The Sealed Book: OTR Plots

The Sealed Book

Broadway, Here I Come! C+

Although his heart medicine is nearby, a rich man with a bad heart dies, watched by his wife and her lover– a lover who then manipulates her to run off to Broadway with him. They have a car accident on the way and have to hop a train… but they end up right back where they started. Her husband is there waiting for them! Hitchhiker

Death at Storm House   C

A woman makes her husband swear not to take a second wife while on her death bed. Of course, he does. The second wife is murdered, and John blamed…

Death Spins a Web   B

A rich widow on her death bed calls her worthless nieces and nephew to her mansion. She tells them only one will inherit her fortune. Then she watches the games as they play right into her scheme to make sure that none of them will inherit a dime.

Design For Death   B

A couple on the run discover a lonely house where old recluse Mordred Vance lives alone. Carl and Dora, posing as brother and sister, conceive a plan to kill old M.V. and take the loot from the safe that he reveals to Dora after falling in love with her. They succeed in killing the old guy, but turns out he’s got a past. He succeeds in his plan, too.

Devil Island   C

A woman goes to live with her estranged father and learns of a hereditary curse of insanity… until the mute butler spills the beans! Am I Going Crazy?

Escape By Death

Mysterious Traveler: “House of Death”

Ghost Maker, The   C

A guy in debt decides to drive his aunt insane by hiring an expert “haunter”. They plan to appear at the door after a phone call declaring them dead, but auntie’s a hard-headed woman. Am I Going Crazy?

Hands of Death B

One brother, Edward, confined to a wheelchair, is pursued by the other, Cain, who has huge, ugly hands. Cain believes Edward cheated him out of his share of their inheritance, which he did. Edward is a collector of murder relics and determines that he needs to acquire an actual murderer and a victim, so he sets-up his butler to get on the bad side of his monstrous thug of a brother. When it’s over… he saves the disfigured hands!

I’ll Die Laughing B

A couple having an affair decide to off the woman’s husband when the opportunity arises: The Devil’s Cavern has been found! They convince the rich guy to make an expedition down to the central pit of a labyrinth of caves where gold was submerged with bones and a curse. The husband laughs even as they are tossing him into the pit! I wonder why?

King of the World   C

It sounds like The Hermit introducing this one! (Heee heh heh!) So this mug buys an immortality serum at gunpoint, having been warned that it is untested. He soon becomes an underworld kingpin because the magic formula heals gunshot wounds instantly! Then attacks of acute hearing begin. The sound of a clock ticking is deafening! Madness… but he can no longer find solace even in death.

Man With The Stolen Face   C

John Harrington, a crooked financier, has evidence blackmailing Matthew Briggs into being his lackey. He’s made twenty million and wants to retire when one of the enemies he’s made shows up… to get murdered.Harrington buys William Quincy and a facial surgeon to swap faces through plastic surgery! But Harrington’s not about to leave any witnesses alive. Too bad he trusted Matt to pick out the guy whose face he took!

Murder Must Be Paid For   B

When a wealthy young woman suspects her husband may have actually murdered her father, she writes to her twin sister. Husband Tom intercepts the letter, and soon Lucy has an “accident” similar to her dad’s. When twin sis’ Doreen shows up, she decides she wants the full inheritance and tries to have Tom, who talks in his sleep, charged with murder.

Murderer Unknown B

Gerald Morgan, a wealthy man who swindled his partners out of their company shares and angered hundreds of stockholders, receives a death threat delivered by one of his ex-business associates. Martin Scott claims he will be murdered first, then Morgan. And he goes out horrifically, delivering his own deeply slashed face to Morgan’s home to breathe his last. Gerald and his wife flee, but threat letters follow wherever they run! It could only be Jason, their driver… who is his wife’s secret lover. Or could it?

My Beloved Must Die   C

A scoundrel steals Millie away from her fiancee, then uses his animal magnetism to make her sister Joan fall in love with him. When Millie catches the two of them together, she kills herself in front of the couple. Victor finds it amusing, and Joan finally recognizes him for the Devil he truly is! Is it too late, or will she love him forever?

Till Death Do Us Part C

Blanche mothers her husband until he can’t take it any more. Chris Worthy changes his name and runs away to Texas when she refuses him a divorce. She finds him, though. So he takes her on a fishing trip from which only he returns. Chris goes back to New York where he marries his old sweetheart, Anne Balen. Except he learns that Anne dies a year ago! Anne laughs! Blanche resurrected herself in an identical body! Can you imagine a worse horror than an inescapable bad relationship?

Time on My Hands C

A homeless old man discovers an open pawn shop on a rainy night, but has nothing to hock… except five years of his life! He squanders the five grand he gets, and when he goes to sell more he is offered only half the cash. Of course, if he murders another person, he can take their remaining years, but thus forfeiting his soul. A neat spin on the Faustian trope, predictable but fun. I never came around to caring about the protagonist. In fact, I was kind of hoping he’d fry.

To Have and to Hold   B

Olivia is used to getting her way, but when her husband Chris falls in love with her friend Amy, she strangles her competition and stages a fire. Beloved Chris proclaims he is leaving Olivia anyway, he is not in love. Forty years later Olivia’s niece arrives for a surprise visit. Oh, there’s a surprise waiting…

Welcome Home B

Leonard returns to his family home “Pirate’s Rest,” searching for his dear brother’s $300 Grand. Aunt Emily thinks she can talk to the ghosts in the family burial vault. Old Martha tries voodoo to stop him from trashing the house looking for the cash, so Leonard kills her! When a storm rolls in, Emily tells him where the money is… in Leonard’s own coffin! But the vault will flood soon as the Bayou waters rise!

You Only Die Once   C

A wealthy man and his wife invite her brother to live and work for them. Too bad Jerry is really Vivian’s lover. They’re playing John Winthrop for the salary and gifts, taking him for all they can before they surprise him and ask for a divorce, but they are discovered! They kill John and dump his body, faking his disappearance by impersonating him on a train. When his body is found, they prepare for the police, and when the knock on the door comes, they take poison tablets. “I have them here.” the acting breaks down. But John’s corpse holds one last surprise!