Bargain Counter Corpse E-Book

Arthur Leo Zagat

• Herausgeber: Al-Mashreq eBookstore
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Serie: Doc. Turner Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 27

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Bargain Counter Corpse by Arthur Leo Zagat is a captivating mystery that unfolds in the bustling aisles of a department store, where a seemingly ordinary day turns into a nightmare. When a corpse is discovered among the sales racks, the store's grand opening becomes a crime scene. Amid the chaos, a sharp-witted detective must sift through a maze of clues, hidden motives, and secrets buried beneath the surface of everyday life. With a list of suspects as long as the receipt, the stakes are high as the detective races to unmask the killer before they strike again. This suspenseful whodunit will keep you guessing until the very end.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Bargain Counter Corpse

Synopsis

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2

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Cover

Bargain Counter Corpse

Doc. Turner Series

By: Arthur Leo Zagat

Edited by: Rafat Allam

Copyright © 2024 by Al-Mashreq Bookstore

First published in The Spider, August 1938

No part of this publication may be reproduced whole or in part in any form without the prior written permission of the author

Synopsis

Into Doc Turner's impoverished neighborhood came the man who dealt out invisible death—and no power could stop him until Doc double-crossed this devil's disciple by performing a little murder-magic himself!

The Spider, August 1938, with "Bargain Counter Corpse"

1

THE thumb-cushion of the man's right hand was freshly slashed. The gash was an inch long, and so deep that the blue-white string of a tendon lay exposed. But strangely enough the glistening wound did not bleed at all... Coming forward from behind the sales-counter of his ancient pharmacy, Doc Turner noted this unusual fact, and a chill prickle scampered down his spine. It explained why the two pushcart peddlers, who had led the man in from Morris Street's hurly- burly, were greenish under the grimy stubble of their beards. Their eyes were wide-pupiled, staring.

The shorter of the pair was Aaron Pitsker, vendor of kosher delicatessen from a white-painted cart. "Aye, Doc Turner," he exclaimed. "He stopped by my wagon—and right away got cut. How it happened, I can't figure out."

"'How' does not matter." The voice was oddly low-pitched and resonant for the stranger's gaunt frame. The hollow tones, somehow, seemed ominous. "Metal has entered flesh, and flesh is not water that ignores the severing blade." Skeleton thin, he was head-and-shoulders above his guides. "Or forgives it."

A curious hush, as of sudden fear, stilled the polyglot jabber of the jostling, curious crowd that jammed the drugstore's doorway, peering in. Pitsker let go his hold on the black-sleeved arm. The second huckster, a swarthy Sicilian Doc knew only as Angelo, stepped backward stiff-kneed, crossing himself.

It was not alone the man's sepulchral tones, nor even the amazing circumstance of the unbleeding wound, that enveloped him with an atmosphere of uncanny menace. He was clad in black, even to the clerical collar that enclosed the scrawny throat above his high-necked, seamless vest. The skin of his countenance was tight-stretched over unpadded bone, yellow as old parchment and as devoid of hair. His eyes... Where his eyes should have been were two empty sockets, so deep and shadowed that they appeared burned into that grim visage by red-hot irons that had left them lined with coal!

Andrew Turner took the injured hand in his own gnarled fingers, bent to examine the cut. Sunlight, coming in over the heads of the crowd, made of the old druggist's hair a silvery cloud. Doc seemed very small and fragile, in the brooding silence.