Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #12

A jealous husband hatches a cruel scheme to punish his wife's flirtations—confining her to a closet stocked with insects while he pretends she's traveled to South America. But when he finally returns to face the consequences of his twisted plan, he discovers a dark irony waiting behind that black door. Art Cappel illustrates this 1953 tale of suspense and comeuppance.

A drifter rolls into town on the 4:30 bus with robbery on his mind, and he's careful—too careful. After robbing a bar and ditching his clothes in a cellar, he thinks he's left no witnesses and no trace, but the cops are already waiting. When a detective reveals a blood-stained jacket found at the scene of an unsolved murder, the stranger realizes his perfect plan has become a perfect frame—and no one believes a word he says.

With his execution date looming just a month away, Sam Thomas makes a desperate gamble—he'll tunnel his way out of death row using tools smuggled in by fellow inmates, working feverishly each night to inch toward freedom. But as the days tick by and he finally breaks through to what he hopes is escape, Sam discovers a grim irony that the prison walls have been hiding all along.

Martin Roget discovers his business partner Henry Buller has been embezzling from their consultancy and confronts him—but when Buller arrives at Roget's home that evening, the tables turn in a deadly game of deception involving poisoned drinks and a loaded gun. Dick Giordano illustrates this tense 1953 tale of partners turned enemies, where only one man will walk away from "Murder On Rye."

Phil Ross sabotages his best friend Larry's car after overhearing what he believes is a plot between Larry and his wife Sandra against him—but a chance accident reveals the truth before tragedy strikes at Dead Man's Turn. Desperate to stop the disaster he's set in motion, Phil races to prevent the inevitable, only to discover that fate has other plans. A brutal twist of irony waits at the curve.

Bill Brannan, a fire-obsessed criminal, partners with building contractor Clayton Maxwell in an arson scheme—setting fires for insurance money while Maxwell reaps the profits. When Maxwell grows fearful and tries to flee with the payoff, Brannan plans one final job to secure his fortune, unaware that his accomplice has set a deadly trap of his own. As the flames consume the warehouse, Bill discovers that the very fire escape meant to save him has become his undoing.

Paul Kling has spent weeks studying the bank vault's time-lock mechanism, waiting for his chance to slip inside undetected before the door seals—and when opportunity finally strikes, he finds himself alone with over a hundred thousand dollars and nothing to do but wait for the vault to open at 9 AM. But as morning arrives, something goes terribly wrong, and Kling realizes his careful calculations may have overlooked a crucial detail that could trap him inside.