- Home
- John Roeburt
The Hardboiled Mystery Megapack
The Hardboiled Mystery Megapack Read online
Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
THE HOLLOW MAN, by John Roeburt
MODEL FOR MURDER, by Stephen Marlowe
BLONDE BAIT, by Ed Lacy
BEAUTY CAN KILL, by Michael McCretton
COPYRIGHT INFO
The Hardboiled Mystery MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
* * * *
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
* * * *
The Hollow Man, by John Roeburt is copyright © 1954 by John Roeburt. Model for Murder, by Stephen Marlowe is copyright © 1955 by Graphic Publishing Co., Inc. Blonde Bait, by Ed Lacy is copyright © 1959 by Ed Lacy. Beauty Can Kill, by Michael McCretton is copyright © 1962 by Michael McCretton.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Hardboiled Mystery MEGAPACK™ presents 4 classic crime novels from the era when hardboiled detectives ruled the American newsstands. Included are:
The Hollow Man, by John Roeburt (1954)
Model for Murder, by Stephen Marlowe (1955)
Blonde Bait, by Ed Lacy (1959)
Beauty Can Kill, by Michael McCretton (1962)
Enjoy!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE SERIES
Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
MYSTERY
The First Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Second Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK™*
The Carolyn Wells Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Charlie Chan MEGAPACK™*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective MEGAPACK™
The Detective MEGAPACK™
The Dickson McCunn MEGAPACK™,* by John Buchan
The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK™
The Father Brown MEGAPACK™
The Johnston McCulley Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Lady Sleuth MEGAPACK™
The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK™
The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™
The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™
The George Allan England MEGAPACK™
The Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The Second Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK™
The Hardboiled Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Noir Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™
The Philo Vance MEGAPACK™*
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Raffles MEGAPACK™
The Red Finger Pulp Mystery MEGAPACK™, by Arthur Leo Zagat*
The Richard Hannay Spy MEGAPACK™*, by John Buchan
The Roy J. Snell Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Sherlock Holmes MEGAPACK™
The Thubway Tham Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Second Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure MEGAPACK™
The Anne of Green Gables MEGAPACK™
The Baseball MEGAPACK™
The Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Third Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Second Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Classic American Short Stories MEGAPACK™, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor MEGAPACK™
The Dog Story MEGAPACK™
The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
The Horse Story MEGAPACK™
The Military MEGAPACK™
The Peck’s Bad Boy MEGAPACK™
The Pirate Story MEGAPACK™
The Sea-Story MEGAPACK™
The Thanksgiving MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™
THE GOLDEN AGE OF PULP FICTION
1. George Allan England
THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION
1. Winston K. Marks
2. Mark Clifton
3. Poul Anderson
4. Clifford D. Simak
5. Lester del Rey (vol. 1)
6. Charles L. Fontenay
7. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 1)
8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)
9. Dave Dryfoos
10. Carl Jacobi
11. F.L. Wallace
12. David H. Keller, M.D.
13. Lester del Rey (vol. 2)
14. Charles De Vet
15. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 2)
16. William C. Gault
17. Alan E. Nourse
THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION
1. Henry S. Whitehead
2. George T. Wetzel
3. Emil Petaja
4. Nictzin Dyalhis
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The First Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Third Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Fourth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Fifth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Sixth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Seventh Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Eighth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Ninth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The A. Merritt MEGAPACK™*
The A.R. Morlan MEGAPACK™
The Andre Norton MEGAPACK™
The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™
The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Dragon MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The First Theodore Cogswell MEGAPACK™
The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK™
The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK™
The Jack London Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Lloyd Biggle, Jr. MEGAPACK™
The Lost Worlds MEGAPACK™
The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK™
The Mad Scientist MEGAPACK™
The Martian MEGAPACK™
The Milton A. Rothman Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Miss Pickerell MEGAPACK™
The Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK™
The Plague, Pestilence, & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The First Richard Wilson MEGAPACK™
The Robert Sheckley MEGAPACK™
The Science-Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The Space Opera MEGAPACK™
The Space Patrol MEGAPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Second Space Patrol MEGAPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Steampunk MEGAPACK™
The Stephen Vincent Benét MEGAPACK™
The Time Travel MEGAPACK™
The Second Time Travel MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The Willam P. McGivern Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The First Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™
The Zanthodon MEGAPACK™, by Lin Carter
HORROR
The 2014 Halloween Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Horror MEGAPACK™
The Second Horror MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Second Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Second Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Cthulhu Mythos MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
The Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Third Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Fourth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Fifth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Sixth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK™
The Haunts & Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
The M.R. James MEGAPACK™
The Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Second Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Third Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK™**
The Monster MEGAPACK™
The Mummy MEGAPACK™
The Occult Detective MEGAPACK™
The Penny Dreadfuls MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Uncanny Stories MEGAPACK™**
The Vampire MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Weird Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Werewolf MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
WESTERN
The Andy Adams Western MEGAPACK™
The B.M. Bower MEGAPACK™
The Max Brand MEGAPACK™
The Buffalo Bill MEGAPACK™
The Burt Arthur Western MEGAPACK™
The Cowboy MEGAPACK™
The Zane Grey MEGAPACK™
The Charles Alden Seltzer MEGAPACK™
The Western MEGAPACK™
The Second Western MEGAPACK™
The Third Western MEGAPACK™
The Western Romance MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
YOUNG ADULT
The Bobbsey Twins MEGAPACK™
The Boy Scouts MEGAPACK™
The Boys’ Adventure MEGAPACK™
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout MEGAPACK™
The Dare Boys MEGAPACK™
The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
The G.A. Henty MEGAPACK™
The Girl Detectives MEGAPACK™
The Miss Pickerell MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™
The Pinocchio MEGAPACK™
The Rover Boys MEGAPACK™
The Second Carolyn Wells MEGAPACK™
The Space Patrol MEGAPACK™
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet MEGAPACK™
The Tom Swift MEGAPACK™
The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™
The Young Adult Award-Winners MEGAPACK™
SINGLE-AUTHOR
The A. Merritt MEGAPACK™*
The A.R. Morlan MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Second Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Anatole France MEGAPACK™
The Andre Norton MEGAPACK™
The Anna Katharine Green MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Conan Doyle MEGAPACK™: Beyond Sherlock Holmes
The Arthur Leo Zagat Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK™**
The B.M. Bower MEGAPACK™
The Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson MEGAPACK™
The Bram Stoker MEGAPACK™
The Burt Arthur Western MEGAPACK™
The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™
The Charles Alden Seltzer MEGAPACK™
The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Dashiell Hammett MEGAPACK™
The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
The F. Scott Fitzgerald MEGAPACK™
The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™
The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The First William P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK™
The Frederick Douglass MEGAPACK™
The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The Second Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The George Barr McCutcheon MEGAPACK™
The Guy de Maupassant MEGAPACK™
The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK™
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Harold Lamb MEGAPACK™
The Henri Bergson MEGAPACK™
The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™
The Johnston McCulley Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Jonas Lie MEGAPACK™
The Katherine Mansfield MEGAPACK™
The Lloyd Biggle, Jr. MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
The M.R. James MEGAPACK™
The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK™
The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK™
The Max Brand MEGAPACK™
The Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK™
The Rafael Sabatini MEGAPACK™
The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK
™
The Second Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The Robert Sheckley MEGAPACK™
The Saki MEGAPACK™
The Selma Lagerlof MEGAPACK™
The Stephen Crane MEGAPACK™
The Stephen Vincent Benét MEGAPACK™
The Talbot Mundy MEGAPACK™
The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Virginia Woolf MEGAPACK™
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
The William P. McGivern Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The William P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Zane Grey MEGAPACK™
* Not available in the United States
** Not available in the European Union
***Out of print.
FREE PROMO MINIPACKS™
Each one is only available from our web site for a single day—on Free Ebook Tuesday! Like us on Facebook to see new title announcements.
The John Gregory Betancourt MINIPACK™
The Richard Deming Crime MINIPACK™
The Charles V. de Vet MINIPACK™
The Paul Di Filippo MINIPACK™
The Lt. Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol MINIPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Richard Wilson MINIPACK™
The Thubway Tham Thanksgiving MINIPACK™
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany MEGAPACK™”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
THE HOLLOW MAN, by John Roeburt
Copyright © 1954 by John Roeburt.
CHAPTER ONE
Part 1.
There was a great hush, and then the red button flashed on the big studio clock. It was eight o’clock in the evening, show time, and the whole complex of men and gadgets went into motion.
The Number One camera dollied in to hold a medium shot of Johnny Devereaux. On Director’s cue, a Youth with a pulsing muscle in his neck spoke into a standing microphone. His opening announcement was cold; there was no musical backing. What he said was reproduced on show cards on the Monitor’s screen. The Youth said: “The Star Television Playhouse Presents Crack-Up, an Authentic Crime Series from Confidential Files!”
A man with a spray of whiskers under his chin crooked a finger at his galaxy, and there was a crash of music. The fanfare, the several bars of melody that had become the familiar signature of this television show. The Youth with the pulsing neck muscle said, “And now, here is your Host, Tough Cop Johnny Devereaux!”