Ron Goulart
2) Big Bang
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His brain scrambled, Jake tries to clear himself of a murder charge Jake Pace comes to on the floor of a dungeon, where a robot jailer is killing rats. The last twenty-four hours are a blank; he doesn't remember anything since he stepped into his skycar, chasing a tip on the Big Bang murders. For weeks the killings have stumped every officer in the government-costing six of them their lives-but a soprano named Palsy Hatchbacker told Jake she knew...
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"I could change, you see, and take things as all sorts of odd characters. If I was spotted and followed, I'd try to duck in an alley or a doorway and change again. The clothes are extra. Sometimes I could hide clothes in a lot. Most of the time, though, I'd have to change into something new. A bird, a cat. Then I'd carry what I had stolen in my beak or around my neck. Once I copped an umbrella and changed into a big dog and went off with it in my...
4) Brainz, Inc
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A dead woman hires Jake to investigate her murder. Jake Pace is halfway through mixing a batch of cookies when his lawyer arrives with a corpse. The body in the coffin is an android, built in the shape of recently deceased electronics heiress Sylvie Kirkyard and implanted with a chip that holds Sylvie's memories. Although she was only twenty-seven, Sylvie had for a long time feared for her life, and took the precaution of insuring her consciousness...
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An all-star serial killer terrorizes Earth's smartest detectives Raffles Tunny, a juggler in the employ of the United States government, is relaxing at his Swiss chalet when a killer comes to call. He's found the next day, electrocuted in the style of serial murderer Shocker Fulson, the man with the electric touch. The trouble is, Shocker's dead-cremated and interred in New Orleans-and Raffles is not the first victim. Six other government-employed...
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A vanished jungle princess forces John Easy to visit the capitol of kook: San Francisco The jungle scenery is costing Marco Killespie a cool hundred thousand dollars. A stickler for quality, this king of television advertising doesn't mind writing big checks, but his latest masterpiece-a root beer commercial-is in serious danger of going over budget. Everything was going fine until his leading lady, the up-and-coming Jill Jeffers, disappeared. ...
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When a body is found in Holmes's 221B Baker Street lodgings on the set at Mammoth Studios during the shooting of The Valley of Fear, Groucho Marx and his sidekick Frank Denby begin investigating, in Ron Goulart's hilarious mystery Elementary, My Dear Groucho.
The victim is the German emigre director of the movie who was found in the great detective's favorite armchair, stabbed in the chest with Holmes's pearl-handled letter opener. There is another...
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John Easy searches California for a screenwriter's daughter who's back from the dead. In 1972, Los Angeles is the wacko capital of the world. Gurus, junkies, and wannabe actresses all wind up here, and when one goes missing, John Easy is there to investigate. A hip private eye with a battered VW and a major turtleneck collection, he's pondering an encroaching wildfire when his secretary tells him that Frederic McCleary's daughter has risen from the...
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In this inventive mystery set in Hollywood's golden era, Ron Goulart revives America's favorite cigar-wielding comic-Groucho Marx. Needing a project to occupy him between movie stints, Groucho agrees to act in a radio serial. But when a beautiful starlet is found dead before production even begins, Groucho is determined to find out who killed her.
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Groucho Marx made the transition from screen to paper in Ron Goulart's widely acclaimed first novel, Groucho Marx, Master Detective, where he debuted as a radio star-cum-private eye. Groucho and Frank aren't enjoying their latest costar, singing child prodigy Polly Pilgrim, a spoiled ingenue. When a prominent Beverly Hills plastic surgeon is found dead in his palatial home, and Polly's mother, the faded actress Frances London, is accused of his murder,...
11) Galaxy Jane
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Interplanetary journalist Jack Summer discovers that smugglers plan to secret their supply of the deadly drug Zombium aboard an immense movie studio starship, and, with the help of his boss's daughter and a robot photographer, he sets out to get the story.
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As earthquakes shake Los Angeles, John Easy looks for a missing adman. John Easy never likes to get out of bed, especially when the woman beside him is as beautiful as Jill Jeffers, but no man can argue with an earthquake. The quake subsides after a few moments, but another one is coming. Something fierce is about to rock Los Angeles, and California's hippest private detective is going to be right in the middle of it. Gay Holland, Easy's newest...
13) Hail Hibbler
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Jake and his wife grapple with a harebrained Nazi doctor Jake Pace is battling a bistro's worth of robotic mafia goons when the government comes to ask him a favor. The Department of Big Business has a particularly sensitive murder on its hands, and Jake, proprietor of Odd Jobs, Inc., is a sensitive detective. A week ago, Statz Kazee announced to a television audience of 140 million that his next scoop would blow the lid off the international business...
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It could be said that in this episode Groucho Marx operates as a Hollywood-style Scarlet Pimpernel, with a repertoire of outrageous puns covering the steely, daring life of a counterspy. But, as Groucho might retort, his cover is at the dry-cleaner, and, besides, Groucho is not one to hide his light under any bushel (even one of stuffed clams). So he and Frank Denby, his sidekick, scriptwriter and close friend, set out to uphold their reputation as...
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A copywriter's wife has vanished, and only John Easy is slick enough to save her Jim Benning makes $25,000 a year writing drivel for the admen at the Arbogast & Joseph Agency, and his wife thinks he's worth a whole lot less. Joanna is a model: nervous, beautiful, and prone to meltdowns. In a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, she agrees to a few sessions with a psychiatrist in San Ignacio-a quack whose psychobabble is more sinister than it...
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Vampires, werewolves, mechanical men - it's all in a day's work for Harry Challenge, agent of the Challenge International Detective Agency! This volume collects both Harry Challenge novels by Ron Goulart, "The Prisoner of Blackwood Castle" and "The Curse of the Obelisk."
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Frank Denby and Groucho Marx arrive on the set of the new Ty-Gor film, a Tarzan knockoff, expecting to have Groucho do his humorous walk-on. What they find is that Randy Spellman, the star of the picture, has been murdered. Frank's wife, Jane, is only a few weeks away from having their baby and the amateur detective team has promised to lay off on the sleuthing. But when a stuntwoman who has gone missing is suspected of the murder, Jane insists they...
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In Ron Goulart's well received series featuring comedian-cum-amateur sleuth Groucho Marx, Groucho and his writer Frank Denby have made a name for themselves as detectives. In fact, in their last case, they were able to outsmart Sherlock Holmes, or at least the actor playing him. However, both men play down their sleuthing abilities and to escape their new reputation, Groucho agrees to perform in a Broadway play and Frank accompanies his wife on a...
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The Second Mystery Megapack selects 25 more tantalizing mystery tales, by modern and classic authors. Included are:
FUNNY STUFF, by Ron Goulart
PIT ON THE ROAD TO HELL, by John Gregory Betancourt
WHAT IS COURAGE? by Mack Reynolds
JUST THE FACTS, by Meg Opperman
TEN GRAINS OF SAND, by Christopher B. Booth
MORE ALLISONS THAN I KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH, by Michael Hemmingson
REFLECTION OF A DREAM, by Jean Lorrah
GRIM REAPER'S HANDICAP,...
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Christmas is a time for giving, for receiving... and for murder. We've collected ten Christmas stories, old and new, that will spike your eggnog, trim your tree, and hopefully add a dash of spice to your Christmas cheer. Included are:
"A Christmas Pit," by John Gregory Betancourt
"A Reversible Santa Claus," by Meredith Nicholson
"A Stake of Holly," by Lillian Stewart Carl
"Believing in Santa," by Ron Goulart
"Death Will Trim Your Tree," by Liz...