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Angel was voluptuous child-woman, bouncing in and out of every bed in town, until she landed in the wrong one and found death was her lover. Then the town that had played voyeur to her indiscretions pounced upon Angel's husband Jim, branding him cuckold and killer and screaming for blood. But what could Jim do when even the D.A., last in a parade of Angel's lovers, was out to pin the murder on him? He had to find the one who had played Angel false or let an avenging Angel cheat him again. Only this time he would pay with his life...!

District Attorney Crosby was waiting for them in the lobby. He ignored Denton. "You tell him anything, Chief?"
"Nope." - "Tell me what?" Denton asked slowly....
"We think," he said in an acrid, bitter voice, "we've found your wife."
A little gavel began to tap on Denton's temple. "Found her? You think? What is this? What do you mean?"
District Attorney Ralph Crosby's lips flattened with a sort of enjoyment, and his nostrils flared. "It's hard to tell, Denton. She's been lying out there in the woods a week or more!"

 
Wife or Death - cover pocket book edition, Pocket Book N° 4703, September 1963 (1st)Wife or Death - cover paperback edition, Four Square #2890, 1966Wife or Death - cover pocket book edition, Signet 451-Q5743, 1974Wife or Death/The Golden Goose - cover paperback edition, Signet Double Mystery,  451 AE1305, June 1. 1978
Wife or Death/The Golden Goose - cover paperback edition, Signet Double Mystery,  451 E8087, June 6. 1978
The Chinese Orange Mystery/Wife or Death - cover paperback edition, Signet Double Mystery, 451-AE2341, June 7. 1983Wife or Death - cover audiobook Blackstone Audio, Inc., read by Traber Burns, Jul 1, 2015Wife Or Death - cover MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, September 22, 2015
 
In this book small-town newspaper publisher Jim Denton tries to cover up the apparent fact that his nymphomaniac wife has run off with another man, then finds himself prime suspect when her body is found in the woods and has to figure out which of her lovers was also the murderer simply in order to prove that he is innocent. According to Nevins Deming combines high craftsmanship and storytelling skill with sensitive treatment of relationships, including some neat vignettes of puritanical bitchiness.  Anthony Boucher called the story "familiar enough... but tightly plotted and told, with a credible picture of a small town." (December 8. 1963)

Includes a cast of characters and was written by Richard Deming who in 1972 stated: "Manny Lee absolutely refused to share any subsidiary rights on these, so they were written for a flat fee. Since it would have killed me to have one of them sell movie rights, I deliberately made them just barely acceptable, which is really harder than writing your best." Deming died in 1983. Just as well that the film adaptation of one of his books, feared by him, came about, albeit for television, in 1992. This story was made into a TV movie for Czech television called Dama a smrt.
 
Almat Magazine co. of  New York published Man's Magazine. In the sixties they featured several of the farmed out stories which didn't feature Ellery or his dad. This story appeared in the October issue of 1963 as "A Matter of Wife or Death" subtitled "She was a frisky bride - the loving end"
Above: Almat Magazine co. of  New York published Man's Magazine. In the sixties they featured several of the farmed out stories which didn't feature Ellery or his dad. This story appeared in the October issue of 1963 as "A Matter of Wife or Death" subtitled "She was a frisky bride - the loving end".*
 

Rendez-vous met de Dood - cover Dutch pocket book edition, Het Spectrum - Prisma-Detective N° 20, 1965Rendez-vous met de Dood - cover Dutch pocket book edition, Het Spectrum - Prisma-Detective N° 331, 1975 (2de)Geflüster im Dunkeln - cover German edition Ullstein, 1971Dopo la folgore - cover Italian edition, Il Giallo Mondadori Nr 818, October 4. 1964Mujer O Muerte - cover Spanish edition, coleccion Caiman, Ed. Diana, Mexico
Crime Passinal - cover Portuguese edition, Coleccao XIS, Minverva, Lisbon, 1964Ο λόφος της οργής - Cover Greek edition Viper, 1975Ο λόφος της οργής - Cover Greek edition, 2009, Δημοσιογραφικός Οργανισμός Λαμπράκη (Lambrakis)Olette Murhaaja! - Cover Finnish edition, 1965, TikarikirjatДьявол заплатит - cover Russian compilation, contains "Wife or Death" (Жена или смерть) & "The Devil to Pay" (Дьявол заплатит) by Ellery Queen, Anthony Berkeley's shortstory "The Avenging Chance" (Случайная смерть), Dashiell Hammett's "A Man called Spade" (Человек по имени Спейд), Margery Allingham's "The Borderline Case" (Дело о граничной линии) and Lord Dunsany's "The Two Bottles of Relish" (Две бутылки приправы), publisher Jangar (Джангар), 1991.

Wife or death Translations:  
Chinese: 死亡選項   
Dutch/Flemish: Rendez-vous met de dood   
Finnish: Olette Murhaaja!   
German: Geflüster im Dunkeln   
Greek: Ο λόφος της οργής   
Italian: Dopo la folgore   
Portuguese: Crime passional   
Russian: Жена или смерть
   
Spanish: Mujer O Muerte
   

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