Borderline

First published in 1962, this erotic crime novel from MWA Grand Master Block (A Walk Among the Tombstones) packs plenty of vicarious thrills, sexual titillation, and taboo breaking. Meg, a recent divorcee who’s landed in El Paso, Tex., ready for some uninhibited fun, takes up with Marty, a professional gambler living south of the border. Then there’s Lily, the 19-year-old vixen who falls in with a group of young American hipsters living in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and ends up working as a prostitute. Lily is pursued by Cassie, a fellow call girl who gets her kicks with both men and women. In the midst of all this good clean action is Weaver, a psychopath who has fled Chicago after raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl. This first kill has awakened a hunger in Weaver that must be fed. Three pulp short stories from the same era round out the volume. (May)