Minions of Mercury (The Argosy Library)
Given an overdose of an untried super-anesthetic, Mark Nevin went into a slumber that lasted for six thousand years. While he slept, there were wars; the civilization Mark knew disappeared; and mankind reverted to savagery. Detroit (AD 7952 Edition) is running around in circles—following the commands of men long dead and threatening chaos to the world. Enter Omega, swooping from the clouds with Mark Nevin flying behind him. A sparkling and fast-moving tale of adventures in the Days to Come….
Satan’s Vengeance (The Argosy Library)
The influence of an Underworld lord known as The Other Man has crept into the Police Commissioner’s office. This criminal mastermind is forcing the market owners of New York to pay protection to him, and is getting control of all rackets. In desperation, the Police Commissioner appeals to Satan Hall, the cop who believes in killing criminals as they kill others, the one man on the police force that all the Underworld fears. First time in book form. By the creator of the hard-boiled detective story, Carroll John Daly.
The Viper: The Complete Cases of Madame Storey, Volume 2 (The Argosy Library)
Femme fatale Mme. Rozika Storey was one of the most popular series characters in the pages of Argosy during the 1920s–30s. These detective stories are fast-paced adventures which pushed Madame Storey’s masterful deductive skills to the limit. Volume 2 contains the next three stories in the series, accompanied by the original pulp illustrations.
The Argosy Library #72
The Sapphire Smile: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Volume 4 (The Argosy Library)
In 1930, Argosy Magazine brought back several of their most popular series characters, and that list was headlined by Peter the Brazen. The four stories collected in Volume 4 showcases an even more action-oriented series compared to the earlier stories, and are considered by pulp readers as among the best stories to ever appear in Argosy. Written by George F. Worts under his primary pen-name, Peter the Brazen made a marked impression on Argosy reader Lester Dent when he co-created Doc Savage. The saga of Peter the Brazen is amongst the best adventure series in the history of pulp fiction.
The Curse of Capistrano and Other Adventures: The Johnston McCulley Omnibus, Volume 2 (The Argosy Library)
A monster-sized volume containing the first two Zorro novels from the pages of All-Story Weekly by Johnston McCulley. It’s headlined by the premiere Zorro adventure, “The Curse of Capistrano,” along with the rare, second Zorro story, “The Further Adventures of Zorro.” Taken directly from the original pulp texts and including several of the original pulp illustrations.
The Guns of the American: The Adventures of Norcross, Volume 2 (The Argosy Library)
Captain John Norcross is back for his final two adventures from the pages of Argosy. In “The City of Japheth,” Norcross and his handful of fighting troopers battle Afghan raiders in the lawless mountains of western China. Then in “The Guns of the American,” with Norcross far away, and with two princesses he had entrusted to their care trapped by the hordes of hostile War Lords, his troop of U.S. cavalrymen face cruel odds in western China’s mountains.
The Return of the Night Wind (The Argosy Library)
Bingham Harvard, former protégé of a banker named Chester, is wrongfully accused of robbing Chester’s bank. Escaping from the police, Harvard must flee to England. While his private detective wife attempts to clear Harvard’s name, how can sudden appearance in New York of the mysterious Night Wind be explained, when Bingham Harvard and the Night Wind are one and the same?
Varick Vanardy was the pseudonym of prolific dime-novel producer Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey, the author of over one thousand Nick Carter stories. His Night Wind novels were written for The Cavalier magazine during the last years of Dey’s amazing writing career, as dime novels gave way to the new pulp magazine field pioneered by Argosy.
The Complete Cases of the Acme Indemnity Op, Volume 1 (The Dime Detective Library)
He was a hardboiled lone-wolf investigator whose real name was never revealed. And he was a true company man, identified only by the name of the business he worked for, with an “Op” tagged at the end. His stories were tough and violent, and while they sometimes revealed him to be indecorous or not particularly heroic, he laid them all out in a straightforward, first-person style. He was, however, not the Continental Op.
Credited as the author was the mysterious “Jan Dana,” in reality John Lawrence: a former stockbroker and author of another long-running Dime Detective series, the Marquis of Broadway. Volume 1 collects the first six stories in the series.
Includes an all-new introduction by John Wooley.
