tracks down a number of suspicious characters, including the artist''s ex-wife, a jealous lawyer, a shady detective, a vengeful photographer, a distraught girlfriend and a fellow artist. But who has been buying up all the artist''s work-and why? And which one of them wanted him dead?   MANY A MONSTER There is a killer at large, a fiend who hacks up young women. The police have arrested Rogan Lochmeister and are sure they have the right man. The murder weapon is found in his room along with his bloody clothes. But Rogan is a shell-shocked vet and doesn''t remember a thing. And now he has escaped. The very next victim is Rogan''s sister! She was convinced of his innocence, and had shared her thoughts with Dan Banion right before she met her own bloody end. And Banion is out to prove her right. All the evidence points to Rogan, but Banion finds a lot of suspicious characters in Rogan''s circle of friends, including his old army buddy, his ex-wife, the woman who lived in the upstairs apartment, and his fellow workers at Wyler''s department store. Could one of them have set him up?

THE NIGHT WATCHThey gathered in Lieutenant Detective Eckstrom''s office for the assignment: jittery McCallister, stolid Ahern, and blond, relaxed Sheridan. They need to maintain a continuous watch on an apartment in a new housing development to catch a bank robber named Wheeler when he returns to his wife. They set up 12-hour shifts, and to relieve the boredom, McCallister begins to watch the young nurse in the next apartment. But it''s only when Ahern leaves his post for a few drinks down the street that Wheeler returns. Sheridan spots him on the street, and he and Ahern brace the guy by his car. That''s when everything starts to go wrong. Because Wheeler is carrying the cash, and Ahern is a little tight, and that is just more temptation than Sheridan can resist...THE DARK WINDOWRay Cassidy has recovered from the police shootout that put him in the hospital, but the psychological scars still linger. He takes a job as security officer at the ritzy Hotel Imperial, but he''s still gun-shy. When he spots Janisek and his stooge Emil in the corridors, his cop instincts kick in-he knows something is amiss here. But when he confronts Emil, Cassidy freezes up, and Emil is accidentally killed. What he doesn''t know is that Janisek is here to work a switch with Bishop Hruba, recently escaped from an Iron Curtain prison, in order to steal the bishop''s donations. Now it becomes a cat and mouse game between Janisek and Cassidy in Park Avenue''s finest. And Cassidy''s demons must finally be faced...   

"This is not what one could call in any shape or form a pretty story. It is the plain unvarnished tale of a man who has been a notorious criminal from his boyhood days, and it is printed only because it will prove, in a way that all the prison statistics in the world cannot prove, that you can''t win at the crooked game...."So begins the introduction to the original 1929 edition of I Was a Bandit by Eddie Guerin, a notorious thief who kept newspaper readers entertained on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1800''s. After a lifetime of crime, he was eventually given a life sentence on Devil''s Island-from which he escaped-and sold his life story to a publisher. This reprint from Staccato Crime is the first new edition of that book in over 90 years. 

THE VOICES IN MY HEADCharles is born into the American Catholic Dream. Father is cruel to be kind ("Charles was good this week. Charles was bad this week."), pitting him against his sister in the battle for affection. Momma, in her native Italian language, calls him piccolo Ges├╣ (Little Jesus). In his personal battle of good versus evil, Charles turns to daydreams. Can he be saved? Seeking redemption requires more than good intentions. It requires luck too, the kind that places the exact right person in the exact right time and place. It requires love that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with finding a soul that has been petrified by lifelong emotional rejection.A woman to the rescue? Or is the voice of a saint that does the trick? Or maybe it''s the voice of young political activist, or is it the voice of the Archangel Metatron?Little Jesus tells his tale in the second person voice of "You" ... just one of the many voices in his head.

The woman comes into the bar and catches Jake's attention immediately. Not beautiful, but there is something striking about her. She asks for Steve Canby, who's just left, and dismisses Jake with a glance. Then she leaves. Jake doesn't think much of it until he comes out of the bar and finds the woman being choked by a huge hulk of a man. Coming to her rescue, he barely manages to keep from being strangled himself.Later, they end up at his apartment. Her name is Angela, and she just wants someplace safe to spend the night. Someone is out to get her. Jake Barrow is a private detective between jobs, so he agrees. But later that night when he returns from a false alarm from someone claiming to want his services, he finds her gone. Was the call a ruse? Who knew she was here? But this is just the beginning-it's not long before his pursuit of Angela leads to murder.