Mercury Mystery Book-Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2

This October 1955 issue of Mercury Mystery Book-Magazine features Frank Gruber's novelette "Falcon City Frame-Up," the lead story. The tale follows Joe Springer, a down-on-his-luck drifter from New York who becomes a witness to a mob murder on 49th Street and flees the city. Desperate and nearly broke, Springer travels nine days by backroads before arriving in the small town of Falcon City (population 6,912) seeking safety from Big Jake Moriarty's reach. Penniless, he registers at the Faulkner Hotel using an alias and immediately begins maneuvering for survival, encountering locals including a sympathetic waitress named Nell and newspaper publisher Carl Wagoner. The issue includes additional mystery stories and articles: "Murder on the Lake" by J.A. Kripper, "The Fabulous Drake Swindle" by W.T. Brannon, "The Case of the Greedy Groom" by Lawrence G. Blochman, courtroom and crime-related pieces, and "The Murdered Magdalen" by Craig Rice. A preview for the November issue advertises Gil Brewer's novel "Red Scarf" and W.T. Brannon's article on spontaneous human combustion.