Books published by Stark House Press

In this superb coming of age story from the author of One for Hell, we meet 15-year-old Jeff Carr as he learns to cope with the harsh realities of life while growing up in Texas in the 1930's. Filled with attempted murder, hidden secrets and family scandals, Midnight Road is published here for the first time.

LITTLE MEN, BIG WORLD Ben Reisman, veteran columnist for the Journal, is bored. So when he stumbles across a reference to a character known as “De Ark,” an underworld person who seems to operate without anyone knowing about him, he is intrigued. “De Ark” is in fact, Mr. Orral Wanty, Arky to his friends, the right hand man of the Mover, the man who really runs the city. Arky’s control is so tight, even Commissioner Stark, the zealous law-and-order crusader, has never heard of him. But Arky’s hand is everywhere. He’s the man Leon Sollas, front for the syndicate, makes his weekly payment to—and he’s the man who Sollas goes to when he wants out. But Arky’s got problems of his own. The Big City Boys want to move in. His woman, Anna, wants a baby. And somewhere, hot on his trail, is a newspaper man in search of a story…  VANITY ROW    Police Captain Roy Hargis is the Administration’s fair-haired boy, only answering to Chad Bayliss, the city’s political boss. Most of the officers are in awe of him. Hargis can do no wrong. He knows how to cut to the heart of a case and bring the facts home to the D.A.’s office. So when rich lawyer Frank Hobart is shot down in cold blood, it looks open and shut. Hobart had been fooling around with a babe named Ilona Vance, things got out of hand, and she kills him. But Hargis doesn’t figure it that way—not after he meets Miss Vance. Because Ilona Vance is a force to be reckoned with, not merely beautiful, but so desirable it almost hurts. Hargis will go to any lengths to get her off, but he’s up against it this time. The syndicate wants to see her burn, Bayliss wants a quick conviction, and Hargis is finding his tough shell has been thoroughly cracked.

THE UNFINISHED CRIME Andrew Branscombe has been courting Hilda Patrell in his old-fashioned, priggish way.  He doesn’t realize that, though separated from her husband, she is still married.  So when Charles Patrell returns and begins to interfere with his plans, Andrew accidentally kills him in a fit of rage and fear.  At first panicked, his terror turns to exhilaration as he realizes that he can get away with the deed.  All he has to do is keep everyone from the truth. First there is his sister Eva, who is trusting enough to believe everything he tells her.  And there is Hilda and her thirteen-year-old daughter, Coralie, Charles’s daughter.  And Charles’s old friend, Vincent Colton, who shows up looking him.  And Charles’s young live-in girlfriend, Blanche, who must be dealt with.  And of course there’s Jerry, who unfortunately appears at exactly the wrong moment, but ends up helping him get rid of the body—and now won’t go away.  Fortunately for Andrew he is up to the task—daring and clever fellow that he is—because a lesser man would surely be caught.        THE GIRL WHO HAD TO DIE “I’m going to be murdered,” she said in her muffled, sad little voice.  Jocelyn is only nineteen but is convinced that she is going to die.  She meets John Killian on a cruise ship heading back to New York.  And when later than night she falls over the rail and into the ocean, it looks like her prediction had come true.  Imagine Killian’s surprise when the rescued Jocelyn insists that he was the one who had pushed her. She’s poison, he thought. She can’t help that, anymore than a rattlesnake can help it.  But you have to get away from her.  When they dock, Jocelyn convinces Killian to accompany her to the Bells for a visit.  She’s claims that she is in love with Killian, and will keep his secret.  And then one of the passengers, Elly L’O, and the ship’s purser, Chauverney, also show up at the Bells, followed by Angelo, who had been their ship’s waiter.  Each one seems to have a connection to Jocelyn—even Mr. and Mrs. Bell--and it soon becomes clear to Killian that they are bonds of hate.  But Jocelyn claims innocence.  Is he being groomed to be her next victim—or her murderer?

