Press agent Jake Justus doesn’t care if all of Chicago drops dead. He’s just tied the knot with debutante Helene Brand, and a Bermuda honeymoon is only three in-flight martinis away. But the shooting death of a man in broad daylight, on the busiest shopping day of the year, with plenty of witnesses, is particularly ill timed. Jake’s pal, attorney John J. Malone, agrees. Only a day before, wedding guest Mona McClane, notorious jet-setter and tipsy big-game hunter, bet the two men she could bag an innocent stranger and they’d never be able to prove a thing.
Then Malone discovers that the victim wasn’t so innocent. Any number of people wanted him dead. And if Mona is only one of them, Malone’s wagering there’s much more to this murder than just the thrill of getting away with it.
The dreaded Skull Killer returns! Jeffrey Fairchild, alias kindly Doctor Skull, alias the crime-crushing Skull Killer and the hero of the first issue of The Octopus, is back for another run against the insane leader of the Purple Eyes cult. But this time, the malevolent mastermind is not the Octopus, but his sinister successor, the diabolical Scorpion! Branded with a scorpion symbol on his face, this new titan or terror bids fair to outdo the depredations of his predecessor. All through Manhattan, ordinary citizens are transformed into merciless murderous maniacs. Mother slay their children. Husbands slaughter their wives. And only one hero can halt the madness of Satan's Incubator.
The dreaded Skull Killer returns! Jeffrey Fairchild, alias of the kindly crime-crushing Skull Killer and the hero of the first issue of The Octopus, is back for another run against the insane leader of the Purple Eyes cult. But this time, the malevolent mastermind is not the Octopus, but his sinister successor, the diabolical Scorpion! Branded with a scorpion symbol on his face, this new titan of terror bids fair to outdo the depredations of his predecessor. All through Manhattan, ordinary citizens are transformed into merciless murderous maniacs. Mothers slay their children. Husbands slaughter their wives. And only one hero can halt the madness of Satan's Incubator... This riveting audiobook includes three eerie novelettes of menace also from the April-May, 1939 issue of The Scorpion.
Who is...The Octopus? All of Manhattan trembles at the mention of the name cloaking the most malevolent mastermind since Fu Manchu. Leader of the Purple Eyes Cult. Master of a legion of deformed monsters that were once men. Would-be conquer of the world. A titan of tentacled terror. Who could defeat such a fiend? Only a hero as ruthless as he! Out of the ghetto emerges the kindly Dr. Skull, healer of the impoverished. Few suspect that Dr. Skull is by night the dreaded Skull Killer, crusher of criminals. And no one knows that a third identity lurks behind those artificial faces... In The City Condemned to Hell, these strange antagonists meet in a duel to their mutual destruction! Plus three bonus terror tales torn from the pages of the February-March, 1939 issue of The Octopus!-"The Little Dolls of Death", "Detour to the Grave" and "Locked in With Murder."!
Radio star Nelle Brown is known coast-to-coast for her sweet and sultry voice. But her press agent and manager, Jake Justus, is familiar with another side of the darling of the airwaves: her crackpot marriage to a penniless tycoon, disastrous string of lovers, and propensity for flying into spectacular fits of rage. Now, it appears she's being burned by an ex-flame who's holding her scandalous love letters for ransom. The missives could ruin Nelle's career, but so could the scoundrel's murder. For Nelle and Jake, reporting the crime is out of the question-not to mention pointless, as the corpse has vanished along with the incriminating evidence.
John J. Malone, Chicago's rumpled yet resourceful legal beagle, is tasked with finding both. But as every new unscrupulous lead turns up dead, Malone isn't sure whether Nelle is orchestrating a killer cover-up to save her pretty neck or if she's about to belt out her own swan song.
Who is The Octopus? All of Manhattan trembles at the mention of the name cloaking the most malevolent mastermind since Fu Manchu. Leader of the Purple Eyes Cult. Master of a legion of deformed monsters that were once men. Would-be conquer of the world. A titan of tentacled terror. Who could defeat such a fiend? Only a hero as ruthless as he! Out of the ghetto emerges the kindly Dr. Skull, healer of the impoverished. Few suspect that Dr. Skull is by night the dreaded Skull Killer, crusher of criminals. And no one knows that a third identity lurks behind those artificial faces. In The City Condemned to Hell, these strange antagonists meet in a duel to their mutual destruction! Plus three bonus terror tales torn from the pages of the February- march 1939 issue of The Octopus! - "The Little Dolls of Death", "Detour to the Grave." And "Locked in With Murder."!
