The Complete Cases of Needle Mike, Volume 2 (The Dime Detective Library)
A millionaire playboy with a yen for excitement, young Ken McNally disguises himself as the gray-haired, gold-toothed, jaundiced-looking proprietor of a seedy tattoo parlor in the “tenderloin” district of St. Louis. His unusual occupation frequently brings him into contact with underworld denizens who, willingly or accidentally, embroil him in criminal activities.
Written by William E. Barrett, Needle Mike found himself embroiled in nearly 20 hard-boiled mysteries originally published between 1935 and 1938 in the pages of Dime Detective, the prestigious crime pulp second only to the legendary Black Mask in its impact on the genre. The Complete Cases of Needle Mike, Volume 2 contains the next four stories: “The Tattooed Chain,” “The Tattooed Cop,” “The Tattooed Circle,” and “The Tattooed Chinaman.”
The Complete Cases of Carter Cole, Volume 1 (The Dime Detective Library)
Brilliant psychiatrist Doctor Carter Cole often investigates crimes that seem to be supernatural in nature. Using his medical training to discern the mental states of suspects he interrogates, making deductions based on the quirks manifest in their behavior, and is aided in his cases by identical-twin nurses. Written by Frederick C. Davis, this edition collects the first half of the series: “The Case of the Crimson Claws,” “The Case of the Skinned Men,” “The Case of the Crazy Witness,” “The Case of the Silent Giantess,” and “The Case of the Queen’s Headsman.”
The Complete Cases of Max Latin (The Dime Detective Library)
Back in print! Enjoy the adventures of Max Latin, the detective who doesn’t want to be a detective! Author Norbert Davis mixed the classic hard-boiled style with humor, making Max Latin unique in pulp fiction. Appearing for only five stories in Dime Detective, this new edition restores all the original John Fleming Gould illustrations and includes an authoritative introduction by Bob Byrne.
The Complete Cases of Doc Pierce, Volume 1 (The Dime Detective Library)
Author Richard Dermody’s stories of traveling conman Doc Pierce appeared frequently during the 1940s in the pages of Dime Detective magazine. Pierce, a scheming grifter, appeared in over twenty stories, and they are a hidden gem in this period of Dime Detective. The Complete Cases of Doc Pierce, Volume 1 contains the first half of the series: “Hello, Sucker!,” “The Doctor’s Bag,” “The Doctor Operates,” “The Doctor’s Ditch,” “The Doctor’s Fee,” “Painless Operation,” “The Doctor’s Treatment,” “The Doctor Deals,” “The Doctor’s Test,” “The Doctor’s Switch,” and “The Doctor’s Plant.”
Satan’s Lash: The Complete Cases of Satan Hall, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library)
Detective Frank Hall wasn’t so much a cop: more of a killer on the police force. His brutal style and devil-like visage gave him the nickname Satan Hall as he worked to corruption, gangsters, and killers… one of the most unique series characters from the detective pulps of the 1930s.
This volume collects the first six short stories, including the previously-undocumented premiere story, “Black Turns White.” Written by the creator of the hard-boiled detective story, Carroll John Daly, and including the original illustrations from the original pulp magazines.
The Argosy Library #111
The Rose Bath Riddle: The Complete Cases of Jigger Masters, Volume 2 (The Argosy Library)
Frozen to death in a scalding hot steam bath! That was the baffling fate that overtook Simon Corlaes, wealthy—and hated—chemical wizard. Jigger Masters, detective hired by Corlaes to protect him after receiving dearth threats, was unable to prevent the murder, but now it was his duty to track down the slayer. Discovering that liquid air of a searing, frigid temperature had been fed into Corlaes’ shower from an adjoining laboratory, Jigger Masters must locate the culprit as additional murders of Corlaes’ acquaintances stack up.
The Argosy Library #112
The Duchess Pulls a Fast One: The Complete Cases of the Duchess (The Argosy Library)
Police reporter Katie Blayne—aka the Duchess—was clearly cut from the same cloth as fellow hard-boiled female newspaper scribe Torchy Blane. These seven stories, mostly taken from the pages of Detective Fiction Weekly, are narrated by the Duchess’ reporter rival Pinky Kane, who one days hopes that Katie Blayne will accept his frequent marriage proposals.
Written by screenwriter Whitman Chambers, the Duchess is one of the best female lead detective series to see print in the pulp magazines of the 1930s.
The Argosy Library #115
Bait for Men: The Complete Cases of The Lady From Hell, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library)
Eugene Thomas’s stories of reformed master criminal Vivian Legrand—aka “The Lady From Hell”—were amongst the most popular stories to see print in Detective Fiction Weekly during the 1930s. A former blackmailer, the red-haired Legrand’s escapades pitted her against both the British Secret Service, and the criminal Underworld. Appearing in over twenty stories in Detective Fiction Weekly, this collection includes the first ten stories of The Lady From Hell, along with all of the original illustrations.