THE SUN WORSHIPPERS Gamage is on his way to Thebes, the Southern California desert town that Colonel Martinka built-up with his date plantations. Now the eccentric Colonel is building a pyramid in the desert and the land boom is ready to begin. Gamage is an ex-newspaperman-turned-film-writer who’s burned a few bridges in Hollywood. He’s been hired to write Martinka’s story for the family and prepare the world for the coming land grab. How was he to know that Ginny would be there, married to the Colonel’s son Frank. He thought he’d seen the last of her in Europe, the night she ran out on him. How could he know he’d meet Conny, who would become his Girl Friday, and perhaps something more. And how could he know he would find respect for the old recluse himself, trapped behind the layers of family fear and fabrication. Thebes is waiting like a desert mirage and Gamage is on his way to find it—and himself. YELLOWLEG Yellowleg rides into town with Turk and his sidekick Billy. He’s got a bullet in his shoulder that needs tending—he can barely shoot straight. But Yellowleg carries more than a bullet—he’s got the scars from a scalping he received from a drunken Confederate soldier, and nothing but hate in his heart. Turk and Billy are there to rob the local bank but another group beats them to it, and that’s when Yellowleg accidentally kills a young boy thanks to his bum shooting arm. Now, filled with guilt, Yellowleg is on a journey through Apache country with the beautiful widow, Kit, who is determined to bury her son next to his father. Turk and Billy have other plans. Turk wants the bank money. Billy wants the widow. And Yellowleg still wants his revenge. It’s going to be a long, hard ride.  

Two frenetic thrillers from the late 1950s, the first being a seedy tale of a Southern California lawyer whose life is ripped apart when he agrees to do a job for a racketeer, the second the story of cross-and-double-cross affair that takes place on the coast of Spain.

LIZ Liz Allen isn’t going to take it anymore. Men have been trying to victimize her all her young life. But that ends when the fat local sheriff strips her and whips her alone in a cell. It ends with a dead sheriff and Liz on the run. She soon finds Gunson, a pretty-boy hood, and together they create their own little crime spree. But you don’t turn your back on Liz for long, and Gunson soon discovers that he’s as expendable as the next guy—who turns out to be a hood named Lew Barker. Trouble is, they all figure they know more than Liz. They all figure they’re more ruthless than a woman. They know the score. But they all learn the hard way—Liz makes it on her terms, and she’s got nothing to lose. SYNDICATE GIRL Jackson City is owned by the Syndicate. Everyone knows it. Step out of line, you get a bullet courtesy of Zito’s men. It’s Captain Marcy Lewis’s job to keep it that way. But now District Attorney Mal Waters has decided to step in and do something about it. And he’s got the city’s only respectable newspaper behind him. But Waters is up against the men who put him in office, the men in Zito’s pocket. He’s also up against his fiancé, who has her own plans and doesn’t want him rocking the boat. Zito and the Syndicate have got all the aces in this game, and all Waters has got is his determination. They’ve framed him, and they’ve humiliated him. Then he meets Mary Lister, the syndicate’s girl, and he sees a way out….

Two early 1960s California novels from the author of Once a Thief and episodes of The Rockford Files. North Beach Girl is set in the world of San Francisco's beatniks, and Scandal on the Sand is the story of a dozen strangers thrown together on an isolated stretch of beach with a dying whale and a sadistic cop.

 KITTEN WITH A WHIP You could always blame it on the heat… David Patton wakes to a real San Diego scorcher. His wife Virginia and daughter Katie are visiting her mother in San Francisco, giving him a wild sense of freedom for the weekend. What he doesn’t expect this overheated morning is a teenage runaway who has broken into his house while he is sleeping. Jody Drew is just 17 but is very aware of her power over David as he tries to be the gentleman and help her out. Jody doesn’t want David’s help—she wants David. She wants him, she wants his home, she wants to kick back at life. And she knows just what buttons to push to keep one step ahead of him. Jody’s got the whip. David is headed for a weekend in Hell.  KISS HER GOODBYE The first time it happens they are living in Oregon. She hits a kid with a rake when he tries to get fresh with her. The next time is in Bakersfield. A man must have grabbed her, because when Ed gets home, Emily has blood on her, but it isn’t hers. Now they’re on the run. All Ed wants to do is settle down. But it isn’t easy when you’ve got a sister that is mentally a child, with a body that is all woman. Ed is the only family Emily has. Headed East, looking for a new home, they stop in Jimmock, and that’s when they meet Tubbs, a large man with an even larger heart…and Marge, who is looking for something, too. And Cory, who is just looking for trouble.    

