The Spider 113: Secret City of Crime by Grant Stockbridge

The Spider 113
February 1943; v29 #1
Secret City of Crime
by Grant Stockbridge (Norvell Page)

The Spider infiltrates the underground city of Easy Street, run by Perfect Crimes, Inc, where hoods can learn new skills while they hide out on the lam. The mastermind, The Brain, stages disasters like train accidents to cover up for bloody bank robberies. Nita, Jackson, and Ram Singh are captured and held hostage.

At one point, The Spider instantly hypnotizes a hood to let him into a secure area, reveal secret information, and stand guard to shoot any other criminals who come in the room. Completely lets the air out of the rest of the story - why doesn't he just keep doing that through the whole story?

Ebook available from Radio Archives 

Bedeviled by Wenzell Brown

Bedeviled
by Wenzell Brown
1961, Monarch

Part true crime, part psychological case studies, all clearly made up from whole cloth. These five cases center around the concept of the death wish: people seeking to be punished to satisfy their guilt over sexual impulses. For Brown, this means that the victims were quire literally asking for it.

A starlet forces a migrant worker to tie her up and whip her. Things go to far and she is strangled to death. For Brown, not only is the woman responsible, she is responsible for her murderers execution. Couldn't find any real cases of a young Hollywood star married to a famous producer being tied down and murdered, figured that would have shown up on Mysteries and Scandals.

An American working in Cuba cross-dresses as a woman to lure men, with the explicit purpose of being beating up by them, before being murdered by an African sect.

A lesbian, feeling guilty about it, taunts a gang hoodlum and is gang raped, cause serious injury and brain damage that left her nearly blind. She's later run over by a drunk driver who flees the scene, who is the last victim of her death wish rampage. Brown complains that the jury in his trial was not made aware that the victim was a lesbian, which was somehow a mitigating factor.

A teacher with an incredibly specific kink. She slowly seduces her students, takes them to a NYC hotel on New Year's Eve, taunts them into raping her (again, according to Brown), then yells at them to leave her alone. She is eventually murdered, the poor man.

A woman has sex with her son and is murdered by him. You know this is fake because it's an adopted son, the same cop out that lives on in dryers across the internet. He ends this section complaining that Americans are too uptight when it comes to incest.

Modern readers will get whiplash with this one. The vibe is very much that of a progressive,  sociological, compassionate look at the roots of behavior, then spits out victim blaming homophobia that would make Anita Bryant blush.

Included in Wildside's True Crime Megapack, from Amazon

Nick Carter: Killmaster 188 Death Island by Nick Carter

Nick Carter: Killmaster 188
Death Island
by Nick Carter (David Hagberg)
1984, Ace Books

The Chinese are riling up natives on a Pacific Island to interfere with a radar installation. Still had the feel of a 60s espionage novel, but a bit darker in parts. The natives are shown projections of actors killing and raping children, and Carter gets strapped to a chair with a hole in the seat and a fondue chafing dish underneath. Otherwise a bit tepid.

From Amazon

True Confessions August, 1974

True Confessions
August, 1974
Vol 82 Iss 625

Why I Kidnapped My Own Baby

Tired of his wife leaving the baby in the car while shopping, husband of the year kidnaps the kid to teach her a lesson, only for her to disappear. Kept waiting for the ironic gotcha back at the husband, but no, it just keeps getting more horrible.

The Newspapers Call Me His Black Sweetheart

A judge helps out a waitress while having an affair at a motel, resulting in him helping her getting jobs and paying for her school. A newspaper takes a picture of an indiscrete moment, there's a secret father, and a political scandal which just kind of fizzles out.

I Became a Street Beggar to Support My Baby Girl

Overlong bit about a poor lady. The begging didn't enter into it as much as her older married sugar daddy.

Jenny's Last Ride

A teenage girl's father commits suicide, she blames Mom, runs away, meets another girl at the bus station, gets her bag stolen, goes hitchhiking, the other girl gets raped and killed by a truck driver with the author escaping.

The Cat That Saved My Daughter's Sanity

Narrated by an overbearing mother: a rebellious kid gets pregnant, attempts suicide, is institutionalized, and has the baby taken away from her. She gets a kitten, which is nice, I suppose.

My Wife's Crazy Fear of Bugs Nearly Killed Our Baby

A neurotic mom  leaves her baby outside because she's afraid of a hornet, causing second degree sunburns. Her shrink finds the cause, which instantly cures her.

Tonight You'll Know Who a Real Man Is!

A woman in Alaska carpools with an abusive POS who tries to rape her after she beats him in a shooting contest. She threatens to stab him, earning his respect.

My 10-Year Engagement to a Total Stranger

Door to door salesman jokes that he'll be back to marry a customer ten years later and comes back to stalk/romance her.

Bunco Brawl: Hand Four

 

Crow shoots Renegade and Lassiter under the table and scoops up the pot.

Lassiter 6: High Lonesome by Jack Slade

Lassiter 6
High Lonesome
by Jack Slade (Peter McCurtin)
1969, Leisure Books

Lassiter comes in to a town to find his bounty already dead and the saloon full of hired guns. Two factions are in war over the town and Lassiter is recruited as Sheriff by one side. Lassiter sets up a meeting with the other side to get a Yojimbo thing going, but the book isn't long enough to support that so it gets cut short by all out war so Lassiter sneaks back into town to steal some money.

From Amazon

Renegade 5: Macumba Killer by Ramsey Thorne

Renegade/Captain Gringo 5
Macumba Killer
by Ramsay Thorne (Lou Cameron)

Captain Gringo is hired to deal with zombie revolts on a British sugar plantation. The previous installments have a great sense of movement, with Gringo constantly on the run, but this one felt quite stationary. There's a few mild Scooby Doo reveals and not much else.

The last installment had Gringo having sex with an underage girl, and this one has him raping a woman who pissed him off. The scene was out of character and felt like it was shoehorned in. I almost get the feel Cameron is being revolting on purpose.

From Amazon