Dig My Grave Deep, first published in 1956 is a noir thriller by master novelist Peter Rabe. The story centers on Daniel Port, a smart gangster who wants to get out of the criminal life while he still can, but to do so, his boss orders him to complete one last job – eliminating his chief rival for control of the city. The city, by the way, is replete with corruption at all levels of politics, government bureaucracies, and big business; no one is to be trusted. Rabe (1921-1990) was the author of over 30 books, mostly crime fiction, and published between 1955 and 1975. Dig My Grave Deep is the first book in the Daniel Port series. Peter Rabe’s Dig My Grave Deep is a hard-hitting story of political corruption. Gangsters, businessmen and politicians are indistinguishable from one another, and law and order are just signs that corruption is going smoothly. And the closest thing to a hero is a disillusioned mobster whose chief – and perhaps only remaining – virtues are that he doesn’t lie and that he can see the whole crooked charade for what it really is. But in a deceitful world of double-crossers, profiteers, and opportunists, an honest criminal is a rare friend, indeed. One worth killing, and maybe dying, for. Daniel Port is a gangster who wants to get out of the rackets while he’s still alive. Max Stoker, his boss and slumlord politico, isn’t happy with the decision. Neither is Stoker’s political rival – Bellamy – who will do anything to get Port on his side to help crush Stoker and gain control of the territory. But Port isn’t one to sell out his friends so easily, so he decides to do Stoker one last favor and take care of Bellamy and his goons. Just one last job, and he’s out – if he can survive.
SOME MEN AND SOME MERCHANDISE ARE JUST TOO HOT TO HANDLE All Tony Catell knew when he broke into the university science lab was that they had a gold ingot on the premises for some sort of experiment. So he stole it. What he didn’t know was that the experiment involved nuclear power – and that the gold was dangerously radioactive. Now the cops and the FBI are on Tony’s trail, Tony’s underworld contacts don’t want anything to do with him, and the loot he’s lugging around is leaving a swath of radiation sickness and death in his path. And since he’s just come from his third stint in prison, if they catch him, he’s not going back to jail – he’s going to the electric chair…
Waler Lippit makes music all over town. He owns the juke boxes that play the tunes that keep the bars and the diners hopping. Jack St. Louis works for Lippit, smoothing the customers and keeping the nickels coming. But then along comes Benotti and the Chicago syndicate to louse up the operation. It's everything Jack can do to stay one step ahead. One step ahead of Benotti's gang, Lippit, and Lippit's willing wife Patty, who wants to be a singer and is convinced that Jack can make that happen too. And maybe he can. It's all in a week's work.
There was a robbery that went bad and a girl was accidentally shot dead. Just an accident. But to John Bunting, it was the end of all his hopes. The girl was his fiance. What could he do? The cops weren’t looking. He had to find the killers himself. And that’s when he ran into Linda. She had lost her husband, had stopped caring. But she knew the men responsible for the killing. She could get Bunting close to them while he figured out who fired the actual shot. They were two wounded souls, one filled with hate, the other trying to find a reason to live. It’s funny how much they needed each other . . .
Punching Dixon had gotten Jake Spinner thrown in jail, but now that he’s out all he wants is a fresh start back on his farm. Suddenly Dixon is dead and Spinner is on the run, escaping town in the getaway car with Dixon’s assassin in the back seat! He knows the cops won’t believe his innocence. He knows his only chance is to keep the cold, clubfooted little killer known as Loma with him. Because Loma is his ticket to a new life. His respectable life shattered, Spinner figures the only ones who’ll take him in now are the guys who hired Loma. The choice is easy - until he meets Ann.
Marvin Palaver dies at the worst possible moment in life, just when he is coming out even with his nemesis, fellow scrap seller Sidney Minsk. He is so close. The contract is signed and Sydney has just bought back his own scrap, the deal of a lifetime. Marve knows happiness supreme. But as the tears of joy make his eyes swim, there comes a bump in his chest, and he is dead before he hits the floor. But death doesn’t stop Marvin. His masterful schwindel must be complete. So Marve finagles his way back to the material plane for a bit of artful ghosting. Sidney has hidden the contract away, confident that he’s the only one who knows about it. All Marve needs to do is get him to reveal it - he should live so long!
Benny Tapkow has worked as a crime boss Pendleton’s chauffeur for seven years, but he’s itching to get ahead. He feels like he serves a piece of the action, but Pendleton won’t budge. So Benny strikes a deal with Big Al Alverato to kidnap Pendleton’s daughter Pat to get him in with the rival gang. But the snatch doesn’t come off as planned, and now Benny is stuck with Pat, a hellion with a temper and plenty of mood swings. Pendelton’s men are after him and he has to dope her just to keep her in line. The last thing he figured on was falling in love.