The Argosy Library #117
The Dew of Heaven (The Argosy Library)
Panama—the fairest sight ever to greet the eyes of plundering pirate—lay waiting for Captain Morgan and his men.
Louis d’Or, famous pirate of the Spanish Main, encounters in sea battle a small craft commanded by Ivor Kildare, a young daring pirate who is also known as Tranquillo II. Captured by d’Or, in order to barter for his life, Kildare translates for d’Or a cipher cut in wood which tells of hidden treasure at in Panama. But the quest for the treasure will soon put them in the crosshairs of the notorious buccaneer, Captain Henry Morgan.
Never before reprinted, The Dew of Heaven is a fantastic historical adventure by the king of the Western pulps, Max Brand.
The Argosy Library #118
The Festival of the Dead: The Complete Chinatown Cases of Jimmy Wentworth, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library)
Chinatown crime: born in China, Sgt. Jimmy Wentworth, a police detective on the San Francisco Chinatown squad, battled the Chinese Tongs—and some supernatural foes as well. Volume 1 chronicles the beginning of the series, along with Wentworth’s battles against Kong Gai, supreme leader of the tong. Running for 30 installments, this is one of the most-requested series to be included in The Argosy Library of pulp fiction.
The Argosy Library #119
Beyond the Law (The Argosy Library)
Framed for murder and hunted by the law after being framed for the death of his foster father, Richard Pemberton must change his identity with plastic surgery and become “Paul Standing” in order to find and kill the gangsters who murdered his surrogate father.
Never before in book form, Beyond the Law is one of the best novels author J. Allan Dunn penned for Argosy magazine.
The Argosy Library #120
Ace G-Man #6: The Suicide Squad’s Dawn Patrol
Klaw, Murdoch, and Kerrigan—AKA the Suicide Squad—are the best the F.B.I. has to offer. Through nearly two dozen adventures, they battled spies, saboteurs, and even super-villains! This collection includes their next four stories:
- “The Masked Marksman’s Command Performance”: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable body? The answer, we’ll bet, would be something like the meeting between Ed Race, the Masked Marksman—and the Suicide Squad!
- “The Suicide Squad’s Dawn Patrol”: The Japs were planning a barbarous air raid on America—that much was known to Kerrigan, Murdoch and Klaw, the F.B.I.’s indomitable Suicide Squad. When, where and How this hellish blitzkrieg was to come, they were grimly determined to find out, even if that meant permitting the lovely, evil Madam Setti to lure them to the reincarnated Japanese Diva-King—who could command men to destroy themselves!
- “The Suicide Squad Meets the Rising Sun”: We are all engaged in the defense of our great nation. But, in one of the most amazing chapters of this war, it became the grim task of Kerrigan, Murdoch and Klaw, three lone champions of democracy, to find and destroy a Japanese Army of nine thousand brutal fanatics—who were hidden here in the United States!
- “So Sorry, Mr. Hirohito!”: Kerrigan, Murdoch and Klaw, the famed Suicide Squad, had always fought side to side, welcoming any odds. But on that nightmare night in Valparaiso, Johnny Kerrigan stood alone against the Jap horde, while Steve Klaw went to wrest the great ship-building works from the Axis—with a thirteen-year-old girl as his only ally!
The Spider #68: King of the Fleshless Legion
The Spider faces a grim mass murderer who holds sway over Manhattan—when poisoned drugs paralyze the medical profession and turn New York’s hospitals into a hell of betrayed human sufferers!
Operator 5 #37: The Coming of the Mongol Hordes
Through Pennsylvania’s ravished countryside thundered that ruthless Mongol cavalcade, its goal the sacking of New York! The severed heads of patriots dangled from their leaders’ blood-stained saddles, and in their wake rumbled dread, primitive machines of death. Barring their advance was only that little band of patriots at Valley Forge. But on that sacred battleground, while Operator 5 fought to save a girl from being hurled to death by a giant catapult, and civilization was being turned back to the Dark Ages by a horde of Asiatic vandals—America struck against a Yellow Dictatorship for the freedom of the world!
The Spider #67: Blight of the Blazing Eye
Over New York fell the murderous spell of Death’s burning stare—and men died in the throes of some terrible, secret, inner fire! Richard Wentworth, alone, as the Spider, dared challenge this astounding attack by a modern Genghis Khan gone mad with a passion for loot and power!
