Two rare and classic Brewer thrillers from the early 1960’s. A lonely widow, a hot-eyed tramp, and a half a million bucks create a recipe for murder in Nude on Thin Ice. In Memory of Passion, a phone call in the night summons a man into a world of secret desire and sudden violence. Deliriously delicious. --Frank Sennett, BOOKLIST Permeated with sweaty desperation. --James Reasoner, ROUGH EDGES For my money, Gil Brewer was one of the best pulpsters around. --Woody Haut, WOODY HAUT'S BLOG NUDE ON THIN ICE It starts with a letter. Ken McCall is sunning himself in Key West with his current girlfriend, Betty, when he finds out that his old friend Carl has died. Carl's last wish was that Ken look after his wife, Nanette, a request which Ken is only too eager to fill. Besides, there may be a fortune to be had if he can just play his cards right. First he ditches Betty. Then, after a hot drive across country, Ken finds that Carl's New Mexico mountaintop mansion is in the midst of a record-breaking winter. He is warmed immediately by his reception from a lovely young lady named Justine, who lives with Nanette and their surly caretaker Elmer. Ken is beginning to wonder what he's gotten himself into, when Betty shows up in town. Ken's plans are going to hell fast when Justine comes to him with a plan of her own for murder.MEMORY OF PASSION Bill Sommers has got it all. At 39, he's got a beautiful wife, Louise, and a wonderful daughter, Lolly, and a successful career in commercial art. Oh, sure, maybe things aren't perfect between he and Louise, but that's life. And then one rainy night Karen calls. Karen, his lost love. Karen, his high school sweetheart. Karen, the one who got away. She insists they meet. Bill is too curious not to agree. But he's not prepared for the young lady who shows up, claiming to be Karen Jamais. She's got all of Karen's memories even her looks, her moves, her delicious figure and all of Karen's passion. But that was over 20 years ago! How can this be Karen, unchanged after all these years? It's like a crazy dream. And Bill is about to enter a hidden world of passion and violence on his way to find out if the dream has come true. Gil Brewer was born Nov. 20, 1922 in Cauandaigua, NY. After leaving the army at the end of WWII, he joined his family who had settled in St. Petersburg, Florida. There he met Verlaine in 1947 and married her soon after. Brewer started by writing serious novels, but soon turned to paperback originals after a sale to Gold Medal Books in 1950. At his height, he was a brilliant writer of sharply defined noir thrillers, usually involving a male protagonist driven to crime by the sexual allure of a young siren. But unwilling to promote himself, his career took a turn for the worse after a mental breakdown, and a long decline into alcoholism. Brewer died on Jan. 9, 1983.