The Complete Cases of Mike Blair (The Dime Detective Library)
Known for his later work as the writer of bestsellers such as Jaws II and for classic TV shows such as The Fugitive, Hank Searls began his career toiling in the pages of Dime Detective and other Popular Publications detective magazines penning tales of P.I. Mike Blair, a Sam Spade-esque detective based in San Francisco. The edition collects all seven Blair stories, along with an introduction by Searls himself.
The Complete Cases of Bill Brent, Volume 2 (The Dime Detective Library)
Meet “Lora Lorne,” the love advice columnist for the Recorder newspaper… in actuality, gruff reporter Bill Brent. Written by Frederick C. Davis, Brent stumbled through 16 stories published between 1941 and 1946 in the pages of Dime Detective, the prestigious crime pulp second only to the legendary Black Mask in its impact on the genre.
Collecting the next four stories in the series, all originally published in 1942–43.
The Complete Cases of Val Easton (The Dime Detective Library)
Written by T.T. Flynn, Valentine Easton is regarded as the top agent for American Intelligence who tackled the dreaded Black Doctor’s espionage threats in 5 stories published between 1932 and 1935 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 John Smith, Volume 1 (The Dime Detective Library)
Collected for the first time: in 1937, prolific pulp author Wyatt Blassingame introduced a new series featuring a diminutive, once-blind detective who had learned to hear more keenly that any other human being. This—the John Smith series—was Blassingame’s longest-running and most popular character to see print in the 1930s-40s. Included here are all of the John Smith stories originally published from 1937–38.
The Complete Cases of Uncle Tubby (The Dime Detective Library)
Best known for his groundbreaking science fiction work, author Ray Cummings also dabbled in the detective fiction genre. Writing primary for Popular Publications in the mid-1930s, Cummings was in the right place at the right time to pen a series for Popular’s Detective Tales magazine featuring the rotund, middle-aged investigator Uncle Tubby. Collected for the first time are all ten stories from the series.
Gangman’s Gallows: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Volume 6
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 6 contains 11 Race Williams stories, all from 1938–41, as Daly closed out his lengthiest period of penning new Race Williams stories for Dime Detective Magazine.
It’s also prefaced by an all-new, scholarly introduction by Professor Brooks E. Hefner of James Madison University. Gangman’s Gallows: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams Volume 6 continues this most important series published in years on the history of the Hard-Boiled Detective story.
Black John of Halfaday Creek
Black John Smith, Old Cush, and the rest of the outlaws of Halfaday Creek return in seven more adventures, taken from their original magazine texts, and including all of the original interior illustrations. These original versions have never before been reprinted.
Continuing the complete reprinting of one of the longest-running series in all of pulp fiction.
Gentleman Solomon: The Adventures of John Solomon, Volume 5 (The H. Bedford-Jones Library)
H. Bedford-Jones’ most popular series character returns. John Solomon, the mysterious ship’s chandler, faces off against both a group of Congo soldiers and a fiendish Belgian plot. 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.
Milo March #15: The Day That Rained Diamonds
A complicated case of stolen diamonds and murder comes just as insurance investigator Milo March is starting his Southern California vacation. He was loaned a friend’s Beverly Hills apartment, complete with access to a little black book. His first date is Lita Harper, an attractive interior decorator who comes to his apartment to drink and talk, but then suddenly has to leave early. Not long after Milo resigns himself to an early bedtime, a scream is heard. Rushing out to investigate, he is stunned to find Lita in a neighboring apartment, holding a gun, with a dead man at her feet. The police arrest her for the murder of a bad boy named Johnny Renaldi. Coincidentally, Johnny was the police’s chief suspect in the jewel robberies.
Lita had been the interior decorator for most of the burglarized homes. Was she suckered into supplying information to Johnny about the location of wall safes? Milo couldn’t believe she was capable of planning a jewel theft operation, and murder was out of the question. Yet the playboy Renaldi didn’t fit the role of a mastermind either.
The insurance company wants Milo to recover the loot and also to solve the murder case. So much for his vacation, but Milo rises to the occasion and takes on some tough Syndicate customers before he solves the puzzle of where the dead man hid the loot.