The Argosy Library: Series 11 (Ten Book Set)
This specially-priced set includes all ten books in Series 11 of The Argosy Library:
- The Phantom in the Rainbow by Slater LaMaster
- Threads of Evidence: The Complete Cases of Riordan, Volume 1 by Victor Maxwell
- Masters of Darkness by Murray Leinster
- Lies at Any Price: The Complete Cases of Gillian Hazeltine, Volume 1 by George F. Worts
- He Rules Who Can by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur
- The House of the Ego: The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, Volume 3 by J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith
- Death to a Tenor by Fred MacIsaac
- Murder’s Masquerade: The Complete Cases of Mike & Trixie, Volume 1 by T.T. Flynn
- The Land of Limping Law: The Complete Cases of Calhoun, Volume 1 by Edward Parrish Ware
- Cocked Dice: The Complete Cases of Daffy Dill, Volume 1 by Richard B. Sale
Get all of Series 11 at a big discount!
Ace G-Man #5: Wanted—In Three Pine Coffins
Klaw, Murdoch, and Kerrigan—AKA the Suicide Squad—are the best the F.B.I. has to offer. Through nearly two dozen adventures, they battled spies, saboteurs, and even super-villains! This collection includes their next three stories:
- “Wanted—In Three Pine Coffins”: The sinister tentacles of Naziism were finally making themselves felt in America, and those who dared fight back were mercilessly murdered! Only the Suicide Squad could stand up before the deadly wave of destruction, but those three cavaliering conquerors of crime were already enmeshed in their own grim battle—dodging the very laws which they fought to uphold!
- “The Suicide Squad’s Private War”: It started with a mock air-raid, which turned, fantastically, into a night of terror for many, when real bombs were dropped. And America’s most precious naval secrets fell into the hands of the Little Gray Old Man and his horde of Black Troopers—who defied even the famed Suicide Squad to come and get them!
- “—For Tomorrow We Die!”: Against the fabulous crime-czar whose thieving legions were undermining the morale of honest Americans, the Chief sent the Suicide Squad—Murdoch, Kerrigan and Klaw. And those three hellions of the F.B.I. found they had a murder carnival on their hands—as well as three fresh nooses already tightening about their necks!
The Spider #66: The Silver Death Reign
An epidemic of strange and sudden death had placed New York in the ruthless grip of an Underworld master such as the world had never seen. The Law was powerless against this night-time Nemesis. But Richard Wentworth, as the Spider, had one more blow to strike before surrendering a shuddering city to the powers of hell!
The Spider #65: The Song of Death
Upon New York fell the haunting notes of the death-dirge—and those who heard it died in raving madness! For a powerful murder-musician had conquered Manhattan with his symphony of slaughter, and before this unprecedented menace the law was whipped! Only Richard Wentworth, in the Spider’s cloak of night, knew how to battle this new master of the Underworld and switch off the sinister sonata that had brought terror to a great city!
Operator 5 #36: The Bloody Frontiers
With those merciless vandals turned loose by the Purple Emperor, helpless America had been plunged back into the dark days of primitive warfare, and sacked civilization lay smouldering in ruins. For the coming of the Gothic hordes with fire and sword was a living scourge across the face of the eastern states, and Operator 5, racing against time, sped on to New York’s wrecked towers to meet there in battle the fury of Urslup the Strong!
The Argosy Library: Series 10 (Ten Book Set)
This specially-priced set includes all ten books in Series 10 of The Argosy Library:
- Tarantula Tower: The Adventures of Scarlet and Bradshaw, Volume 4 by Theodore Roscoe
- Henry Plays a Hunch: The Complete Tales of Sheriff Henry, Volume 5 by W.C. Tuttle
- King of the Dead: The Saga of Monella, Volume 3 by Frank Aubrey
- Cave of the Blue Scorpion: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Volume 5 by Loring Brent
- The Monster of the Lagoon: The Complete Adventures of Singapore Sammy, Volume 3 by George F. Worts
- The Fourteen Points by Arthur B. Reeve
- War Dragons: The Complete Adventures of Cordie, Soldier of Fortune, Volume 4 by W. Wirt
- Shark Trail: The Complete Adventures of Bellow Bill Williams, Volume 3 by Ralph R. Perry
- Minions of the Shadow by William Gray Beyer
- Rats of the Harbor: The Complete Cases of Dirk and Baker by Ray Cummings
Get all of Series 10 at a big discount!
Somewhere in Mexico: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Frost, Volume 1
Remembered for his novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, author Horace McCoy began his writing career as a mainstay during the golden age of Black Mask Magazine, selling nearly 20 stories to editor Joseph T. Shaw. A former aviator, McCoy penned 14 gritty stories of Jerry Frost for Black Mask: a flying Texas Ranger, one of “Hell’s Stepsons” who patrolled the border. It was McCoy’s greatest work for the pulps prior to departing for a lengthy career as a scriptwriter.
