The Beautiful Stranger / The Missing Heiress (Stark House Mystery Classics)

THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER: When Jim McGowan brings his new bride home to his small mill town, no one knows what to make of her. With her dark hair and flawless skin, Terese is the most beautiful woman any of them have ever seen. It is as if Elizabeth Taylor had moved to town. So naturally, Lester Coleman, the town wolf, has to make his play. But Terese only has eyes for Jim, and doesn’t give Lester a moment’s thought. Which doesn’t stop the tongues from wagging―the jealous wives are quick to assume the worst about Terese. And while they worry about the new woman in town, the men debate the possibility of the union coming in. Everyone knows that Lester is a snitch for management. The situation is primed for disaster. And that is just what happens. THE MISSING HEIRESS: Seventeen-year-old heiress, Virginia Forester, has gone missing. Has she been kidnapped, or is she just hiding out? The hunt is on, and all the newspapers run the story. So when a new couple show up at the Shady Dell trailer park, Mrs. Camarilla is suspicious. There’s a reward for Virginia’s return, and Mrs. Camarilla would like to be the one to receive it. But first she must deal with the problem of an old nemesis who pulls into the park with a new husband and a new identity. There may be a quick profit to be made here as well. When Mrs. Camarilla is found murdered in her trailer, the cops find their missing heiress. But the coincidence is more than Inspector Granger can allow. Only Virginia had something to gain by the death of Mrs. Camarilla―and that is exactly who he suspects. Plus, “He Got What He Deserved,” Bernice Carey’s only crime short story!

Bernice Carey was born in Chetak, Wisconsin on June 27, 1910, the daughter of Danish immigrants. At the age of 13, her family moved to California, where they moved around a lot, living in several towns on the West Coast. In the 1930s, Carey joined with the leftist political movement and wrote pro-labor texts. Her second husband, Richard Martin, encouraged her to write mysteries, and she began her fiction career with The Reluctant Murderer in 1949. She followed this with seven more mysteries, all set in central California, particularly around the Salinas area. In her later years, Bernice Carey was active in local theater. She died of a heart attack at age 79 in Santa Clara, California, on February 8, 1990.