He's escaped from a mental hospital up north and hitchhiked his way south, the voice of his dead brother urging him on. But when Charlie hits Memphis, the fine line between his delusions and reality shift in the form of the Reverend Phineas Childe-a preacher bent on booze and women; a Man of God with a dark agenda. Charlie is the perfect pawn in the Reverend's game of retribution. And the small North Mississippi town of Cuba Landing will be the setting for the Reverend's very personal Apocalypse. . . .

    But he’s also got a mistress.  And when Jake’s mistress is found strangled to death with his necktie, it’s up to him to prove he didn’t do it. But how can he, when all the evidence says he did? Jake races to reveal the secret conspiracy against him.  But with every step, the noose is tightening, and all of Jake’s resourcefulness may not be enough to save him?

    He exchanges bodies with his look-alike, Martian Sheb Takkor, and is transported millions of years into the past to a Mars peopled with mighty warriors, beautiful women, and fearsome beasts. Sheb Takkor, a great swordsman in his own right, must fight his way across the deserts and jungles of ancient Mars to save the lovely Princess Thane and to defeat his arch-enemy Sel Han -- or die trying! Edgar Rice Burroughs was the first great writer of planetary adventures. His one true rival and equal at writing planet stories was Otis Adelbert Kline. Kline was on the original editorial staff of Weird Tales, and was literary agent to Robert E. Howard of Conan fame.

    At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer who makes her blood race and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage...

    It’s a private ticket into a secret world of desire and sex and the raw edge between them . . . I read it with the fever of the addicted.”—Michael Connelly“I never miss a book by Vicki Hendricks. No one on the current scene is writing super-charged, erotic, real noir novels like these.”—George P. PelecanosRenata is young, beautiful, and has sex for money and kicks. Few are immune to her intoxicating allure—even her pet Burmese python, Pepe, seems captive to her charm. Richard is one of her clients, a poetry professor with a wife and two sons, whose erotic fascination with Rennie is threatening his home and job.Meanwhile, Julie, a shy wannabe novelist, spies on Rennie from her room next door in between bouts of frustrated writing. Both would do anything to save Rennie from her dangerous occupation and become her one true love.Set in Miami’s gaudy vacationland and the haunting atmosphere of the Everglades, Cruel Poetry is a gripping story of fatal attraction that captures the Florida behind the postcards. As the lives of Richard and Julie unravel amidst drugs and murder, Hendricks amps the adrenaline jolts and sweeps us to a bittersweet climax.Vicki Hendricks lives in Hollywood, Florida, where she teaches English and creative writing. A fan of dangerous sports, she has completed 550 skydives, learned to dog sled in Finland, and has been birding in the jungles of Costa Rica.

    When Victor is propositioned by the woman of his dreams, he knows it’s too good to be true. She offers him the perfect job, a prosperous future, and, best of all, when her tongue is in his mouth, she tastes like strawberries. But it isn’t long before Victor realizes that to keep these prizes, he must keep his client—currently in the clink for murder—from spilling the truth about what really happened the night of the killing. Is Victor ready to be bought? Hell yes. But not until he learns the truth. Someone is being protected, and Victor intends to find out who’s worth all the fuss. Because Victor Carl is willing to sell his soul, sure, especially for a bite of strawberry, but only if the price is right.

    Although these stories are not all mysteries, they all are suspenseful and very enjoyable. They already show the creative mind that devised later so many complex plots as well as Stout’s gift for creating characters with a few quick strokes. The stories, which are presented here in order of publication, are: “Excess Baggage,” “The Infernal Feminine,” “A Professional Recall,” “Pamfret and Peace,” “A Companion of Fortune,” “A White Precipitate,” “The Mother of Invention,” “Méthode Américaine,” “A Tyrant Abdicates,” “The Pay-Yeoman,” “Secrets,” “Rose Orchid,” “An Agacella Or,” “The Inevitable Third,” “The Lie,” “Target Practice,” “If He Be Married,” “Baba,” “Jonathan Stannard's Secret Vice,” “Sanétomo,” “The Strong Man,” “It's Science That Counts,” “The Rope Dance,” “An Officer and a Lady,” “Heels of Fate,” and “Annuncio's Violin.”

    Then in the twinkling of an eye, goes its rich and eldely owner. and, for the grand finale, both reappear--each as dead as the other.TRICK II--From the House of Darkness issues more bafflement. In total darkness and from a distance of twelve feet, four bullets are pumped within an inch of each other into a spectator's back. A feat utterly impossible to perform--yet brazenly and undeniably done.TRICK III-- The piece de resistance. This time it's an entire house, a real house, a solid house which Ellery Queen had been in only the day before...vanished from the face of the earth. And in its place, one of the most incredible conundrums ever to face the master crime solver.* The Lamp of God (Detective Story, October 1935 as House of Haunts)* ...The Treasure Hunt (Detective Story, 1935)* ...The Hollow Dragon (Redbook, December 1936)* ...The House of Darkness (The American Magazine, February 1935)* ...The Bleeding Portrait (original title: "The Gramatan Mystery"* Man Bites Dog (Blue Book, June, 1939)* Long Shot (Blue Book, September 1939)* Mind Over Matter (Blue Book, October 1939)* The Trojan Horse (Blue Book, December 1939)

    Published for the first time in the United States, this gritty novel tells the story of a bar bouncer who needs to pony up $10,000 to buy into a horse racing syndicate and will stop at nothing to get it--not robbery, not even murder.

    She’s lethal, seductive, and as ruthless as any double-O. Her latest assignment is to track down a scientist suspected of selling secrets to the Russians. It’s a high-stakes, global escapade that takes an unexpected violent turn that shatters her life…and ultimately pits her against a billionaire industrialist with terrifying intentions. “Jolly & Preposterous Intrigue.” New York Times “A clever, high-spirited story.” Times Literary Supplement (London) “Exhilarating…it’s a winner!” Irish Times

    Five Americans a bounty hunter, a murderer on the run, a vengeful college kid, a professional thug, and a bank clerk dying of cancerwill split $100,000 if they can sneak into Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro.