This New Year, I made a resolution to live healthy. That resolution includes a commitment to a regular intake of pulpy goodness. This month’s pick-me-up is a 1930s issue of Ten Detective Aces, a magazine started by Harold Hersey before being bought by A. A. Wyn. Its gimmicks were ten stories every issue, all complete,… Continue reading Ten crimes for your dime: Ten Detective Aces, Feb 1935 (free at Archive.org)
Category: Detective
Crime Poetry
I’ve encountered many poems in the western and general fiction pulps. This was the first one I’ve seen from the crime pulps. The author, C. Wiles Hallock, contributed more than 200 poems to the pulps, with 70 of them appearing in the detective magazines. CRIME CONTAGIONBy C. WILES HALLOCK WELLINGTON WEATHERBY BENDEMEER BLAKEWoke in the… Continue reading Crime Poetry
Further Notes on James Corbett: a tribute to William Deeck
James Corbett fans, rejoice. A cornucopia of Corbett’s books are now listed on EBay and an autographed copy of The Merrivale Mystery sold yesterday for $261. They were the pride and joy of someone’s collection; and if you aren’t careful that someone could soon be you. Books by James Corbett listed on EBay You haven’t… Continue reading Further Notes on James Corbett: a tribute to William Deeck
A Damon Gaunt mystery – Eyes that saw not
Continued from last week’s post on Isabel Ostrander, the creator of the blind detective Damon Gaunt Unlike Thornley Colton, who displayed his skills in a number of novella length tales before getting into a novel-length adventure, Damon Gaunt’s first appearance is in a serialized novel. Because of the bigger scope of the novel, he doesn’t… Continue reading A Damon Gaunt mystery – Eyes that saw not
The first blind detective in modern English fiction
October is Blindness Awareness Month when the National Federation for the Blind (NFB), holds outreach activities to create opportunities for people to meet blind people living in their communities and to realize that blind people are vital contributing members of society. My small contribution to this is to get you to meet the earliest blind… Continue reading The first blind detective in modern English fiction
The readers of Dime Detective
There has been some research conducted into the readership of the pulps, notably Erin A. Smith’s Hard-Boiled: Working-Class Readers and Pulp Magazines. In that spirit, with tongue firmly in cheek, I offer you this composite portrait of the readership of Dime Detective, based on the ads I saw in the magazine during my review of… Continue reading The readers of Dime Detective
Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, August, 1952
The is the last in the series of 3 reviews of Dime Detective from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Dime Detective, along with the rest of the pulps, was struggling financially in the 50s. You can see this from the absence of big names from the issue and the inclusion of a reprint from 1941.… Continue reading Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, August, 1952
Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, June 1943
This is the second in a series of three reviews of Dime Detective magazine issues from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Cover artist uncredited, cover is unsigned. 6 Ready for the Rackets · Anon. · cl Racketeers and swindlers of all sorts are lying in wait for you, eager to rob or cheat you of… Continue reading Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, June 1943
Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, Jan 15, 1935
This review of a detective pulp has been long pending. I wanted to review three issues of Dime Detective – one each from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s to give a representative look at this great magazine. To kick things off, let’s look at the January 15, 1935 issue. Dime Detective commenced publication in November… Continue reading Issue Review – Dime Detective Magazine, Jan 15, 1935
Richard Deming – Detective/Mystery author
Read a story by Richard Deming in the August, 1952 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The story is “For Value Received” and it’s an excellent revenge story. I wanted to learn something about the author and came across this article in the Dunkirk-Fredonia Evening Observer, July 9th, 1960. If you have any recommendations of… Continue reading Richard Deming – Detective/Mystery author