Crime SuspenStories #1

Credits:
Cover dated October/November 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"Murder May Boomerang" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Death's Double Cross" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"A Snapshot of Death" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"High Tide!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

The first issue of Crime SuspenStories, E.C.'s New Trend version of a crime comic (EC had a couple of crime comics prior to the New Trend). This issue is a fairly good one, one of the better of the early issues. The first story, "Murder May Boomerang" was later reprinted in issue 19 (as already covered here).
"Murder May Boomerang" - A man drives through the rain in a car with his father. Flashbacks show the father raising the son alone after his wife died. When the son grows up, he goes to college and becomes a chemist and gets a raise that permits his father to stop working. The two go on a vacation to celebrate where they go hunting, camping, etc... One night when the son leaves his father alone he hears about maniacs that have escaped from a local prison and are where his father is. The son rushes back and finds his father beaten, and that one of the escaped maniacs have stolen some of his hunting clothes. The son heads out and kills the maniac when his father points him out to him. But later when they spot another man in hunting clothes, the father claims he was his attacker. The son realizes that his father has had a nervous breakdown and will point out anyone wearing hunting clothes as his attacker.

"Death's Double Cross" - A woman named Ruth is bored with her marriage to John, pining for his twin brother Ronald whom she loved more but had gone away years before. Ronald, who bears a mole on his face, suddenly turns up one day and the two of them plot to kill John so Ronald can take his place. John walks in as they are discussing it, and Ruth wonders if he overheard it. Ronald successfully kills John, making it look like a drowning. Soon however Ronald grows cold and has surgery to remove the mole from his face. His doctor tells Ruth he never had it removed in the first place. Ruth starts fearing for her life and is nearly killed by a safe. She wonders if either Ronald has decided to kill her, or if it has been John the entire time.

"A Snapshot of Death!" A woman named Jean is told that she has an incurable disease and has six months to live. She decides to kill herself, but doesn't have the nerve, so she goes to a man named "Red" Morgan whom she pays to find an assassin to kill her. She is soon told however that she will be able to undergo surgery to cure her illness. She is deathly afraid for her life, especially as a dark figure arpproaches the house. Eventually he is able to make it in, and carries a picture of her with him. Jean passes out. She wakes up later and it is revealed that the man is a policeman, who had come across the photo when "Red" was struck by a truck and killed.

"High Tide!" - Four men depart on a mail delivery ship from a prison island. Soon the radio announces that a killer has escaped from the prison and is on the ship. Each of the men denies being the killer and one of the men on the ship, an accountant is deathly afraid of what will happen to them. Things get worse as both the engine and radio go out. The men accuse each other of being the killer, except for the quiet boat captain. When a gun is found on board, the men agree that they will seperate the gun and ammunition and that two of the men will stay up to keep watch while the others sleep. When the accountant tries to escape, one of the men grabs the gun and shoots him. This gets one of the other men to suspect he is the killer, so they fight each other. Once the accuser has killed the other man though, he is promptly shot by the ship captain, who truly is the killer. He jumps off the boat and tries to make it to shore, but the tide comes in very quickly, and not being able to swim, he drowns.