Arthur Hoyt

A down-on-his luck newspaperman finds himself the center of an experiment being conducted by two daffy millionaires--to see if someone can spend $1000 a minute, every minute, for 12 solid hours. If he can do it, he gets $10,000. If he can't do it, he gets nothing. —frankfob2@yahoo.com

Pat Morgan and Ted Kord are rival newspaper reporters always trying to outscoop each other. They join together to solve a series of murders being committed in an apartment building. Pat Morgan is a reporter for the Morning News whose editor has placed her as an undercover secretary to philanthropist Adam Harker. He is mixed up in something with the local mob boss Josephus Martini. There is a shriek in the night; Adam Harker has fallen to his death from his penthouse. Police inspector Russell begins to suspect that Harker was pushed. He sees through Pat's cover as "Miss Terry", prying out of her a card she swiped from Harker bearing the image of a hissing snake and the words "You will hear it". Pat's rival reporter, Ted Rand, works for the Daily Express. He borrows a badge from his police friend Eddie, and gains access to the crime scene. He overhears Pat and Russell visiting, then phones the details of the case to his paper for an unethical scoop. Broken fingernails on Harker are consistent with scratches on a broken curtain rod in the apartment below his penthouse. The woman who lives there is dead, and her husband is missing. He is later found dead in the river. Harker's maid, Augusta, finds a secret compartment behind a bureau drawer while cleaning out the apartment. It is an anonymous threat to Harker for the role he played in the wrongful electrocution of Denny Fagan in prison. Pat and Ted now collaborate to gather further information on this case. Harker had been involved in placing blame on Denny for the murder of a Mr. Brinkman who had been applying heat on Harker. The apartment house janitor is behind all the murders. He is actually Denny's brother out for revenge. He uses gas to first subdue his victims. —Garon Smith

Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all on the same day. During the 1930s Depression, the Board of Directors of Thomas Dickson's bank want him to merge with New York Trust and resign; he refuses. One night, his bank is robbed of $100,000. The suspect is Matt Brown, an ex-convict whom Dickson hired and appointed Chief Teller. Brown, who's very loyal to Dickson, refuses to say where he was that night. He actually has two witnesses for his alibi, Mrs. Dickson and fellow worker Cyril Cluett, but Brown is protecting Dickson from finding out that Mrs. Dickson was with Cluett having a romantic evening. Cluett, who has a $50,000 gambling debt, is actually responsible for the robbery, but lets Brown take the rap. Will Brown's loyalty to Mr. Dickson pay off, or send him back to prison? —Kelly For 25 years, Tom Dickson, the President of Union National Bank, has had the bank, its employees and its clients in his best interest. In turn, his employees and the bank's clients are fiercely loyal to Tom and the bank. The bank's Board of Directors have a different view. They accuse Tom of being reckless, especially in being overly liberal in approving what they consider questionable loans. Tom defends his loan policy, stating that money in circulation is what is needed to help the country get out of the depression. The Board will do whatever it needs to to remove Tom from his position. When the bank is robbed of $200,000, one of Tom's most loyal employees, Matt Brown, the newly-appointed assistant head cashier, is implicated as the thief, although Tom believes Matt is innocent. Although Matt does not know who committed the robbery, he is reluctant to defend himself if only to protect Tom from information concerning head cashier Cyril Cluett and Tom's neglected wife Phyllis. The robbery, however, has wider effects: it starts a chain of events that could ruin the bank. Tom must figure out how to save the bank while evaluating his priorities in light of information that comes to his attention about his home life. —Huggo