Kermit Jaediker

Tall, Dark and Dead / The Savage Chase / Run the Wild River Kermit Jaediker

TALL, DARK AND DEAD

Tina Van Lube is being blackmailed by a disreputable ex-lover, so she hires detective Lou Lait to get her incriminating love letters back. All in a day's work for Lait. Except for one small detail--the disreputable ex-lover, columnist Erskine Spalding, is found dead with a knife in his back. Suspects abound: Tina's husband Jan, disfigured war hero; Tina's hot-headed brother, Stanislaus; Coates, the recently-fired butler; plain-but-dedicated secretary, Prescott; the gun-running Colonel; the social-climbing Durkins...even Lolita, the dancer. They all had their reasons for quieting the nasty gossip columnist. Lait's making it his job to find out who did the deed.

THE SAVAGE CHASE

Everybody wants Stallings. Stallings is rich and when he gets drunk all he wants to do is gamble...and he always loses. So when a clever cabbie ends up with Stallings passed out in the back of his taxi, he takes him to a hotel room and trades the man to gambler Lee Mayo for some quick cash. Mayo has been carrying on with Stallings wife, but agrees to the exchange, and then tells her where he is. So they hustle over to the hotel, only to find that someone has already picked him up. Now the word is beginning to spread and fellow gambler Ernie Wiles becomes involved, a man much more ruthless than Mayo and determined to find Stallings first. They all want Stallings--what they don't know is that Stallings is completely broke!

RUN THE WILD RIVER

The two deputies escort Bill Ackroyd out of Juarez, kick him around a little, and take all his money. Bleeding and thirsty, he meets Manuel, who gets him back on his feet. Manuel has been leading his fellow Mexicans across the Rio Grande as cheap Texas labor, but having seen the error of his ways, wants Ackroyd to help him break up the illegal business. Ackroyd sees a perfect opportunity, and joins the human traffickers instead. Soon he meets Maria, and figures out how they can make some real money by finding out who controls the whole setup. It's all going so well. Until blonde, beautiful Gail Graham comes to town...