Richard Macgregor cover gallery

Who, I hear you asking, is Richard Macgregor? He was one of the pen-names of an Essex-based author named Macgregor Urquhart, who wrote prolifically after the war until his death in 1967. I suspect Urquhart was more prolific under pseudonyms than anyone has previously realised, although I'm still working on the details and it may take some time to deliver even a partial list. In the meantime, I managed to dig out the following. I have most of them, but three are missing (Horror in the Night, The Creeping Plague, The First of the Last)... so don't be shy about sending over cover blurbs if you have them.

The Day a Village Died
Digit Books R628, nd (Oct 1962), 158pp, 2/6. Cover by R. A. Osborne

A settlement is invaded by an army of ant-like creatures whose sole objective is... DESTRUCTION.
__"With a convulsive jerk, the creature severed itself from the bruised tendril and shot out a fresh strand, straight at Sam. It coiled round Sam's arm and before he could shake himself free his arms began to droop.
__"In a moment, other tendrils had transferred themselves to Sam and, to our horror, we could see the very blood and bone and flesh of Sam's body being sucked into the tendrils, to appear in a moment as wine-dark liquid pumping into the squalid jellies."

Taste of the Temptress
Digit Books R675, nd (Feb 1963), 156pp, 2/6.

When the minds of men become so obsessed that their thoughts keep returning to the creature of their dreams, that creature must be banished! And so it was with Nikita, whose beauty cast an evil spell even on the old and withered men of her tribe, thus making her the sworn enemy of all her fellow women.
__And when a film expedition arrived on the island, matters took a sudden and dramatic turn...
__A delightful, often wicked, and ultimately surprising story that will hold the reader charmed to the very last word.

Horror in the Night
Digit Books R715, (Jun 1963), 158pp, 2/6.
Short story collection containing 'Peg Leg Moffat', 'The Fatalist', 'The Spider Man', 'The Cemetery of the Living' and 'The Phantom Train'.

The Excursion
Digit Books R743, 1963, 158pp, 2/6. Cover [signed]

This is a violent, topical novel set in the depression-hit streets of Tyneside. Here, in one of a thousand drab, ordinary households a young wife slaves herself to the bone to keep her family clothed and fed.  After ten years of married drudgery, of unquestioning obedience to the will of her boorish husband, she realises that the attraction she holds for other men is urgent and real, and suddenly finds herself caught up in a vortex of doubt and desire.

The Creeping Plague
Digit Books R768, (Oct) 1963, 160pp, 2/6. Cover by Sam Peffer

The Deadly Sun
Digit Books R856, (May) 1964, 158pp, 2/6.

Blasted to oblivion...
__The fear that is in everyone's heart as the moon hurtles towards earth on its grim uncontrollable path of destruction.
__At the same time, panic-stricken scientists are analysing samples of the dust that is gradually covering the Earth's surface—filthy choking matter that increases in density as the moon gets nearer.
__LITTLE DID THEY KNOW that the dust was yearning to give up its horrible secret, for if one particle was split open, it would release a plague that would destroy life on Earth within a matter of hours.

The Threat
Digit Books R878, Jun 1964, 160pp, 2/6. Cover by Michel

WARNING! This bomb comes to you as a friendly warning to show how easily it can be despatched to the homes of the mighty. You won't know where the next one will be and when you do it will be too late...
__When the Minister of Science opened the letter at his breakfast table he realised that he was dealing with a maniac.
__For Sir Charles Grabbe, Senior Government Physicist, was holding the country to ransom. Not only had he invented a devastating miniature bomb but he was prepared to use it unless the Government lifted the ban on its production.

The First of the Last
Digit Books R886, (Oct 1964), 160pp, 2/6. Cover by Sam Peffer