Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1

In "Gleam of Evil," circus big cat handler Kay Spencer finds herself entangled with Ophelia, an enigmatic Egyptian cat said to possess an "evil eye" — a superstition the trapeze artist Bud Marvel scoffs at, even as his growing romance with Kay begins to unsettle the feline. When Bud suffers a sudden, inexplicable accident mid-performance, his disbelief turns to dread as he realizes the cat may be more than just a creature of legend.

In "The Crystal Ball," French Resistance fighters Houdon and Old Cambert uncover a hidden cache of Nazi ill-gotten wealth, but their partnership fractures when Houdon betrays the fortune-teller, framing him as a collaborator to claim the treasure for himself. Imprisoned and vowing revenge, Cambert swears his crystal ball will find Houdon—no matter the cost.

In "Blind Man's Bluff," reckless racer Buzz Murphy’s fatal rivalry with Jim Blake takes a terrifying turn when Jim’s ghost appears behind him on the track—driving a spectral red car—just before Buzz meets his end in a crash that echoes the moment Jim died in the hospital. The story unfolds with chilling precision, weaving guilt, fate, and the supernatural into a tense, short horror-suspense tale.

In "The Dreamer," Mark Pearson seeks help from psychiatrist Dr. Korvo after waking from a haunting nightmare of a sinking ship—only to find himself trapped in a memory he can’t escape. As hypnosis unravels his fragmented past, he relives the voyage where he was a passenger entangled in a quiet romance with a woman named Diane. But with each passing moment, the line between the doctor’s office and the ship’s deck begins to blur, leaving the truth as uncertain as the tide.