The editor of a sleazy tabloid newspaper has been borrowing money from his lover, the wife of a rich theatrical producer, and promises to marry her when she gets a divorce. However, the husband refuses to grant her a divorce, and takes back all the money and jewelry he has given her. The editor sees her husband leaving her apartment and, seeing his opportunity, kills her, takes all his IOUs (and the jewelry) and frames the husband for the murder.
Category: Mystery
Private detective Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg skip out on their rented room, but when they sneak back to retrieve their luggage, they discover a dead body on the bed, holding a gold coin in its hand. Fletcher is told by a coin collector that the piece is an old and valuable Spanish coin, but Fletcher soon begins to suspect that the man is himself involved in the murder. Fletcher’s investigation leads to he and Sam getting caught up in a murder and gold smuggling scheme.
League of Frightened Men was the second and last entry in Columbia’s short-lived mystery series based on the “Nero Wolfe” novels by Rex Stout. Taking over from Edward Arnold as crabby, corpulent consulting detective Nero Wolfe is Walter Connolly, who despite his physical resemblance to the Stout original is not all that well suited for the role. Sitting in his greenhouse surrounded by his beloved orchids, Wolfe agrees to investigate a series of murders seemingly tied in with a long-ago Harvard hazing prank that went tragically awry.
After 30 years of marriage, Barbara Sawyer is afraid she’s losing her husband, Mark. The ravishing beauty of her youth has given way to middle-aged homeliness, so she secretly checks into a Swiss clinic and undergoes extensive plastic surgery. While waiting to surprise Mark with her restored face and body, Barbara meets Erich, a handsome bachelor, at a posh ski lodge and becomes entranced by his seductive charm.
Three thieves escape from a heist, one of them killing the other two. He is sheltered by a prostitute and sought after by the police, but only after ten years his true motivation unravels.
Peter Gunn investigates the murder of Scarlotti, a mobster who once saved the detective’s life. The primary suspect appears to be Fusco, who has taken over. In the middle of the case, an unclothed woman calling her self Samantha shows up at Gunn’s apartment. The investigation gets grizzlier as it goes on, including the bombing of Mother’s, one of Gunn’s hangouts. Finally, Fusco gives Gunn a deadline to prove the mobster didn’t kill Scarlotti – or else Gunn will be killed.
A prostitute is murdered on the streets of a tough, low-income neighborhood. A diabetic retired boxer who knew her is appalled by the lack of interest shown in the case by the police or anybody else in the neighborhood, and decides to investigate the case himself.
The Bar Association disbars attorney Tyler Cradon when it appears he was implicated in the murder of a prominent vice crusader. Cradon, not wishing to be without an income, is impressed by the way Joan Carroll handled a small-town murder, poses as a real estate agent and offers to get her into a law firm of a friend of his. Placed in the office of Roberts, running a front for Cradon, Joan is taught every trick of the trade.