An uncensored wanton was Marie, an unadulterated adultress who lived in a world of men — and enemies. There was a raging furnace fueled by greed and desire. Her passion was to inflame men and then consume them, leaving behind her the ashes of dead loves. In the summer resort where she reigned, man after man felt the touch of her fire, woman after woman shriveled up in her fierce glow…and the human debris mounted. Then the stranger came among them, a man with a past too heavy to carry, with a granite heart and hands to tear the world apart… or snuff out a life. And so they met, fire beat against unmelting rock, and the air of summer was charged with the stifling heat that comes before the storm.DARK OF SUMMER By E.M. Parsons
An uncensored wanton was Marie, an unadulterated adultress who lived in a world of men — and enemies. There was a raging furnace fueled by greed and desire. Her passion was to inflame men and then consume them, leaving behind her the ashes of dead loves. In the summer resort where she reigned, man after man felt the touch of her fire, woman after woman shriveled up in her fierce glow…and the human debris mounted. Then the stranger came among them, a man with a past too heavy to carry, with a granite heart and hands to tear the world apart… or snuff out a life. And so they met, fire beat against unmelting rock, and the air of summer was charged with the stifling heat that comes before the storm.
Texas: 1869. When a man wearing Yankee blue returns home, he’s a walking target… even for his own brother.
Johnny was a crap game hustler, but when he blew into town they pegged him wrong. The cops said, ‘Killer,’ and slugged him simple. ‘Lover,’ the rich gal said, and got him even worse mixed up. Next came the ex-striptease queen with the heart of gold or pewter, and the Happiness Boys from the Syndicate…
They call him Johnny Berlin and he has an instinct for cards… for trouble… and for women.