It was more than 150 years ago that Uncle Billy" Leonard took refuge from the hellish heat in the shade beneath a Ponderosa pine, breathing in relief to his companions: "Boys, this has got to be Paradise!" Or so the story goes. Yet it is no fiction that the settlement grew to be more than just a stop on the way from Oroville or Chico to the gold country. Although Paradise was surrounded by mines, it had little gold itself. Disappointed miners made a living cutting timber, working at one of...

The killers came for his money -- of they would have his woman's life! A Wildside Crime Classic by the author of The Star Trap and The Captain Must Die!"Bob Colby was more than just a 'one-hit wonder.' He wrote several other respected novels in the 1950s and '60s, including The Deadly Desire and The Secret of the Second Door (both Gold Medal, 1959) and dozens of short stories for Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne... Do me a favor: hunt down one of his novels and give it a try." -- P...

Kim affected men like an electric current. And she usually set off the charge. But when Eddie Tarino took her for a cruise on his yacht, she was like a little girl at the zoo - outside the leopard’s cage.Tarino’s yacht parties were wild - featuring every kind of vice. But before this one was over, Kim had tamed the leopard - and was a full-fledged member of a strange and savage jungle . . .

Bonnie wanted only one thing: Big money. She had everything she needed to get it - a body that tormented men and an air of sensual excitement that teased as it promised. She was available - for a price.Until she met Larry Duggan, whose animal magnetism reduced her to a state of slavish adoration. Her need consumed her, night and day.And then the party started to get rough. . .

There were seven of them, that white-hot summer at Malibu, with seven different deadly desires, each primed for explosion - and each focused on the destruction-hungry woman named Star Osborne.

She went looking for excitement -- and found violence and danger instead! A Wildside Crime Classic by the author of The Star Trap and The Captain Must Die!"Bob Colby was more than just a 'one-hit wonder.' He wrote several other respected novels in the 1950s and '60s, including The Deadly Desire and The Secret of the Second Door (both Gold Medal, 1959) and dozens of short stories for Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne... Do me a favor: hunt down one of his novels and give it a try." -...

For Ross Elliot, the summer held no promise. With his teaching duties over until fall, he found himself facing boredom, with time on his hands. Which was why he didn’t hesitate to involve himself in the affairs of one Barbara Erickson, ex-student and accused murderess.As far as Elliot was concerned it simply wasn’t possible for one so young -- and so lovely -- to be capable of such a horrendous crime. And what if he was the only one who believed in her innocence? A couple of months...

Fun-crazy Kim Rumshaw refused to wall herself away from any available men just because she was engaged to Howard Massey. So when gangster Eddie Tarino invited her to play love games on his yacht, she was eager and willing to go.Later Kim wa just as eager to forget the whole affair. But Tarino had other plans. And when Massey was beaten up and her aunt threatened, she turned to private detective Rod Striker for help.Rod sent his curvaceous partner, Myra, as a decoy to lure T...

It started like most of Marian’s troubles, because of her betting the ponies - that consuming habit which she herself could hardly understand.Someone told her once that she wanted to lose. But Marian knew that was nonsense. She wanted to win, win, win!This time when Marian lost, she became desperate. Her husband, Warren Emrick, refused to give her the money - even though he had $48,000 stashed away.So when Tony Viani, an ex-playmate, turned up offering to pay her de...

Her fortune was the price on her headBurt Keating had been trying to make the acquaintance of his pretty red-headed neighbor, but he wasn’t getting very far - until the day she escaped from a strange roadside encounter. For when it turned out that murder had resulted from the affair, she threw herself hysterically into Burt’s arms, pleading for his help.It seems she had inherited a sealed box, whose contents were entirely unknown. Certain parties wanted tha...

She played a dangerous game -- with love, men, and money! A Wildside Crime Classic by the author of The Star Trap and The Captain Must Die!"Bob Colby was more than just a 'one-hit wonder.' He wrote several other respected novels in the 1950s and '60s, including The Deadly Desire and The Secret of the Second Door (both Gold Medal, 1959) and dozens of short stories for Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Shayne... Do me a favor: hunt down one of his novels and give it a try." -- Peter Enfantin...

For Ross Elliot the summer held no promise. With his teaching duties over until fall, he found himself facing boredom, with time on his hands. Which was why he didn’t hesitate to involve himself in the affairs of one Barbara Erickson, ex-student and accused murderess.As far as Elliot was concerned it simply wasn’t possible for one so young - and so lovely - to be capable of such a horrendous crime. And what if he was the only one who believed in her innocence? A couple of months pl...