This Is Suspense #23

Ted Galindo's cover for this 1955 Charlton anthology sets the mood perfectly: a wild-eyed young chemist clutches a bubbling green concoction in his moonlit laboratory while a alarmed woman looks on from behind, and — in a separate vignette below — a glamorous woman in an orange gown sits coolly beside a crouching, shadowy little figure. The banner teaser asks "To what extent would a brilliant young chemist go to win his love?" and promises a second tale, "The Repulsive Dwarf," making this a nicely unsettling double-feature of mid-fifties suspense. For fans of Charlton's atmospheric crime-and-mystery output, This Is Suspense #23 delivers that irresistible blend of romantic obsession and creeping dread in a single ten-cent package.