Amos Clackworthy, conman deluxe, has a new get-rich-quick scheme using investments. But his intricately laid plans may come to nothing because he forgot to leave his latest mark enough time to get his money to Chicago from Texas!

Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #47.Another fine issue is at hand—with mysteries from Peter Lovesey (thanks to acquiring editor Barb Goffman), Laird Long (thanks to acquiring editor Michael Bracken), and classics from Christopher B. Booth, Edgar Wallace, and Nicholas Carter. (Not to mention a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles!) On the science fiction front, we have Nisi Shawl’s excellent “Lazzrus” (thanks to acquiring editor Cynthia Ward) plus classics from George O. ...

Christopher B. Booth is best known for his tales of conman de luxe Amos Clackworthy (who always has a new scheme to part the wealthy and undeserving from their ill-gotten gains). But this tale focuses on

Black Cat Weekly #18 is another great lineup of novels and short stories this time, so without further ado—on to the stories!Mysteries / Suspense“Rediscovery,” by James Holding [short story]“Staying Cool,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]“The Ghost Who Read the Newspaper,” by Vicki Weisfeld [Barb Goffman Presents short story]“Mr. Clackworthy and the Auto Rim,” by Christopher B. Booth [short story]“Kane and Aver...

When Amos Clackworthy, conman deluxe, spots a billboard proclaiming free factory sites for new industries, he gets off his train to investigate. Sure enough, he finds greedy men out to fleece would-be industrialists. And he can't wait to part them from their money...

I mentioned to BCW's acquiring editor Michael Bracken that I was enjoying the mystery/science fiction crossover stories he had been selecting for BCW, many of them originals, and he confessed to challenging writers to come up with stories that mixed the two genres. I thought, Aha! So that’s where they have all been coming from! It’s a Good Thing in my opinion. And this issue we have another one—“For Blood,” by Eve Fisher, which works well as both science fiction ...

Black Cat Weekly #16 is a special holiday issue, featuring three holiday-themed mysteries for your reading pleasure. We didn’t have any holiday science fiction or fantasy stories on tap this time, but we will definitely try to do better next year. (Decembers are always a bit chaotic at Wildside Press—we also have to get out the year-end royalties for hundreds of authors.)If you are a fan of classic science fiction, you’ll appreciate “The Star Sneak,” by Larry Tritten—a Jac...

Conman extraordinaire Amos Clackworthy was the primary mystery character of Christopher Belvard Booth (1889-1950) in the 1920s. Together with his henchman, the Early Bird, he raised grifting to new levels—and his targets were always those greedy, disreputable businessmen who more than deserved it.

"Christopher B. Booth is almost entirely forgotten today; but in 1910s through the 1930s, he was a prolific author of mysteries and westerns under his own name and the pseudonuym “John Jay Chichester.” Street & Smith’s book publishing arm, Chelsea House, collected a number of his pulp stories in book form, most famously in the volume entitled Mr. Clackworthy. Mr. Clackworthy assembles 9 stories from Street & Smith’s Detective Story Magazine featuring con man Amos Clackworthy, who preyed on...

This volume is a follow-up to our Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK™ and presents no less than 31 additional tales of Victorian-era (or close to it!) villains, rogues, thieves, and criminals. You don't have to have read the previous volume, of course, since all of these works stand alone. But if you'd rather have an A.J. Raffles or Boston Blackie as the hero or center-point of a story than Sherlock Holmes or Charlie Chan, this is definitely the ebook for you!Included are no less t...

A master grifter takes on the monopolistic ice industry with nothing but wit, bravado, and a wildly implausible home-refrigeration patent. As the scheme spirals into a full-scale operation, complete with staged demonstrations and fake financiers, the line between bluff and business blurs. A sharply comic tale of deception, desperation, and defiance, this satirical romp skewers greed with a grin and a cigar.

James “The Early Bird” Early is tired of playing it safe. Eager to prove he doesn’t need a mentor, he bets he can swindle a Manhattan bank out of ten thousand dollars in just twenty-four hours. But his sophisticated partner, Amos Clackworthy, knows that impulsive schemes usually lead to prison cells. As the clock ticks down and the plan spirals out of control, the master confidence man must decide whether to let his protégé learn a hard lesson or step in to execute a bold rescue before the...