High Priest of California, first published in 1953, is a gritty noir thriller by Charles Willeford. The book, Willeford’s first novel, centers on San Francisco used-car salesman Russell Haxby, a highly unpleasant character, who, motivated perhaps by sheer boredom, engages in small time cons and seduces a married woman. Willeford (1919-1988) is best known for his books featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. A roaring saga of the male animal on the prowl—The world was his oyster—and women his pearls!

Ruthless used car salesman Russell Haxby becomes obsessed with seducing a married woman in this sardonic tale of hypocrisy, intrigue and lust set in San Francisco in the early '50s. Classic hardboiled fiction where every sentence masks innuendo and every detail hides a clue, this volume also includes a play by Willeford based on the novel.

Jake Blake is a private detective short on cash when he meets a rich and beautiful young woman looking to escape her father’s smothering influence. Unfortunately for Jake, the smothering influence includes two thugs hired to protect her—and the woman is in fact not the daughter of the man she wants to escape, but his wife. Now Jake has two angry thugs and one jealous husband on his case. As Jake becomes more deeply involved with this glamorous and possibly crazy woman, he becomes entangled in a web of deceit, intrigue—and multiple murders. Brilliant, sardonic, and full of surprises, Wild Wives is one wild ride.

In the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the ancient world of the Bible—the ancient Near East—came under Greek rule, and in the land of Israel, time-old traditions met Greek culture. But with the accession of King Antiochos IV, the soft power of culture was replaced with armed conflict, and soon the Jews rebelled against their imperial masters, as recorded in the Biblical books of the Maccabees. Whereas most scholars have dismissed the biblical accounts of religious persecution and cultural clash, Sylvie Honigman combines subtle literary analysis with deep historical insight to show how their testimony can be reconciled with modern historical analysis by conversing with the biblical authors, so to speak, in their own language to understand the ways they described their experiences. Honigman contends that these stories are not mere fantasies but genuine attempts to cope with the massacre that followed the rebellion by giving it new meaning. This reading also discloses fresh political and economic factors.

This Ace-Double combines two of Willeford's classics of hard-boiled fiction into one volume. 'Hight Priest of California' recounts the story of Russell Haxby, a ruthless used car saleman obsessed with manipulating and cavorting with married women. A wry, sardonic tale of lust, hypocrisy and intrigue, it deserves its reputation as one of the ballsiest hard-boiled tales ever written. 'Wild Wives' is equally as amoral, sexy and brutal. A tale of deception featuring the crooked detective Jacob Blake, it's packed with intrigue, deceit and multiple murders.