Rarely seen story by crime fiction master John D MacDonald offers clues to his best known work

NEW YORK (AP) -- Crime writer John D. MacDonald, a master of the genre, was so prolific that sometimes he couldn't keep up with what he was doing. He might have dozens of stories in submission at once and would leave some unfinished or unpublished as he moved to a new idea. One of the surviving manuscripts was recently discovered and appears this week in the literary quarterly The Strand Magazine, which has run rare works by Ernest Hemingway and others. "The Accomplice" is an early work from the author known for his Travis McGee series and for the novel "The Executioners," retitled "Cape Fear" in two film adaptations. The newly seen story is a narrative of lust, treachery and dangerous choices.