Crime Suspenstories #1

In "Murder May Boomerang," a father and son whose bond is as tight as their shared life together are shattered when a fugitive breaks into their remote cabin, stealing clothes and leaving the father near death. As the son races to find the man who attacked his father, the dazed man points out a suspect—only for the son to later realize the truth may be far more complicated than he thought.

In "Death's Double-Cross," Ruth’s growing loneliness in her marriage to John deepens when she finds unexpected connection with his twin brother, Ronald. As their secret bond turns dangerous and they plot to eliminate John, a single, subtle detail—a mole on Ronald’s cheek—begins to unsettle her.

In "A Snapshot of Death!", a woman walks into a dimly lit pool room and hires a hitman to eliminate a woman whose photo she hands him—only for the assassin to realize, with chilling clarity, that the face in the picture is his client’s own.

In "High Tide!", four men aboard a mail boat bound for Mephisto Prison find their journey thrown into chaos when news breaks of a prisoner’s escape—just as their engine sputters to a halt, clogged with sand. With the radio crackling with tension and the sea closing in, suspicion begins to rise among them, each man wondering who among them might be responsible.

In "Dead-Ringer," a desperate thief stumbles upon a shocking coincidence: a wealthy man at a local sanitarium suffers from amnesia and bears an uncanny resemblance to him. With a twisted plan forming, he schemes to replace the man—only to find that the truth behind the mirror image is far more dangerous than he ever imagined.

In "The Corpse in the Crematorium," a man prone to sudden cataleptic episodes is mistakenly brought to a crematorium just as his fiancée frantically searches for him. With time running out and the furnace ready to ignite, a single, chilling detail—a bead of sweat on his brow—might be the only thing that keeps him from being consumed.

In "Contract for Death," a desperate man signs a bizarre agreement with a reclusive doctor: for $5,000 and a month of life, he’ll stay alive. With the money, he plunges into a whirlwind of indulgence—until he meets a girl and begins to wonder if he’s truly free. But when he tries to break the contract, the consequences spiral beyond anything he imagined, threatening both his life and the doctor’s cold calculations.

In "Poison!", Mr. Boles watches his wife’s funeral with a smug satisfaction, convinced his crime is hidden—until his housekeeper’s quiet demeanor begins to unsettle him. Her every word and glance seem to carry a knowing weight, making him fear she’s uncovered his secret, and he starts plotting to turn the tables by framing her for attempted murder.

In "The Giggling Killer," a man pushed to the edge by years of relentless nagging finds himself drawn into a terrifying game when he decides to mimic the gruesome modus operandi of a local serial killer—just to prove he’s not the one behind the murders. But after executing his plan with chilling precision, his carefully constructed alibi unravels the moment he picks up a strange hitchhiker on a lonely road.

In "Faced with Horror!", Sam and Willie’s bank robbery takes a deadly turn when a teller is shot, leaving behind a crucial photo. Brogen, the getaway driver, flees the scene and undergoes plastic surgery to escape detection—only to discover his new face is a grotesque twist of his worst fears.

In "Blood Red Wine!", Old Ballo, a disgraced wine maker still bitter over a devastating review that destroyed his business, invites the connoisseur who ruined him to his isolated estate—where the vintage is not the only thing that’s been aged to a dangerous point.

In "Backlash!", a clever mystery writer named Wilton grows frustrated when publishers keep rejecting his latest manuscript about a seemingly impossible locked-room crime. Determined to prove his theory, he puts it to the test—only to find that reality doesn’t play by the rules he’s written.

In "Premium Overdue!", a deceptively sweet insurance salesman’s charm leads Thelma into a dangerous game when she takes out a double-indemnity policy on her useless husband. After his sudden death, she fakes an accident to collect the payout—only to find herself entangled with George, a new man whose own policy soon mirrors her own dark turn.

In "Conniver!", a resentful comic book editor named Tom Brogen, fed up with years of unseen labor, schemes to eliminate his boss by manipulating events to frame a fellow artist, Paul, for an affair with the boss’s fiancée. As Tom weaves his web of deceit, his plan spirals into something far more unpredictable—setting off a chain of consequences he never anticipated.

In "Heads-Up!", Dora grows restless in her marriage to Fred, the circus owner whose bizarre act leaves her unimpressed. Her frustration turns to passion when she begins an affair with another performer, setting off a chain of events that forces Fred to act—though his plan is far more twisted than anyone expects.

In "The Sewer!", Harry and Irene’s plan to eliminate John at a Golden party goes horribly wrong when Irene can’t stomach the murder and flees to the police. Now left alone with the body and a growing web of lies, Harry must think fast to cover his tracks—before the city’s underbelly swallows him whole.

In "Mr. Biddy ... Killer!", Archie’s mounting frustration with his wife reaches a breaking point—until a mysterious stranger named Mr. Biddy appears with a chilling offer: he’ll handle the problem for a price. But when the deed is done, the quiet dread that follows suggests the real horror isn’t the murder, but what comes after.

In "The Gullible One," a group of hunters stranded at Fred Vanderhoff’s mountain retreat after a sudden snowstorm must confront a murder—and each other—when their host is found dead. With no way out and suspicion spreading, the survivors are drawn into a deadly game of trust when Fred’s father summons them all to his mansion for a final test.

In "Partially Dissolved!", a dazzling magician named Ventar draws crowds with his impossible feats, dazzling even the ghosts of Houdini and Thurston. After revealing a mysterious metal that dissolves in water to his longtime assistant, the assistant betrays him—only to find that Ventar’s return from the grave is far more than a trick.