Crime SuspenStories #17

In "Touch and Go!" from Crime SuspenStories #17 (1953), William Acton’s desperate attempt to erase every trace of his crime at Arthur Huxley’s mansion spirals into a terrifying fixation. As he obsessively cleans every surface, his mind begins to unravel—until dawn reveals him still scrubbing, lost in a madness born of guilt and denial.

In "One for the Money...", Jo finds herself adrift after a husband’s suicide leaves her with nothing but memories and a hunger for connection. Drawn back to the city where it all began, she’s offered a strange new start—carefully curated by an elderly woman with her own quiet secrets. But when she meets the woman’s son, Eric, a man haunted by past betrayals, she realizes some doors, once opened, can’t be closed again.

In "Fired!", Patricia, the lonely owner of the Circle-Diamond cattle ranch, finds herself drawn to Roy Willis, the ranch hand she promotes to foreman. When Roy abandons her for a woman in town, Pat makes a shocking decision—one that will leave a lasting mark.

In "Two for the Show!" from Crime SuspenStories #17 (1953), Harry thinks he’s pulled off the perfect murder—disposing of his wife’s body in a trunk and swapping it with an identical one on the train, confident the detective won’t uncover his crime. But when the detective opens the wrong trunk, the horrifying truth begins to unravel in ways Harry never expected.