Public Enemies #8

Hutch Milford, a struggling commercial artist, watches his agent Prissy fall into admiration for an anonymous genius painter whose works are on display at the Palette Galleries—paintings so coveted that even the racketeer Joe Bellini crashes into Hutch's studio demanding one be handed over. When Bellini and his crew abscond with the canvas, Hutch and Prissy investigate the gallery and uncover a dangerous truth about the painting's creator and the lengths someone will go to protect it. A tale of art, obsession, and the deadly secrets hiding beneath a masterpiece's surface.

A man presumed dead in a plane crash returns to his life as a vagrant to expose the treachery of his wife and partner—but when he's arrested in shabby clothes before he can reveal the truth, he finds himself trapped in a system that won't believe his identity. With only a gold ring and his wits as proof, he must navigate the skepticism of a police psychiatrist to expose the conspiracy that left him for dead.

When a vivacious young woman named Mae Swanson is found dead with no physical evidence and no witnesses, expert investigator Roy Sellers is brought in to crack the seemingly unsolvable case. With nothing to work with but suspects and determination, Sellers devises an ingenious psychological trap—manufacturing a false clue and orchestrating a series of carefully timed events designed to flush the killer's guilt to the surface. As the pressure mounts and the killer's nerve begins to fray, Sellers closes in on the truth.

Virginia Todd abandons her promising movie career to marry a maharajah, but her decision sets her squarely in the sights of the Indian Dagger—a fanatical sect that views the union as a grave transgression. When warnings and threats fail to stop the wedding, the mysterious organization turns deadly, forcing those closest to Virginia into a desperate race against time to protect her from their vengeance.

When Thelma Blaine is found dead in her apartment—her face twisted in inexplicable terror—the official verdict is heart failure, but amateur sleuth Tom Decker suspects murder. Determined to uncover the truth, he discovers that Thelma and her sister Elsa stand to inherit a fortune, but only if they survive until age twenty-five; three other relatives are set to gain everything should the girls die first. As Tom tracks down the suspicious beneficiaries, he races to expose a killer before Elsa becomes the next target.