Books published by Stark House Press

"The last person Virginia lawyer Robert Shipley expects to see again is Lisa Lindstrom. Their college relationship didn't end well, and Lisa is now married. She is also the daughter of retiring Senator Lindstrom, and used to getting her way. So when she is mailed with a tape showing her in bed with another woman, and told that she has five days to announce her decision not to run for her father's office, she contacts Robert. Shipley tries to refuse, but it's a losing battle. Which is how he finds himself in the apartment of Lisa's lesbian lover, Cate Gaulois, who is lying dead on the floor with a bullet in her chest. All the evidence for the blackmail--and the murder as well--point to three men who seem to have known Cate through a local strip club where she danced: Tommy Osborn, a ruthless tobacco lobbyist, the man who introduced Cate to Lisa; Bill Murphy, chief of staff for the opposition party, whose card he finds in her apartment; and Frank Nelson, chief of staff to Senator Lindstrom, who was also seen visiting the club. Three tough, arrogant Washington D.C. politicians--which one wants Lisa out of the race? And which one now wants Robert Shipley dead?"--

SO YOUNG, SO WICKEDSteve Garrity is a hit man for the syndicate, and he''s just been given a new job. The death has to look like an accident-no guns, no knives. The victim lives in a small town, so he has to figure out how to make his appearance there look natural, or he will be the first person the cops arrest. And he has to make the hit in just a handful of days. But the really crazy part of the assignment is that the target is a fifteen-year-old girl named Leda. Garrity knows he''s been given an impossible job, but there''s nothing he can do about it. If he doesn''t kill Leda within the week, the syndicate will kill him... and slowly. But Leda is no ordinary victim.

Originally published: New York: Pyramid Books, 1959.

"Manhunt holds a unique niche among magazines specializing in crime, mystery, and detective fiction. In fact, it ranks among the three or four most important and influential in its genre. The first issue was dated January 1953, the last April/May 1967, a 14-year run roughly parallel to that of The Saint, not an especially long life for a digest-sized magazine that claimed to be the world's most popular in its category... From its first issue, Manhunt declared itself different. For one thing, all the stories were claimed to be new and remained that way until near the end. And many of the early contributors were familiar names from hardcover publishing, including William Irish (a.k.a. Cornell Woolrich), Kenneth Millar (as himself and as John Ross Macdonald), Eleazar Lipsky, Bruno Fischer, Craig Rice, Harold Q. Masur, Leslie Charteris, William Lindsay Gresham, Henry Kane, and David Goodis... The essence of Manhunt was not the private eye story, though it published plenty of them. What set it apart was what is now called noir fiction, a term often thrown around very loosely but in its purest form concerning a flawed but not necessarily unsympathetic protagonist who will not have a happy outcome." --

Barry N. Malzberg''s "Horseplayer Trilogy" together in one volume, including the science fictional Overlay, the rollicking A Bed of Money, originally published as by "Gerrold Watkins," and the author''s personal favorite, Underlay. Three novels that represent Malzberg at his satiric best.    

DEVIL MAY CAREBiggo Venn doesn''t want to admit it but he''s getting too old for the mercenary soldier routine. Still, when an old friend comes to him with a small job down in Mexico that''s got an easy $20,000 payoff, he agrees to make the contact. Seems simple enough. But the small town of Ensenada is a lot more treacherous than he bargains for. First there''s Jinny, the deceitful blonde with an itch for his traveling cash; Len Hardesty, a long-time rival and soldier for hire who just happens to appear whenever he''s least wanted; and Pabla, the sweetest vision he can imagine, and possibly the most dangerous. When the bodies start piling up, Biggo knows he''s in for the fight of his life.SINNER TAKE ALLThey want him dead. General Gayoso knows that the only way to assassinate Bruno Lazar is to get the reclusive rebel out in the open. So he has Lazar''s best friend poisoned, and hires Jack Cox, a down-at-heel American sharpshooter, to plan Lazar''s murder at the funeral they know he will attend. The plan is brilliant in its simplicity. But it doesn''t take into account the mixed emotions of Lazar''s protégé, Dorlisa Von Ritter, who precedes him to Tijuana to make sure the way is safe. Nor does it take into account Cox''s fatal sense of conscience. Gayoso is not a man to be thwarted, but even he cannot know what will happen when the assassin and the protégé fall in love.

A hardboiled detective mystery from 1952, originally published by Gold Medal Books under the author's pseudonym, "Lee Roberts."

