Lionel White wrote over a dozen caper novels. STARK HOUSE collected two of Lionel White’s tales–one a bank heist and the other a “girl on the run” adventure–in a wonderful package from 2015. The House Next Door (1956) was first published in Cosmopolitan as “The Picture Window Murder.” A crooked ex-cop plans a perfect bank heist. Everything seems perfect, except for a couple random elements that cause the entire scheme to unravel.
In Marilyn K (1960) a beautiful young girl stands on the side of the road with a suitcase with $350,000 in it. Narrator Sam Russell falls for Marilyn Kelley (no relation!) hard and ends up in deep trouble as the gangsters who own the money send a team of thugs to find it. The story reads like a Travis McGee novel. Brian Greene’s “Lionel White and the Movies” puts this underrated writer into context. If you’re a fan of caper novels, you’ll enjoy this excellent STARK HOUSE volume.