Gil Brewer

Once, Russia was a place split between breathtaking wealth and desperate poverty. Now, as the country conforms under Stalin's violent rule, a young woman becomes a fugitive, and a storied hero turns into a living, breathing man.

It was the money that kept them awake. Hardan had the gun, and he would not let them sleep. Within the house they watched and waited, while outside the snow drove down and the wind wailed a dirge. The sleeplessness ate at them and a kind of wildness engulfed them all. There was: Marla, black-haired and made for love. Her husband, Hall, who lived on a diet of brandy and hatred. Her sister, Leona, swaying on the edge of madness. The two bandits, tough, relentless, who had tracked Hardan down. And Hardan, who had the gun. It was in the cards that someone must die.

Erotics: Chris Pope is framed for a murder he didn't commit and in order to clear his name, has to stay one step ahead of the cops and find the stolen money first. Gun the dame down: PI Bill Death is hired to find out who killed Grace Carter's husband. As he investigates, he discovers plenty of people wanted the man dead -- and a few who want him dead as well! Angry Arnold: A police detective working on a serial murder case doesn't realize that the murderer is now stalking his wife.

He met a gutter angel on the roadway to hell! It began here for Baron — the whole grotesque skein of terror — here in this Marseilles street of despair, the street called the Rue Paradis. There was Gorssmann, fat and corrupt, who waited until Baron scraped bottom — and then blackmailed him into treason. And Lili, the dark, lovely gamin, who fell in love with Baron — and worked for the man determined to destroy him. Altogether for Frank Baron it was a small hell on the street called Paradise!

Her wealthy stepfather was dying — but not quickly enough What beautiful 18-year-old would want to spend her life taking care of an invalid? Not Shirley Angela. But that’s the life she was trapped in — until she met Jack. Now Shirley and Jack have a plan to put the old man out of his misery and walk away with a suitcase full of cash. But there’s nothing like money to come between lovers — money, and other women.

Larry Cole is a young man with difficulties: he runs a barely functioning beachfront bar on Florida’s Gulf Coast and his older brother is doing prison time for murder. Larry would like to find the money to get a high-powered lawyer who could spring his brother, but he doesn’t know how he’ll get the money. Enter Joan Taylor, a sweet young thing with a yen for Larry and ideas of her own. Larry falls hard for Joan, but he’s confused by her behavior: stealing a wallet, stabbing a drifter in the throat and badgering Larry to burgle the nearby yacht club.

A collection of Gil Brewer's noir short stories.

Under the bed was half a million bucks ...and in it was a lovely, lonely widow. Both of them just waiting for me. Only one thing stood in the way. A hot-eyed little tramp with a mind like ice and a body that could melt iron. She was out of this world, this hopped-up nymphet...and that's where she almost put me. Because this little girl had it all mapped out. She knew which side of the bed was buttered, and that the quickest way to the hidden loot was me...And murder!