Sam Jordan never lets emotion interfere with his work. He is a precise and ruthless killing machine, dealing out death for hire. But his last job had ended wrong for Jordan, and now Sandy is sending him out again - without a break, yet - to take care of someone named Kemp. Hell, he even has to case the job himself. The whole thing feels jinxed. That’s when Jordan meets Betty, who works at the diner. To her he is Mr. Smith, a button salesman. But to Jordan, Betty is a sweet moment in his life, a safe haven. And that’s where he makes his first mistake - he allows himself to feel human.
Jimmy Gallivan is only three-and-a-half weeks from his prison release for trying to kill his wife’s lover seven years ago. But fellow-inmate Rand has other plans for Gallivan. A break-out is engineered, and now they’re hiding out in a sanitarium. But the whole set-up seems suspicious. Rand’s boss wants Gallivan to help him with his drug operation. But is that all there is to it? Because it begins to seem like the whole escape was engineered just for him. And what about Jesse? Where does she figure in all of this? Is she the bait - or has she become Gallivan’s new jailor?
Pander wore dark glasses and fancy suspenders and he moved into the San Pietro rackets like a sandblaster gone berserk. Fell, the boss, was mysteriously away and Pander grabbed the chance to bury his hands in the heavy money. Then Fell came back. At his side was Cripp, the human adding machine with the beautiful face and the twisted leg. With them came murder... wholesale.
Anthony Wheeler didn’t want the job. When Major Pitt called him into the London office, Wheeler was trying to track down his old mentor, Fairchild. It had been Fairchild who had pulled him into the business. Not everyone is cut out to be a spy - Wheeler excelled at it. And Pitt would simply not accept his refusal. Now he is off to Kaden in North Africa, where three Arab chieftains who had been feuding for years are suddenly acting very friendly. Wheeler’s mission - find out why. The last person he expects to run into is Fairchild. It is good to see his old friend - so why did it feel so wrong?
Matty Matthews has been to the town of Forza d’Aguil before. Stationed there with a small group of soldiers during WWII, it was here that Matty fell in love with Rosanna. It was a sweet, short-lived affair until the soldiers unexpectedly got orders to pull out. Matty never got to say goodbye. Now he’s back in Sicily, drawn to the mountain town after all these years. But the citizens of Forza d’Aguil are easy to offend, and when Matty inadvertently crosses Pino, the Mafioso sabotages his leaving. Trapped in Forza d’Aguil, hemmed in on all sides by the oppression of the town and its silent citizens, he’s stuck in the middle of Mafia country with no way out. He has only the help of the innkeeper Vinciguerra, a man he can’t understand, and the passion of the sweet Sophia. Or is she part of the sinister web, too?
Jack Jesso knows that Gluck wants him out of the syndicate. Still, when Gluck sends him on an errand to find a missing guy named Snell for a shady client of his, Johannes Kator, Jesso doesn’t figure it to be anything more than a test. He finds the guy alright - sick and rambling - but Gluck double-crosses him, and tosses Jesso on a Europe-bound steamer with Kator’s crew, their orders to kill him. Jesso quickly realizes that he holds the key to a big money deal in Snell’s ramblings, information that Kator desperately needs. All he has to do to stay alive is keep Kator interested. It’s a simple enough scheme - until Jesso meets Kator’s beautiful sister, Renette.
Charley's Rope was about frayed out. The caribinieri were after him, he had a bullet in his hip and no goddamn passport. Charley needed a passport bad. He needed that intricate piece of paper—signed, sealed, and innocent looking—the way only a G.I. in italy could need one. A G.I. deserter with a sweet fortune in blackmail lire and the carabinieri lusting to lay hands on him...
Quinn thought he had all the angles figured. After all, taking over the Organization should be a piece of cake for such a smart guy. But what he didn’t figure was that boss Ryder would stuff him in a large crate with enough food and water to sustain him - and ship him around the world. When the freighter ports at the North African town of Okar, the captain of the boat decides it's time to unload the box. It's starting to make noises, and it smells bad. What emerges from this wooden coffin looks barely human. But once Quinn recovers, he starts to look around. Is this a new chance at life, or an opportunity to cash in on another racket, halfway around the world?
Originally written as by "Marco Malaponte" and published by Beacon Books in 1963, these two Rabe rarities offer a look into the private side of suburbia that, according to author Rick Ollerman, "read like a Machiavellian Lolita.
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