In the tradition of the old Ace Doubles (flip the book over to read the second title), here's the nineteenth Wildside Mystery Double. THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS: A PSYCHOLOGICAL MYSTERY, by Tracey Landau. Leslie Adams doesn't often get angry, upset, or worried. So when Molly, his sister, first disappeared, Les kept calm and used his head. When he was nearly killed in a house explosion while searching for his sister, well, that rattled him a bit, but still Les kept his wits about him. Now the police are blaming him for the explosion, as well as a botched robbery in which a woman was killed. His schizophrenia is becoming a problem, he's being stalked by a mysterious woman that may or may not exist, and his siblings are questioning his sanity. Understandably, Les is feeling a bit stressed, but he has everything under control. More than that, his delusions are the key to discovering the truth about the robbery and his sister's disappearance. At least, that's what he hopes. The crime debut of a startling new writer THE LUCKY DUCK AFFAIR: A TALE OF MYSTERY, by Mel Gilden. In need of a vacation, private detective Amos True and his companion, Polly St. Jough, accept an invitation to relax aboard Otto Laird's slightly illegal gambling ship, the Lucky Duck. Joining them are movie starlet Clair de Lune, enthusiastic writer Ruth Booth, and a number of other suspicious characters. But True soon learns about Laird's ulterior motive for inviting him and Polly out to sea. The Lucky Duck has become haunted by the ghost of Captain Henry Robbins, a smuggler who years ago commanded the ship. When first one guest and then another is murdered, the ghost of Captain Robbins is the main suspect. Can Amos, with the help of Polly, uncover the real culprit? Another great off-beat mystery by the author of Dangerous Hardboiled Magicians

For the millions of fans who have made Britney Spears the hottest female singer in America comes a parody that takes the reader into the Adrian-Mole-ish world of a California teen!

Cowabunga, schweetheart A book in the manner of Surfing Samurai Robots In a Los Angeles that is something like ours--but in which magic has become an integral part of society--P.I. Turner Cronyn doesn't know why he's being threatened by a supernatural being. Does it have anything to do with the fact that zombies looking like him are turning up all over town? And who killed Misty Morning, the beautiful mage he was supposed to be protecting? But on the bright side, a beautiful woman named Astraea Scales seems determined to help with his investigations. There's just one little problem: is she really a Greek goddess related to the Three Fates--or does she just look like one? This is just one of the life-and-death questions that Cronyn must answer to avoid being made a zombie himself. Great fantasy and mystery adventure--the first in a series.

Rodney Congruent, son of Watson Congruent of The Return of Captain Conquer fame, fears he will never have the sort of adventures his parents had. Then he receives an envelope full of transporting glitter, and ends up on an alien spaceship. The aliens, Grubber and Drum, say that they're searching for new exhibits for The Planetoid of Amazement, although Rodney is skeptical of their motives. Then he's kidnapped by Mara and Grits, two more creatures who are willing to do just about anything to get Rodney to tell them the location of the Legendary Treasure Planet (which he knows nothing about). The new aliens are members of the Slignathi, the most evil race in the galaxy. Will Grubber and Drum help Rodney save the Earth--or will they turn out to be Slignathi themselves? A fun-filled science fiction adventure

In the house with two front doors, Watson Congruent's father sells souvenirs from the long-canceled TV show, The Adventures of Captain Conquer, and is also trying to build an actual "motivator," the device that powered the Captain's huge spaceship. And then one day Watson comes home from school to find both his house and father--vanished With the help of some eccentric Captain Conquer fans, including the man with forty pounds of brains in his nose, Watson sets out to find his father--and not so incidentally, to save the world from an alien invasion. A great science fiction adventure for young adults--of all ages

He called himself Zoot Marlowe, said he'd just blown in from Bay City. But even the wacked out surfer dudes could tell that the four-foot detective with the giant schnoz was from somewhere out of their world.