This mystery novel tells the story of the death of Kirk Banning--a man of crackling vitality pushing toward a crisis in his personal life and his business, and suffering from an ailing heart. With his wife Hilda he runs an advertising agency now in financial trouble; but the chief concern of this demanding man is his mistress, Lorraine Walsh, who is ready to leave him. Kirk Banning dies of a heart attack, alone in her apartment, and the central enigman of the plot is why the pills he always carried ahd disappeared. They would have saved his life. Before that mystery can be solved another man dies, violently; and the range of suspicion includes Banning's mistress and his family. Jean Potts develops her story with the combination of skills characteristic of her--clever plotting and a feeling for character that makes the reader care about what is happening.

An Affair of the Heart

Potts, Jean

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

SCRIBNER'S.

My Brother's Killer

SCRIBNERS

Go, Lovely Rose (Scarlet Dagger Crime)

Chivers North America

THE FAIRER SEX? NOT THESE LADIES...The female of the species is absolutely deadlier than the male in these 14 cunningly-crafted tales of suspense, crimes of passion, and murder, all by women writers. Edited by MWA Grandmaster and bestselling mystery author John D. MacDonald, these bone-chilling stories show the depths both men and women will stoop to get what they want. Christianna Brand brings us a story of two sisters who engage in the ultimate cat-and-mouse game, with the prize being their lives. A woman accustomed to the finer things appears in Margaret Manners' twisting tale of a socialite who will go to any lengths to keep what's hers. Carolyn Thomas spins a tale of long-overdue revenge in the balmy Caribbean. From Veronica Parker Johns come the story of a cheating wife who's too clever for her own good. And Juanita Sheridan delivers a marriage slipping toward disaster amid the tropical paradise of Hawaii. Fourteen tales of scheming women (and even a few dangerous men) told by the very best classic women mystery writers as they reveal...The Lethal Sex.

The Lethal Sex (Mystery Writers of America Presents: MWA Classics)

BRAND, Christianna

Deford, Miriam Allen

GILBERT, Anthony

Millar,margaret

MacDonald,John D.

Carey, Bernice

Curtis, Ursula

Cluff, Gladys

Mystery

Independently published

GO, LOVELY ROSEThey find Mrs. Henshaw at the bottom of the cellar stairs with her neck broken. Everyone assumes she has fallen. But when Rose’s sister appears on the scene, she immediately begins to cry murder. And she’s right! Young Hartley is the obvious suspect. Mrs. Henshaw had been his and his sister Rachel’s housekeeper for many years, and there was no love lost between any of them. In fact, no one in town really liked Rose Henshaw. Her ex-husband, Francie, certainly knew how evil she could be—she ruined his life. The rest of them were simply afraid of her: young Dr. Craig, the newcomer in town; and Bix, Hartley’s teenage girlfriend; her father, Hugh Bovard, editor of the local paper; and his shattered wife, Althea, still mourning the loss of her son. They all hated Rose Henshaw for one reason or another—but who hated her enough to push her down the stairs? THE EVIL WISHEver since Marcia and Lucy were little girls, they would hide in the basement of their brownstone and listen in on their father’s conversations. But now they are in their 30s, still living with their domineering father, and one day they eavesdrop on a very portentous revelation. Their widowed father intends to marry his secretary, give her all his money, and let her kick his daughters out of their house. In their anger and outrage, Marcia and Lucy hatch a plot to murder him. When their father and his secretary are involved in a fatal car crash, their plans prove unnecessary. But what are they to do with their murder scheme and the residual guilt—particularly when the aborted plot develops a life of its own?

Go, Lovely Rose / The Evil Wish (Stark House Mystery Classics)

Stark House Press

HOME IS THE PRISONER Jim Singley has served his time. Accused of killing his business partner, he left a lot of bad feelings in Athena--but now he's back. Back to a wife who hates him, a son who has been raised to despise him, and a town full of folks who wish he were dead. But Jim has some unfinished business. There is his former partner's wife, Audrey, now married to someone else. And her daughter, Cleo, the only one who spoke up for him at the trial, corroborating his defense when no one else would. There's Matt, his only real friend, harboring a long-kept secret. And Wayne, the son who has been raised to hate, ready to explode with unanswered questions. Athena is a town that can never forgive, but Jim won't leave until he's confronted them all. THE LITTLE LIE Everyone knows that Dee and Chad will eventually get married. They're such a perfect couple. So when boarder Mr. Fly overhears them having an argument that results in Chad's moving out, he assumes that they will soon make up. But Dee knows that it's over. She just can't stand the public humiliation. So she lies about it. Just a little lie. She tells everyone that Chad has moved to the city to pursue a new job. Then she tells everyone he's headed for California, where she will no doubt soon join him. She even convinces herself that it's all true. Still, when the plane that Chad is supposedly on crashes, and someone with his last name is listed as a passenger, Dee breathes a sigh of relief. Her secret is now safe. But is it...?

