Armchair Fiction presents extra large editions of classic mystery-crime double novels.  The first novel is “The Dove” by top-of-the-line veteran mystery writer Milton K. Ozaki.  The second novel is a true classic of nail-biting suspense, “The Glass Ladder” by well-known sci-fi and mystery writer, Paul W. Fairman.  

HORROR OF BLACKWOOD CASTLE (1968) Heinz Drache, Karin Baal, Siegfried Schurenberg, Agnes Windeck. Baal inherits a mysterious old castle. She is pressured to sell the place, but refuses. That’s when bodies start

LABYRINTH (1959) Nadja Tiller, Peter Van Eyck, Nicole Badal, Amedeo Nazarri, Hannah Wieder. Labyrinth is a bizarre, brilliant film about a group of mental misfits in an out-of-this-world sanatorium... PLUS: AND THE WILD, WILD WOMEN (1960) Anna Magnani, Giulieta Masina. A frightened girl is sent to prison and exposed to prison culture...

BLACK DICE (1951) Jack LaRue, Linden Travers, Lili Molnar, Hugh McDermott. Travers is a society dame who is kidnapped by two small-time thugs. LaRue gives the best portrayal of his life as a bigtime gangster who owns the Black Dice Club, a classy spot filled with rich suckers, showgirls, and illicit types. PLUS:  NIGHTBEAT (1947) Ronald Howard, Maxwell Reed, Anne Crawford.  In this superb film noir gem, Ross and Howard play young men who join the police force.  Ross succeeds; Howard fails.  Howard ends up on the wrong side of the law when he falls in with a shady nightclub owner, brilliantly played by Reed...

HOT MONEY GIRL (1959) Eddie Constantine, Christopher Lee, Dawn Addams.  Constantine and Addams hatch a plot to recover a parcel of priceless jewels from behind the iron curtain.  Their quest takes them to an old convent that’s now a German police barracks. Lots of tense moments as they break through security lines. PLUS:  THE UNSTOPPABLE MAN (1960) Cameron Mitchell, Marious Goring, Harry Corbett.  Mitchell is a tycoon whose son is kidnapped.  There’s a huge ransom demand and the cops tell Mitchell to let them handle it.  Mitchell, though, takes matters into his own hands.  There’s a bit of sci-fi as Mitchell defends himself with a futuristic, hand-held flame projector...

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1948) Maxwell Reed, Siobhan McKenna, Anne Crawford, Honor Blackman.  McKenna is brilliant as an insane killer.  Reed is a carnival boxer who falls under her spell and ends up hideously scarred from her jagged fingernails.  Soon, young men turn up slain.  PLUS:  THE MONKEY’S PAW (1948) Milton Rosmer, Megs Jenkins, Michael Harvey, Eric Micklewood.  A man obtains a dead monkey’s magical paw.  He is bestowed three wishes. His first wish is to be debt-free.  The wish is granted, but the price is his son’s life.  The next wish is for the son to be returned to life—but the price is truly horrible...

NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH (1948) Jack LaRue, Linden Travers, Lili Molnar, Hugh McDermott. A top gangster film!  Travers is a dazzling society dame who is kidnapped by two thugs. LaRue is superb as a mobster who owns the Black Dice Club, a classy spot filled with rich suckers, showgirls, and crooks. DOUBLE CONFESSION (1950) Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Peter Lorre. Top British noir!  After his wife is slain in a seaside cottage, Farr, also a suspect, threatens to pin the crime on his wife’s lover...

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952) John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster. Terrific action drama about an ex-con who's nailed for an armored car robbery he didn't commit. He sets out to find the mastermind of the crime, which leads him south of the border.  PLUS:  BOMBAY WATERFRONT (1952) John Bentley, Patricia Dainton, Christopher Lee. Bentley is tops as the writer-turned-detective, Paul Temple. In this film, he tries to unmask a killer known as “the Marquis.”

FEAR NO MORE (1961) Mala Powers, Jacques Bergerac, John Harding.  Powers is the beautiful young ex-psychiatric patient who travels by train from L.A. to S.F.  She soon finds herself accused of murder when a corpst is found in her compartment. PLUS:  SHIP OF THE DEAD (1959) Horst Buckholz, Mario Adorf, Helmut Schmid.  A GREAT movie. A taut story of love, crime, hardship, hopelessness, and betrayal.  Buckholz is tops as a human castoff, in international limbo because of a lost passport.  

THE DEVIL’S AGENT (1961, Anamorphic) Peter Van Eyck, Christopher Lee, Macdonald Carey, Marianne Koch.   Former wartime Intel officer Van Eyck runs into his old pal, Lee, who takes him to his mansion for a fishing excursion. THE FACE OF THE FROG (1959, Anamorphic) Carl Lange, Joachim Fuchsberger, Siegfried Lowitz, Eddi Arent. An American detective becomes involved in a series of ghastly crimes. The only clue is the mysterious seal of the White Frog... 

M (1951) David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Martin Gabel, Raymond Burr, Luther Adler, Steve Brodie.  A well-done remake of the ’31 Lorre classic.  A mad killer is murdering small kids (this time in L.A.). The cops are combing the underworld, looking for the maniac. MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE (1951) Bela Lugosi, Arthur Lucan, Maria Mercedes, Dora Bryan. Although this was officially a “Mother Riley” film, the real star here is Bela, who brings to his part an intensity not seen since his early ‘30s films. Worth it for him alone. Bela plots to dominate the world with an army of robots.

PSYCHO CIRCUS (1966, Anamorphic Widescreen) Christopher Lee, Leo Genn, Anthony Newlands, Heinz Drache, Margaret Lee, Eddi Arent, Klaus Kinski.  A botched heist ends with one of the criminals shooting a police officer. The shooter is given the chance to give the boss his share... RAT FINK (1966. Anamorphic Widescreen) Schuyler Hayden, Hal Bokar, Warrene Ott, Judy Hughes.  A great film!  Hayden is a ruthless rock singer wannabe who takes what he wants, unafraid to stamp out anybody who gets in his way...

MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953) Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer, Frances Bavier. The setting is London during the Jack the Ripper killing spree.  Palance plays a reserved research pathologist who takes up lodgings in a sitting room with a spooky attic room for his "experiments...”  THE BLACK RIDER (1954) Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson, Leslie Dwyer, Lionel Jeffries. This B-quickie has both sci-fi and horror elements.  Hanley is a fierce young reporter who tackles the story of a hooded black rider who is seen (on a motorcycle) near a crumbling castle on full moon nights.  Who is the rider and what is his strange purpose...

Armchair Fiction presents large, deluxe editions of classic mystery-crime novels. Veteran crime novelist Milton K. Ozaki tells a powerful tale of deception and murder in “The Dummy Murder Case.” It was a mock murder that led to...

EASY MONEY (1936, Invincible) Onslow Stevens, Kay Linaker, Noel Madison, Allen Vincent.  An assistant DA botches an insurance racket trial against his brother.  He resigns, but goes to work for a private firm in order to bring his brother to justice.  When the brother is murdered, he sets out after the killers...

(1945, Upgraded 3/29/24) David Farrar, Dennis Price, Pamela Stirling, Julien Mitchell. A great Sexton Blake mystery! In a lonely, dark house in Cornwall, a man is murdered in the black of the night, shortly after leaving a confession to an earlier murder on a Dictaphone.  Another man is found slain on the beach below...