PREY BY NIGHT Bill Williams works for the Marquesa running contraband from Tangiers to the Spanish Coast. That is, until the Association decides to scuttle his boat one dark night, almost killing him and his mate Paco. Williams knows he has to fight back just to stay alive, but who and where is the Association? How do you find an enemy who operates even further outside the law than he does? Things become further complicated when Paco finds out that Williams has been seeing his sister, Maria, and feels he must protect her honor. And then there’s Lavinia Hatherton, a rich blonde with an expansive taste in men. And Blasco, a Spanish cop hot on a trail of blood. In a frantic night filled with assassins and temptations, Williams soon finds his greatest challenge is just to stay alive.  RAIN OF TERRORJake Abbott is a European reporter with a hell of an assignment. Piscoli is a small town in the Italian mountains south of Naples and it’s being flooded by torrential rains. Ralph Ellison, Jake’s boss, wants him to head up there and report back. Grace, Ralph’s wife, wants Jake to stay with her. But Jake has got other problems. He has inadvertently humiliated a local crime boss, and now he’s got Angelo on his tail with murder on his mind. And then there’s Leverett, part of the committee assigned to assess the damage; Harry Myers, Jake’s photographer; and Captain Luca, out for blood. They’re all heading up the mountain as the rain pours down, cascades of mud and sudden floods washing by. It’s a recipe for disaster, and that’s just what happens when Ralph turns up dead in the flooding—and all evidence points to Jake as the killer!

A RAGE AT SEAFrank Dixon has just lost his ship in a crap game, and is about to lose his woman as well, when Addams offers him a job captaining the Almacor. All he has to do is take the owner and his drunken guests around the Caribbean. Trouble is, Dixon hates Addams—doesn’t trust him, knows that Addams will sabotage him if he can. But Dixon only has this one chance to climb out of the bottle, one shot at redemption, and agrees to helm the yacht. Thank goodness he has young Wirt aboard. There’s one seaman he can trust. It’s not long before the drinking starts, the owner takes a swing at Wirt, and all hell breaks loose. Dixon knows that Addams is only waiting for his opportunity to stab him in the back, and this could be it. A PARTY EVERY NIGHTVance is the perfect bartender—tall, good-looking, funny, he charms them all. Particularly the waitress, Cora. But Vance only has eyes for Maddie. Unfortunately, Maddie is married to the town lush, Wes Elwood. Almost every night, you will find Maddie and Wes at Vance’s bar, belting down the Scotches and hating one another with a white heat. Tonight is different. Tonight Wes disappears in his car, and no one can find him. After closing, Vance takes Maddie out to all the after-hours bars looking for him, but all they get is one run-around after another, and no Wes. Then Wes is found drowned. And that’s when Durkin steps in, a cop who collects facts like some people collect stamps. Durkin has his own idea of what happened to Wes, and as far as he’s concerned, all those facts lead him back to Vance.

THE BODY ON THE SIDEWALKA body is found outside the Grady home, a man whom they all know, shot in the back. There is no getting around the fact that someone in the family must have done it. Then the murder weapon is found, with several different family fingerprints on it. And what was once a fairly stable group quickly dissolves into suspicion and distrust. The police decide to arrest the son, Don, who seems to be the most likely suspect. His sister Pauline believes the crime was committed by friends of Don’s, a couple she does not approve of. Peggy was the last to see the victim, and is wracked with guilt. The youngest sister, Maureen, just wants to be left alone. And their mother, Mamie, is torn between them all. But which one pulled the trigger? And who will pay the price? THE RELUCTANT MURDERERWe know that Vivian Haines intends to commit murder this weekend. She tells us so. But who is her intended victim? Could it be her wealthy aunt, who is supposed to leave her half her fortune one day? Or her frivolous sister and her seemingly penniless boyfriend? Or perhaps her aunt’s mousy companion, or her long-suffering chauffeur? Or Vivian’s own fiancé, the fastidious Cuthbert? All we know is what Vivian tells us as her efforts to plan and execute the perfect murder are constantly thwarted. Now Vivian is beginning to panic. Could one of them suspect her? Could one of them be planning to kill her before she can murder them first?

TEARS ARE FOR ANGELSWhen Jean finds Harry London, there isn’t much left of the man. He lives alone in a shack, spends all his time drunk on moonshine. He’s forgotten about shaving, washing. All he does is shoot at empty cans of beans…and pretends he’s shooting Dick Stewart…Jean is there to find out what happened to her friend, Lucy. The last letter she received from her, she was happily married to Harry, living on his farm, settling into her new life. Now she’s dead, a suicide. What happened to Lucy? And what has turned her loving husband into this brooding wreck of a man, whose sole reason for living is to take revenge against a man who once did him wrong…?