Dell Mystery Novels No. 1

About this issue

A Bundle for the Coroner by Brett Halliday opens this debut Dell Mystery Novels issue. Miami private secretary Lucy Hamilton receives an unexpected visitor—Jack Bristow, brother of a former colleague from New Orleans. Bristow arrives wounded with a bullet in his side, begging Lucy for sanctuary for a few hours while evading the police. He claims he's a "fall guy" set up for a crime he didn't commit and refuses medical attention, threatening to implicate Lucy romantically to Michael Shayne, her employer and the private detective for whom she works. Lucy finds herself torn between calling a doctor or police and protecting Bristow, wrestling with her complicated attraction to him and uncertainty about what Shayne would do. The issue also includes "But the Prophet Died" by William Campbell Gault and "The Quiet Woman" by Bruno Fischer. Cover art by Bob Stanley.