This edition collects the first half of the Frost series, most of which have never before been reprinted. Also including an all-new introduction by John Wooley.
Dog Eat Dog: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith, Volume 2
Cellini Smith returns! Los Angeles private detective Cellini Smith is hired by the pugs who frequent the Hangover Club to find the killer of Morton Miles, ex-champ and manager of the club. The pugs hope Cellini can pin the kill on the Terrible Turk, a giant wrestler who operates a bowling alley in town, and whom all the pugs hate. The Turk, in turn, has hired another private op to protect his own interests.
As all of the likeliest suspects turn up dead, Cellini learns that the players in this mystery have all been partners in a deal to ship scrap iron to Japan. It’ll take all of Cellini’s wits to unravel the plot and find the true murderer.
Murder on the Midway: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Human Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Traveling encyclopedia salesman Oliver Quade may be the most unlikely detective to appear in the pages of the pulp magazines of the 1930s. Known for marveling crowds by reciting the memorized contents of The Compendium of Human Knowledge, Quade—known better as The Human Encyclopedia—has a habit of letting this knowledge lead him into the middle of one murder investigation after another.
Collected for the first time are the first half of The Human Encyclopedia stories, including the rare early stories: most of which have never before been reprinted. Also including all of the original magazine illustrations and an authoritative introduction by Black Mask conservator Keith Alan Deutsch.
Murder Maze: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Jerry Tracy, Volume 2
Premiering in the pages of Black Mask magazine during the peak of editor Joseph T. Shaw’s era, author Theodore A. Tinsley penned one of the longest-running and most popular series to see print in the pages of that historic Detective magazine. Celebrity gossip reporter for The Daily Planet, Jerry Tracy was a cynical, wisecracking columnist. Though a bit of a muckraker, Tracy had a sense of justice when it came to his friends and his fellow New York City residents.
Written by one of the authors of The Shadow magazine, these tough-written stories are a fast-paced and action-packed read. Featuring an all-new introduction by Will Murray. Collecting the next third of the series.
Unremembered Murder: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Volume 7
Race Williams returns! Originally appearing in the pages of Black Mask Magazine, author Carroll John Daly pioneered the hard-boiled detective P.I. story and perfected the genre with his classic character, Race Williams. Apart from the novel-length Race Williams stories, these classic hard-boiled thrillers have rarely been reprinted, if ever. Volume 7 contains 16 Race Williams stories, all from 1944–55, as Daly closed out his most popular series with a bang.
It’s also prefaced by an all-new, scholarly introduction by Professor Brooks E. Hefner of James Madison University. Unremembered Murder: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Volume 7 concludes the most important series published in years on the history of the Hard-Boiled Detective story.
The Crimson Mask Archives, Volume 3
Part of the early 1940s pulp hero revival, pharmacist Bob Clarke takes on the underworld as The Crimson Mask! Volume 3 contains the final six adventures: “Four Men of Murder,” “The Dangerous Gamble,” “Three Men of Evil,” “Five Clues to Murder,” “Traffic in Murder,” and “Motto for Murder” uncut, with all of the original illustrations, as well as an introduction by Tom Johnson.
Sinews of War: The Complete Adventures of the Major, Volume 4
The long-running and much-beloved series from the pages of Short Stories is finally collected in order and with a plethora of bonus material. Join Aubrey St. John Major—AKA the Major—and his faithful companion, Jim the Hottentot, on their adventures across the diamond country of Africa. This collection includes the next eight stories, “A Bloomin’ Idol” “Sinews of War,” “Heading North,” “Truth Is Mighty,” “Bush Shadows,” “An Aching Affair,” “Idols,” and “Major Methods,” all by L. Patrick Greene.
Pilgrim Solomon and John Solomon, Retired: The Adventures of John Solomon, Volume 8 (The H. Bedford-Jones Library)
John Solomon, the mysterious ship’s chandler and secret agent, returns in two more rare adventures from early in prolific pulp author H. Bedford-Jones’ career: “Pilgrim Solomon” and “John Solomon, Retired.” Continue the story of John Solomon with this next book in the series, complete & uncut from the pages of People’s Magazine. Includes the original illustrations.
The Life of Pinky Jenkins, Volume 3 (The H. Bedford-Jones Library)
One of the best series ever published in the pulps was written by the prolific H. Bedford-Jones, author of hundreds of stories totaling an estimated 25 millions words.
Thomas Jasper “Pinky” Jenkins, a drunk and corrupt sheriff accompanied by his deputy Parker, shot his way through nearly a score of comedy/Western stories from the 1920s. Volume 3 includes the next two Jenkins stories: “Wanted—T.J. Jenkins” and “T.J. Jenkins, Doctor.” The Pinky Jenkins series is considered one of his best by Bedford-Jones aficionados.