George Harmon Coxe

An amateur appraiser gets trapped in a chaotic diamond deal After years trying to make their fortunes in the Guyanese diamond trade, Barry Dawson and Colin Lambert have crossed paths once too often. The last time Lambert hired Barry as an appraiser, Lambert cheated his old friend out of his share. Soured on the diamond business, Barry wants to return to the States and marry his hometown girl. Desperate for travel money, he takes one last job from...

A wealthy psychopath threatens the life of an innocent young man The note comes during Barry Sanford's dinner. It's to the point, explaining succinctly that very soon, Barry is going to die. Though the note is unsigned, Barry knows that it comes from the desk of King Hubbard. Two years ago, Hubbard's younger brother staggered drunk out of a bar and into the path of Barry's car. Though the courts exonerated the young architect for the killing, King...

Hoodlums steal a worthless painting, and Kent Murdock wants to know why a collection of valuable Italian paintings finds its way to Boston, placed in the care of Professor Andrade. Before passing them to a museum, the professor hires newspaper photographer Kent Murdock to document them. On his way to the assignment, Murdock is stopped by a gunman named Erloff, who steals the reporter's identification-and pays his own visit to the professor.   But...

A routine assignment gets a PI killed, and Kent Murdock dives into the case A thirty-eight year veteran of the Boston police force, Tom Brady has recently retired, and is beginning a new life as a private investigator. Struggling to make ends meet, he turns to newspaper photographer Kent Murdock, who recommends him to a society woman who is willing to pay big for his services. Brady's just wrapping up the case when he asks Murdock for a favor: photographing...

To steal a Caribbean inheritance, an American impersonates a prodigal son Though his name is Duncan Ward, he lands in Barbados with a passport reading "Jim MacQuade." The MacQuade family meets him at the airport with open arms, welcoming home the son who left the Caribbean over a decade earlier. Duncan knows Jim from college, and over the years has accumulated enough details of the MacQuade plantation to carry off the fraud. Old John MacQuade is near...

A jilted lover finds himself implicated in a murder When John Holland proposed to his girlfriend, Tracy, she imposed a 31-day waiting period before they could see each other again. It's day 30, and Holland travels to her Long Island home for their reunion, only to receive the shock of his life when he meets Tracy's fiancé, Roger Drake. Tracy's mother invites Holland to stay there and win back Tracy's love, and within a few hours, Drake is dead.  ...

While taking pictures at a society wedding, Kent Murdock stumbles upon a murder Every society family has skeletons in its closets, but only the Cannings have a fresh corpse. Kent Murdock finds the dead man while taking pictures at the wedding of Patricia Canning and Roger Armington, scions of Boston's most prominent-and camera-shy-families. Patricia and Murdock have been friends for years, and she invited him to photograph the wedding against her...

Smuggling leads to murder, with Kent Murdock caught in the middle When the Kemnora, a stately liner on her maiden voyage, docks in Boston, Kent Murdock is there to cover the story. He's joined by Harry Felton, a reporter and one-time foreign correspondent in France. As they leave the port, Murdock notices customs officials working over some passengers, but leaves without a second thought. After all, reporters are never bothered at customs.   Only...

One of Kent's pictures holds the secret to a wealthy man's death No one has seen titan of industry John Caldwell for nine years when he hires Kent Murdock to take his picture. Caldwell is preparing a landmark announcement, and wants Boston's finest newspaper photographer there to document it. Murdock chafes at the stuffy environment of the Caldwell home-particularly when Caldwell's heir instructs him to take only one picture. Using an infrared flash,...

Trying to help a model, a fashion photographer exposes a sinister plot The photo in Fashion Parade galls Jerry Nason. It's not the picture itself-an ordinary shot showing off a slim, Spanish-inspired dress and a few pieces of jewelry. It's the model, Linda Courtney, who stood him up for a date a few months earlier. The morning after the magazine's release, the woman who spurned his affection turns up to offer him some work. She's come with the same...