A Jimmy Starr Omnibus

Jimmy Starr wrote three Hollywood mysteries in the 40s and this huge 446-page juggernaut has the complete texts of all three. First is 1944's THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D. and is the finest body-in-a-trunk thriller you'll read this year. Then it's THREE SHORT BIERS, which is more fun than a carful of circus clowns -- small clowns. And then follows HEADS YOU LOSE which rivals the works of Harry Stephen Keeler in relishing the finding of a body with its head cut off and sewn back on. The cover is by Gavin L. O'Keefe and there's an Afterword wherein editor Fender Tucker tells how he savaged the book to make it better.