Woman of Cairo / Dear, Deadly Beloved (Stark House Crime Classics)

WOMAN OF CAIROHart Muldoon had been a “noble O.S.S. boy” in the fight against the Nazis, but now he is at loose ends. Ready to leave Europe and head back home, he is coerced into one more job working with a dubious agent named Jeremiah Grant. A British bomber has disappeared near Cairo, and Grant seems to know something about it. And with Egypt ready to explode under the rule of King Farouk, Muldoon’s British contact doesn’t have time to operate under normal channels. A quick and dirty espionage mission is called for. Muldoon needs to get close to Gina Ferelli, the beautiful wife of Hans von Bruckner, and penetrate the mysterious cult known as the Sons of Mecca. But first he must deal with Siegfried McCarthy, Grant’s ice queen contact, and Marianne Courbert, a French singer on a mission of her own. It may be a dirty mission, but it has its benefits…DEAR, DEADLY BELOVEDAt the tail end of a long binge, Hart Muldoon finds himself on the beautiful vacation isle of Venzola…in a hotel room with a murdered man. Knowing he’s been set up, he only has a limited time to investigate. Suspects abound. There’s the French woman in Room 26, Yvonne—she knew the murdered man. And the Bennol women—Mamma, Gigi and Elsa. Gigi is married to the victim, and Elsa was seen arguing with him earlier that day. There’s Elsa’s husband, Pepe Planquet, the great director, and his latest ingénue, the torrid Loretta Kelly. Plus the mysterious Count Cassi; the corrupt cop, Ferechini; the idealistic industrialist, Phillip Adams; and the fabulously rich Babs Wentworth. They all have something to hide, including a knife in the back of a dead man. But can Muldoon find the killer before he becomes the next victim?