Came across this, and thought you might find it interesting. Encrypted messages exchanged in Detective Story Magazine, solution was found and is in the comments on the blog. An unsolved encrypted message from a missed person http://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/2018/03/19/an-unsolved-encrypted-message-from-a-missed-person/ Around 1920, a US pulp magazine published an encrypted message exchange in its “missed persons” column. The cleartexts… Continue reading Encoded messages in the pulps – Adventure and Detective Story Magazine
Category: Detective
Jack Ritchie – Detective/Crime Author
I read the October 1960 issue of Manhunt magazine recently, and came across a story by this author. The story is Shatter Proof, and it is a great story. This is the blurb for the story, no interior illustration though it got the cover. Mr. Williams was a civilized man. When the professional hired to… Continue reading Jack Ritchie – Detective/Crime Author
Mystery artist revealed: Laurence Sterne Stevens
The illustration I posted last week was by Laurence Sterne Stevens. It was from Adventure magazine, January 1944 and was an illustration for the poem Vulture Blood by Helen von Kolnitz Hyer, who went on to become the poet-laureate for South Carolina. It’s really a story in poem form. You can read it here. He… Continue reading Mystery artist revealed: Laurence Sterne Stevens
Collection of Frank Gruber’s Black Mask short stories about Oliver Quade, Encyclopedia salesman just released
MysteriousPress just released the complete short stories of Oliver Quade, encyclopedia salesman. These stories originally appeared in the Thrilling Detective and Black Mask magazines. Kevin Burton Smith has an excellent summary of the Oliver Quade series over at the excellent Thrilling Detective website. I have the earlier collection Brass Knuckles, and when this released, I bought… Continue reading Collection of Frank Gruber’s Black Mask short stories about Oliver Quade, Encyclopedia salesman just released
Altus Press reprints from Dime Detective and Black Mask
We live in an amazing time when a lot of pulp stories are being reprinted. Reprints from Altus Press (wide range of pulpy stuff), Black Dog Books (focuses on adventure pulps) and Haffner Press (concentrates on science fiction and fantasy, with some detective stuff as well), to mention a few, are doing an amazing… Continue reading Altus Press reprints from Dime Detective and Black Mask
Black Mask – recent reprints
Recently, I’ve been seeing an increasing number of reprints from Black Mask, the hard-boiled crime fiction magazine magazine. Black Mask was the magazine that first published authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, the creators of the American private eye story. Otto Penzler, the editor of the Black Mask series of reprints, talks about it… Continue reading Black Mask – recent reprints
Detective Pulp Magazine Covers from the other side
Girl on those Pulp Magazines hates the life she leads New York (UP) — Give her the plain and simple life, Mary Rorrer cried today. No passion, she begged. No sex. “Something dull.” she pleaded. “Like selling ribbons in a department store. A small-town department store.” Miss Rorrer is a model for illustrators of those… Continue reading Detective Pulp Magazine Covers from the other side
Raymond Chandler – Good biographical article at the Daily Mail, UK
The Daily Mail, UK, website recently posted a long article about Raymond Chandler’s life and how it influenced his work. A new biography of him has been published, and the article seems to be a good summary. You can read the article here. Link to the book below
Ernest Bramah – Humorist, Detective fiction writer
[In which your slow-witted servant recommends to your exaltedness’ attentions the boundless wisdom, lofty morals and incomparable diversions to be found in the stories of the itinerant story-teller Kai-Lung as related by the venerable hermit Ernest Bramah.] Ernest Bramah set his Kai Lung stories in a China that never was, where people spoke in an… Continue reading Ernest Bramah – Humorist, Detective fiction writer
W.C. Tuttle – Western, short story and movie writer, humorist and detective fiction author
[W.C. Tuttle, like B.M. Bower, Walt Coburn and Dan Cushman, was an authentic westerner from Montana who became a writer. He wrote westerns, naturally, but not the usual sheriff-rides-into-town-and-cleans-it-up stuff. Rather, he wrote humorous stories and detective fiction, creating characters who were always looking to find what was over the next hill, and would never… Continue reading W.C. Tuttle – Western, short story and movie writer, humorist and detective fiction author