Sinners and Shrouds, first published in 1955 as an Inner Sanctum Mystery, is a fast-paced, action-packed novel by master crime-writer Jonathan Latimer (1906-1983). The story centers on newspaper reporter Sam Clay, who becomes his own story when he wakes up next to a corpse and with no memory of the woman's identity and of what took place the previous night. Clay knows that he is being framed for the murder but has to prove this—both to himself and to the police.

To catch a thief, a detective has himself committed to a high-class asylumThe orderlies do not need a straitjacket for Bill Crane. He is not violent, although he does have a bad habit of making embarrassing deductions about the doctors. This sarcastic, hard-drinking man has deluded himself into thinking he is Edgar Allan Poe's great detective, C. Auguste Dupin. For this, he has been put away in a stately mental hospital on the Hudson. But Crane is not as delusional ...

The Golden Age Mystery Collection: Classic Detective Stories (25 Books) is a rich and captivating anthology that brings together some of the finest works from the Golden Age of detective fiction — a period celebrated for its intricate puzzles, fair-play clues, and brilliantly crafted mysteries. This illustrated volume features twenty-five classic stories by many of the genre’s most distinguished authors. Among the highlights are Agatha Christie’s psychologically subtle The Wife of the Keni...

On a mad mission in the African jungle, a photographer loses his wayLew Cable is an impulsive man, lazy and violent, especially when he has been drinking. He is a rotten choice to lead a scientific expedition, but his wife's money convinces the exploration committee that he is the man for the job. Jay Nichols sees right through Cable's bravado, but for the chance to photograph African gorillas in their natural habitat, he is more than willing to sacrifice his pride...

A reporter becomes his own story when he wakes up next to a corpseSam Clay wakes with a dry mouth, a hammering headache, and only the faintest memory of what he did the night before. He remembers dancing, jazz, taxi rides, and a brandy-fueled ride on a roller coaster, but he has no idea how he got home, and he is lost as to the identity of the straw-haired beauty beside him. He is just about to introduce himself when he notices the blood on the sheets, the wounds o...

A Joke’s a Joke by Jonathan Latimer is a sharp, fast-paced mystery that blends crime, dark humor, and the author’s trademark hard-boiled wit. Known for his offbeat detective fiction and biting dialogue, Latimer delivers a story where laughter and danger go hand in hand—and where a prank can quickly turn deadly serious. What begins as a seemingly harmless joke—an ill-timed trick, a sarcastic remark, or a practical stunt—sets off a chain of consequences no one anticipates. In Latimer’s world...

In Hollywood, a screenwriter gets involved in an impossible murderIn a steamy tropical jungle, a sinister American woman pushes the natives too far and gets exactly what she deserves: a rusty knife buried deep in her back. At least, that is the way the movie is supposed to end. But when the loathsome starlet Caresse Garnet learns her character is about to be killed off, she refuses to die, forcing the studio to rewrite the ending the night before the scenes are to b...

The job was supposed to be simple, but in this shady midwestern town, nothing is as it seemsHard-living private detective Karl Craven didn't ask for trouble when he arrived in Paulton, Missouri—but trouble found him anyway. First it was his partner, Oke Johnson, shot in the head by a silenced rifle. Then it was the femme fatale Ginger Bolton, who took him for a wild ride his first night in town. But it's Penelope Grayson—the sultry blonde whose uncle hired Craven t...

Just days from meeting the reaper, a convicted murderer hires Chicago's most hard-boiled PI to save his neck—before the executioner can claim itRobert Westland's death is just around the corner when he finally decides to fight the murder rap that's sending him to the electric chair. Fingered for his wife's grisly demise, Westland is in a bind, and his last hope is Bill Crane, a booze-soaked detective who's as ruthless with a quip as he is when trawling the streets f...

A vanished corpse leads a hard-drinking PI on a madcap chaseMore than forty corpses fill the cold Chicago basement, but no crime has been committed here. After all, there are supposed to be bodies in the city morgue. Tonight, one is attracting particular attention: a beautiful young woman whose apparent suicide captured the imagination of every newspaper editor in town. Learning how and why she died is too great a task for any cub reporter. Only Detective Bill Crane...

In sun-soaked Florida, Crane pursues a kidnapper in between drinksIt does not take much to lure Bill Crane to Florida in the wintertime. The weather would be temptation enough, but the fact that there is money to be made and gin to be drunk makes a trip to Key Largo irresistible. His ever-soused companion, Doc Williams, at his side, Crane sets out south to find out who has been threatening millionaire playboy Penn Essex with blackmail notes, first on his pillow, the...

In an eerie country house, a cruel old man is decapitatedWhen Peter Coffin's mysterious great-uncle Tobias summons the family to his manor in the wilds of Michigan, his aunt warns him to stay away. Peter goes anyway, arriving at the edge of the sprawling estate well after midnight. Wading through the muck in the darkness, he passes a fearsome figure on the road, and when he arrives at the front door, he is greeted by cousins bearing shotguns. An ax-murdering madman ...