Strange Suspense Stories #16

In "I Went To My Own Funeral," a chilling tale from *Strange Suspense Stories* #16, brilliant surgeon Basil Jethro finds himself on the wrong side of his own plan when his wife, Gertrude, decides to take drastic measures. After Basil takes out an insurance policy on her life, Gertrude orchestrates a deadly twist—using plastic surgery to switch identities and become the man she's meant to kill. The story unfolds with a cold precision, as the line between husband and wife blurs in a game of life and death.

Harry Box orchestrates an elaborate scheme to eliminate his two mob partners and keep the entire payroll haul for himself, setting Clem and Bunky up to unknowingly kill each other while he waits in the bushes to collect the loot. But Harry's careful plotting may have overlooked one crucial detail that could turn his master plan into something far more final.

In "Payment On Time!" from Strange Suspense Stories #16 (1954), two criminals flee across the ocean, hiding aboard a freighter bound for Africa. When one falls ill and requires surgery, they force the ship’s doctor to operate—only to kill him afterward. But the doctor’s final act leaves a deadly secret buried in the gangster’s body.

Alfredo Tarbello shares the circus trapeze with his wife Tina and a handsome newcomer named Nick Russell—until Alfredo discovers that Nick and Tina are planning to run away together. Determined to stop them, Alfredo arranges a private midnight rehearsal high above the ground, where he intends to commit the perfect murder. But as he executes his plan in the darkness, Alfredo begins to wonder if everything is quite as it seems.

In "Murder On Time!" from Strange Suspense Stories #16 (1954), a desperate and timid man named Charlie Noonan builds a clock rigged to explode—his last, twisted attempt to escape a marriage he can't endure. But when the device activates, fate delivers a far more final punishment than he ever imagined.

Byron Benson pulls off a bank heist to prove he's arrived as a major criminal, but his obsession with securing only large bills leaves him scrambling when he needs to make a quick escape through the subway. When a ten-cent turnstile fare stands between him and freedom from the cops, Benson discovers that all the money in the world won't buy his way out of a tight spot.