Eighteen Golden Age stories of mystery, romance, and danger from the celebrated author of Murder in Peking and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

As he tries to reunite with the woman he loves, an escaped fugitive becomes enveloped in a game of cat and mouse with the policeman who put him away. An undertaker and his assistant discover a potion of almost magical proportions. A young woman hatches an elaborate plot to get her suitors institutionalized. A professional golfer becomes infatuated with another man's wife. A short story writer finds an unusual way to work out his next idea while riding public transportation.

Although Vincent Starrett went on to write successful mystery novels, he continued creating tales like these for pulp magazines in the 1920s and 30s. "The Fugitive," "The Elixir of Death," "Four Friends of Mavis," "The End of the Story," and "The Truth About Delbridge" are just a sampling of the fantastic and bizarre stories featured in this volume, some exhibiting a sense of humor, others irony or terror.