Robert Colby

Paul Norris, an out-of-work advertising executive, finds himself on a cross-country job tracking down a shipping crate. The crate holds something valuable--but exactly what, exactly, no one will say. In the process of finding the crate, Paul finds himself caught between shady characters, beautiful women...and more than a few double-crosses A classic suspense novel by the author of The Captain Must Die and Kill Me a Fortune.

Tormented by a satin-skinned package of dynamite who offered him ecstasy unfettered by convention... Bedeviled by another woman who wanted a master... Given 12 hours to get out of town -- and then framed for murder... This was the grim situation faced by Todd Corwin shortly after he came to Longport seeking Julie Steadman's killer. If he cleared out of town, he was sure of safety. If he stayed, nothing was certain -- except more trouble with the police and a deepening involvement with the Vollmer clan: Austin, who owned everything in town, including the cops... Joy, Austin's wife, who took men where she found them... And Gail, the step-daughter, who would risk anything to take Todd away from Joy...

For Ross Elliot, the summer held no promise. With his teaching duties over until fall, he found himself facing boredom, with time on his hands. Which was why he didn't hesitate to involve himself in the affairs of one Barbara Erickson, ex-student and accused murderess.As far as Elliot was concerned it simply wasn't possible for one so young -- and so lovely -- to be capable of such a horrendous crime. And what if he was the only one who believed in her innocence? A couple of months playing private-eye would be just the change of pace he needed.But after he had started poking around a little, Ross Elliott began to wonder if he really was a very good judge of character. And when someone started taking pot-shots at him, he knew he still might be bored that summer -- right through the heart with a .38 bullet

For Ross Elliot, the summer held no promise. With his teaching duties over until fall, he found himself facing boredom, with time on his hands. Which was why he didn't hesitate to involve himself in the affairs of one Barbara Erickson, ex-student and accused murderess.As far as Elliot was concerned it simply wasn't possible for one so young -- and so lovely -- to be capable of such a horrendous crime. And what if he was the only one who believed in her innocence? A couple of months playing private-eye would be just the change of pace he needed.But after he had started poking around a little, Ross Elliott began to wonder if he really was a very good judge of character. And when someone started taking pot-shots at him, he knew he still might be bored that summer -- right through the heart with a .38 bullet

She played a dangerous game -- with love, men, and money A Wildside Crime Classic by the author of The Star Trap and The Captain Must Die "Bob Colby was more than just a 'one-hit wonder.' He wrote several other respected novels in the 1950s and '60s, including The Deadly Desire and The Secret of the Second Door (both Gold Medal, 1959) and dozens of short stories for Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne... Do me a favor: hunt down one of his novels and give it a try." -- Peter Enfantino"He had a journalist's eye for his times. This was especially true in the novels he set in Hollywood. The Captain Must Die] is his masterpiece. You will not be disappointed." -- Ed Gorman