Home is the Prisoner / The Little Lie (Stark House Mystery Classics)

THE ONLY GOOD SECRETARYWhen Louise gets to magazine office on Monday morning, she discovers that someone has murdered Fern Villard, the only good secretary that editor High Dudgeon has ever had. High on the list of suspects is Max Sutter. He and Fern were seeing each other and had argued that Friday night before he left the office. But, then, W. J. Robinson had reasons to be jealous of Fern as well because she was angling to replace him as editor of the Questions and Answers Department. And then there’s sullen Donna Hirsch, who clearly has a personal interest in Max. Could she have decided to remove the competition? Certainly Archie O’Brien must know more than he’s telling—he stayed late in the building that night at a party on another floor. Someone in the office had wanted Fern dead, but who wanted her dead enough to kill her?THE MAN WITH THE CANEWhen Val discovers the body of the murdered man lying on the church steps, the first thing he notices is how much he resembles the man with the cane that his young daughter had described earlier that day. But how could she have known this anonymous man? She’s just a little girl, living with her mother and her step father, blocks away from here. It’s too much of a coincidence—yet Val is convinced that this man must somehow be known to them. So Val sets out on a bit of detecting, querying the family members about what they know. First, there’s Maudie, Val’s giddy ex-mother-in-law; his argumentative ex-wife, Doris, and her perfect husband, Monroe. And Doris’s affable brother, Clyde, formerly married to the beautiful, sensitive Barbara. Clyde wasn’t even in town at the time... or was he? Each one seems to harbor a closely-held secret, but which secret will unlock the motive behind the murder of the man with the cane?

The Only Good Secretary / The Man With the Cane

THE FOOTSTEPS ON THE STAIRS:\nWhen Enid Baxter runs into her old lover, Vic, she has a premonition that he is going to murder her. She shares this thought with her neighbor Martin but swears him to secrecy. So when Enid is found stabbed to death in her apartment, naturally Martin assumes the worst. But Martin has a haunting secret of his own. Back in his home town—though cleared of the crime--everyone assumes that he murdered his own wife by pushing her over a cliff. So he feels a certain bond with Vic. And besides, Vic has an alibi. He and his wife Thelma were in their own apartment when the murder occurred. But someone was heard running down the stairs that fateful day. Someone who either loved Enid too much to share her…or hated her enough to kill her.\nTHE TROUBLEMAKER:\nTo some men, Lisa is a skinny little thing not worth a second look. But to Quentin, middle-aged college professor, she is enchanting. So he leaves his wife, and he and Lisa drive up the coast to Maine, where they find work at a summer seashore resort. Bax, who owns the resort with his wife Janet, is as enchanted by Lisa as Quentin. But Janet immediately pegs her as a troublemaker. It certainly isn’t Lisa’s fault that men are attracted to her. Before Quentin there had been Carlos, one of his students, who has fled his smothering mother and followed them to Maine. But perhaps Janet is right, perhaps Lisa is trouble, because one morning her body is found at the bottom of the sea cliff. The cops think it’s murder. Many men had loved her—but which one turned their love to murder?

The Footsteps on the Stairs / The Troublemaker

THE DIEHARD\nLew Morgan is a well-hated man. His friends and family would be happy if he just died. Grover, who runs the general store, is one of his oldest friends. But Lew, as owner of the local bank, doesn’t intend to give Grover another loan. His son Whit is Lew’s whipping boy, and Whit’s wife, Dort, a controlling conniver who just wants Lew’s money. And then there’s Victoria, Lew’s daughter, who is forced to compete for his affection with the other women in his life. They all hate Lew Morgan. You might say that Lew is in danger for his life. If only he had a clue that his brash arrogance rubbed some people the wrong way. If only Lew knew that at least one of these people plans to murder him…\nMY BROTHER’S KILLER\nGarth Sullivan lives in the same brownstone as his brother Howdy and his wife, Pamela. Garth once had a career as a woodworker, but that ended when Howdy accidentally caused the slicing of his two fingers. He once had Pamela, too. But now all he has is hate. A festering hate that only grows stronger with each dinner date. But Garth has a plan. It’s a great plan, a wonderful plan. All he has to do to rid himself of Howdy is to fake his own death, and wait for the perfect moment to kill him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take Eunice into consideration. Eunice is their less-than-attractive neighbor, and she is in love with Garth. So when she sees him outside the building after everyone else thinks he’s dead, she vows to keep his secret. But some secrets just can’t be kept…

The Diehard / My Brother's Killer

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