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First published in the United States of America by Maclay & Associates, Inc. 1985

This edition with a series introduction by Guillermo del Toro published in Penguin Books 2013

Copyright © Ray Russell, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1985

Series introduction copyright © Necropia, Inc., 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Sardonicus, Sagittarius, and “Comet Wine” first appeared in Playboy and “The Vendetta” first appeared as “The Man Who Spoke in Rhyme” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Sanguinarius was published in Ray Russell’s Unholy Trinity (Bantam, 1967). Some stories have been revised and expanded by the author.

ISBN 978-0-14-312401-6

ISBN 978-1-101-62711-2 (eBook)

These selections are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.