"A woman in a red raincoat killed Linton Barclay."

Paradise Island, the brightest spot of all playgrounds edging the Gulf of Mexico, caters gladly to those who can afford to pay well for their entertainment. Twelve miles from the mainland, it has, under the suave management of Brett Allison, come to be known for sports, gaming tables, and the Peacock Club.

For some time Federal authorities have suspected a connection between the Island and the increased activities in the drug traffic along the coast, but when Major Jack Raymond, stocky as the cigars he smokes, and Andrew Dillingham, scion of one of the south's oldest families, are sent to investigate, they encounter in the person of lovely Eva Shale, whose wealth comes from an unknown source, an enigma of the first order.

A tropical storm, so common to the locale, which sweeps the island, brings with it a murder which fastens its suspicious fingers upon every resident of the Peacock Club-save Daisy Dillingham...]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:35:32 +0300 https://archive.bookfrom.net/gwen-bristow-and-bruce-manning/661354-the_mardi_gras_murders.html https://archive.bookfrom.net/gwen-bristow-and-bruce-manning/661354-the_mardi_gras_murders.html

"Murder and Mardi Gras together! Ain't we got fun?"

For years New Orleans has been enthralled by the secret society dedicated to Dis, Greek god of Inferno, whose membership of fifty is closely guarded from the press, and whose rites burlesque the proud tradition of the city's Mardi Gras festival. Lovely Cynthia Fontenay gives Dis a ball each year, and no member of the order has ever been seen without satanic mask and sinister robes of black and scarlet-this is well known, but despite many efforts, the secret of its roster has never been penetrated.

When murder strikes with vicious efficiency in this charmed circle, its visit casts a shadow over the city. Captain Murphy, of the Homicide Squad, and Wade, New Orleans journalist, confront a case of fifty suspects, smouldering motives which overnight become front page news, and incredible circumstances which make for the most famous of many unusual crimes on the Police Calendar.

The Mardi Gras Murders was first...]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:35:30 +0300 https://archive.bookfrom.net/gwen-bristow-and-bruce-manning/661355-the_invisible_host.html https://archive.bookfrom.net/gwen-bristow-and-bruce-manning/661355-the_invisible_host.html

"Do not doubt me, my friends; you shall all be dead before morning."

New Orleans, 1930. Eight guests are invited to a party at a luxurious penthouse apartment, yet on arrival it turns out that no one knows who their mysterious host actually is. The latter does not openly appear, but instead communicates with the guests by radio broadcast. What he has to tell his guests is chilling: that every hour, one of them will die. Despite putting the guests on their guard, the Host's prophecy starts to come horribly true, each demise occurring in bizarre fashion. As the dwindling band of survivors grows increasingly tense, their confessions to each other might explain why they have been chosen for this macabre evening-and invoke the nightmarish thought that the mysterious Host is one of them. The burning question becomes: will any of the party survive, including the Host . . . ?

The Invisible Host (1930) established one of the best-loved and most durable forms in classic...]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:35:31 +0300