RAPTURE ALLEY No one needs Lora. Ken claims to love her, but he is married to Lora's wheelchair-ridden sister, Chris, and he doesn't really need her. And all Lora wants is to be needed. Lora feels alone, defeated by herself. Then Arty comes along. He helps her fill this hole in her heart with something better than love—escape. Through him she meets Boyd, the nightclub singer, with his own brand of addicting salvation. Soon drugs become Lora's cushion against a hurtful world. They allow her to float above her problems. But they can't keep the pain away forever. And when Lora's own needs cause her world to come crashing down around her, all the drugs in the world can't save her.  WINTER GIRL “An hour after I met Lu Ann again that winter, I knew I was headed for deep, serious trouble. Only I had no idea how deep, how serious...” When Calder Fenton first saw Lu Ann that day at her rich daddy’s hunting field, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He’d seen her every year growing up, but she’d never looked like this before. Soon, he’s sitting in her jeep, being taunted by her, trying to figure her out. Lu Ann is only looking for thrills, and doesn’t care that Calder has problems of his own—like being dirt poor, like having a pa who drinks and whores around town. But Calder likes what he sees, and he wants more. Pretty soon, he’s got so much Lu Ann he doesn’t know what to do with himself. And that is just the beginning of his troubles.  STRICTLY FOR THE BOYS Amy can’t help the way the boys look at her. It isn’t her fault. But Burt doesn’t see it that way. He is convinced that Amy is cheating on him and as her husband, he has a right to knock some sense into her. Burt doesn’t mean to hurt her, he just can’t control himself. So when Amy runs back to her mother, she expects a little sympathy. But Stella’s got problems of her own and no time for Amy’s change of heart. She lets her move back home but does everything she can to get Amy and Burt back together. Amy takes a new job, and still Burt follows her around, trying to find out who the new man in her life must be. And this time he’s right—this time there’s Terry, and a new chance at love. But for Burt, Amy belongs to him and him alone, and he will kill any man that gets in his way.

DEAD DOLLS DON’T TALK They didn’t have a body, but all the evidence proves to the jury that Harry L. Cotton murdered Bonnie Deering on her husband’s yacht. Doc Hart is so sure, he even persuades the one holdout on the jury to change her vote. After the trial is over, Hart picks up a young lady outside the courthouse and allows himself to be seduced by her, only to find himself in bed with Cotton’s wife. That’s when he realizes a mistake has been made. Because though Peggy Cotton has no intention of helping her cheating husband escape the death penalty, she has seen Bonnie alive and well. Hart leaves the room but when he returns he finds Peggy murdered. That’s when Hart learns just what it feels like to be an innocent man accused of a crime he didn’t commit—with almost no time at all to find the living Bonnie to prove otherwise! HUNT THE KILLER Framed by someone named Senor Peso, Charlie White has been sitting in Raiford Prison for the past four years, waiting to see who would be there for him when he got out—his faithful wife Beth, or his Cuban mistress Zo. If Beth is there, he promises himself to go straight. If Zo, well, he’d deal with that when it happened. And, of course, it is Zo who shows up, with a fast car, a bottle of rum and a rented cabin. Later that evening, he finds the letter from Beth, asking him to come to her. But before he can leave, someone crashes their little love nest, smashing him over the head—and shooting Zo! Before Charlie can get used to freedom, he is on the lam, framed for the murder of Zo, with no where else to go but back to the arms of Beth. But who would want to kill Zo? And where—and who--is Senor Peso? TOO HOT TO HOLD If only Lew Dix hadn’t picked Linda Lou to carry the payoff money, none of this would be happening and the cab driver would still be alive. It starts when Linda Lou takes the plane from Chicago to New York as planned. It’s raining when she gets there and she’s already plenty nervous with this pretty package in her hands. She manages to get a taxi but she stuffs the package between the seat cushions just to be extra careful. How is she to know that the big man who opens the cab door with his hand in his pocket isn’t carrying a gun, ready to blast her and grab the money? But all Jim Brady wants is a cab. When he opens the door, Linda bolts, leaving the package behind--and setting off a series of events that begins with murder and ends with worse.