A Shot in the Dark & Shell Game - Softcover

A Shot in the Dark (1952)is a story of a man who arrives too late to stop the murder of a friend and won't stop until he finds the killer. Shell Game (1950) is a lightly comic caper about a vacationing shell collector who stumbles upon murder on a Florida beach.

A SHOT IN THE DARK: Johnny Edwards is fishing when he gets Tony's letter from Cuba. Tony is in trouble and urgently needs Johnny down in Havana. But Johnny stalls—ashamed to admit to his former war buddy that he has been living a life of indifferent ease and indulgence--and when he does arrive, he finds Tony has just been murdered. His boredom replaced with thoughts of revenge, Johnny decides to find the murderer himself. And that's when he runs into Ellen McCarter--trim, slim, with sun-streaked hair—a helluva distraction. But not enough to sidetrack Johnny, who continues to follow the murderer's trail up to Fort Myers, Florida...where the first person he runs into is slim, trim Ellen! SHELL GAME: Bill Stuart is vacationing in Florida, collecting shells, when one evening he stumbles upon a beautiful young woman hiding under a fishing pier on a deserted beach. Undaunted by her cock-eyed story, he offers her a lift into town. Valerie agrees if she can drive. When she discovers they are being followed by a gray sedan, Valerie breaks every law to shake them; and just as mysteriously does a quick disappearing act when they arrive at the bus station. The local chief of police isn’t interested in tracking his missing person, so Bill heads back to the beach to retrace Valerie’s footsteps—which just happen to lead to a cabin that is occupied by the body of a very recently murdered man!