This Way Out

'The perfect murder must be so simple that no one would suspect it to be murder.'

Stories of Crime and Detection Volume III contains a novel, a novelette and a short story:

This Way Out Philip Marshall is locked in a long and hellish marriage with his wife Cora, with divorce not an option. Cora delights in tormenting Philip, ready to pour bile in his ear at the slightest provocation; complaining of "his weaknesses...his failure as a money-maker...his deficiencies as a lover" to almost anyone who will listen. Home life is so unpleasant that their son John has moved out, telling his landlady he is an orphan. By chance, Philip meets young Mary Grey and finds the warmth and tenderness his life has missed. Longing for escape and a chance at redemption, Philip begins planning the perfect murder, but things do not go to plan... This Way Out was the basis of the Charles Laughton movie The Suspect (1944).

Diamonds of Death A humorous 'pulp fiction' story that involves a stolen diamond necklace, American gangsters, murder and romance.

Ruined by Water What happens when you mix a crooked bank clerk and a new reservoir?

JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged 17 to 'earn his fortune', later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).