SOLVED. Detective Book Club story: 3-in-1 volumes published by Walter J. Black.

[Patrick]

Hello

I have been searching many years for a particular Detective Book Club story in one of those 3-in-1 volumes published by Walter J. Black.

I thought the name of this story was "The Hiding Place" or something similar to that. Another story in that book (I thought) was entitled "The Letter" A search of the website has proved fruitless for either of these titles. I don't remember the title of the third story.

Website: http://www.detectivebookclub.net/

I believe this book was published in the 1960s or the 1970s, but, since I'm wrong about the titles, I'm may be wrong about this too. I read it in 1994 or '95.

I don't remember the names of the authors, or those of any of the characters.

(Possible MINOR plot giveaways/spoilers! ) The plot of the book I'm in search of (the one I thought was entitled "The Hiding Place"): Two men rob a business (a bank, maybe?) and elude the police. One of these fellows had been shot by a police officer while trying to escape. His uninjured partner drives him to a large empty farmhouse they know of in a rural area of the New Jersey pine barrens. The uninjured man tries to bandage his friend, but it becomes evident he needs to be taken to a hospital. The uninjured man decides to hide the black bag containing the money in the house (in the attic?) so they can get medical attention without being caught with the stolen money. They plan to return later to get the hidden money. En route to the hospital the injured man dies of his wounds. His partner is forced to leave the body in the car and flee. At some point, a man, the protagonist, inherits the house from his aunt and decides to do improvements to the house and use it as a weekend retreat from the city. Later, if I remember correctly, the uninjured partner, having served a term in prison on an unrelated charge, returns to the farmhouse to retrieve the money - only to be killed by an unknown person - the police investigate. The house had been part of the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. This involves the local area historian and his lovely niece. The niece becomes the love interest for the protagonist. A private detective becomes involved with trying to locate the money. Then the merry chase begins to find the money and murderer and so on.

I must be very mistaken about the name of this story and "The Letter" as well. I can't find either title on the website. I even searched the unlisted and promotional volumes without luck.

These books varied in appearance over the years, but the one I read had the artwork printed on the cover of the book itself rather than on a paper dust cover like some other volumes of the same series. The book in question had the titles in black ink over red/orange and white artwork.

Sample: https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Biga...

Sample: https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Book...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Patrick

[Patrick]

Hello

I found this book while looking for more details for my question- It's "The Hiding Place" by Carlton Keith. I was correct about the title.

"The Sniper" and "Alias His Wife" are the other two titles. The actual name of the book I thought was called "The Letter" is "Alias His Wife".

Trying to explain this question to others lead me to answer it myself.

Thanks to all who took a moment to read my question.

Patrick

[Patrick]

Hello

Here is the non-Detective Book Club edition. If I had only known the author's name, it would have been easy:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...