Milo March #14: Wanted: Dead Men
Milo March sets out to end the career of a master spy as he trails the shadowy villain from New York to Stockholm and Paris to solve a case involving not just insurance fraud, but murder, industrial espionage, and the possession of classified secrets.
Milo March #13: Six Who Ran
Six robbers of an armored truck make off with a million and a half bucks, murdering the two guards, and then three of them kill the other three. Milo March follows the crime spree as two men and a woman flee to Rio, where he must figure out how to recover the money before the three crooks finish each other off―and how to get them out of a country that has no extradition treaty with the U.S.
The Spider #45: Voyage of the Coffin Ship
Coffins and gold lay side by side in the strongroom of the liner that was sailing to its doom. And Richard Wentworth had picked that ship to carry Nita and himself to their long-delayed honeymoon in Europe! Denounced by Baron Otuna as a pirate, assailed by the green men in flaming chaos, he donned once more the Spider’s dusty cloak and well-oiled guns—for an epic battle at sea with a terror that stalked in the great ship’s wake and menaced a thousand lives!
Operator 5 #25: Crime’s Reign of Terror
Men blanched at that name—the Scarlet Baron! Ambitious master of the united Underworld, he promised boundless riches for all! But Jimmy Christopher—Operator 5 of the Intelligence—understood the true purpose behind the new plague of rapine and murder. With the gallant Federal G-men slaughtered—with the Secret Service and militia admitting defeat—alone, wounded and heartsick Operator 5 seizes the very last chance to save our crime-beleaguered land from shameful serfdom!
Operator 5 #24: War-Masters from the Orient
A brawny coolie from the filthy waterfront of Hong Kong was Emperor of Asia and master of the vast reaches of Russia. Armed with mysterious new weapons which made the bravest man craven, he marched ruthlessly to conquer the world, and to win the proud daughter of the Muscovite nobility who scorned his amorous advances… Jimmy Christopher—Operator 5 of the United States Intelligence—had given America more than enough warning to prepare for the barbaric, invading yellow hosts. And when all seemed lost—when great cities were razed and countless thousands butchered—Operator 5 finally ignored restraining bureaucracy and pitted himself in a single-handed battle to wrest our nation from the Coolie Emperor’s bloody grasp!
The Spider #44: The Devil’s Pawnbroker
Deep-hidden in evil, Satan’s Suicide Club sat in council—and men died. What dreadful force drove these men, leaders of society with everything to live for, to end their lives at the behest of that sinister being who sardonically called himself Professor Mephisto? And why did men and women suffer the tortures of the damned rather than defy this mysterious being? Richard Wentworth once more assumes the cloak of the Spider to free these lost ones from a living hell and a disgraceful death—and steps into the jaws of a devil’s trap that casts his life among the lives in pawn!
Milo March #12: Uneasy Lies the Dead
A man disappeared seven years ago, and his large life insurance policies are ready to come due unless he is found alive. He’s a union boss and gangster who was in the midst of testifying to Congress when he mysteriously vanished. Hoping to save the insurance company a million dollars, Milo March crisscrosses the country to find out if he’s still alive, with a pair of professional killers on his tail, determined to stop the investigation.
Milo March #11: Softly in the Night
Insurance companies don’t like it when someone puts a match to a house they’ve insured to the hilt, and in the process burns to death a couple who carry double-indemnity policies. Investigator Milo March sets out to discover who torched the Santa Monica beach house with its owners inside, and who paid them. Did the philandering husband hire a notorious gangster to do the dirty work, and trick a Skid Row bum to stand in for himself as the victim? Three other suspects are an elegant blonde, a steamy redhead, and a shapely young Japanese woman, any of whom Milo might bed or bust—or both—in the course of this fast-paced, action-packed whodunit.
Milo March #10: Jade for a Lady
An exquisite necklace of Chinese jade is stolen from wealthy New York couple, and the insurance company wants investigator Milo March to get it back so they won’t have to pay out the claim. But the case soon expands from simple theft to international intrigue as Milo’s only clue leads him to Hong Kong in search of a well-organized gang and its criminal mastermind.
The Western Raider #4: The Law of Silver Trent
The first of three books collecting the Silver Trent short stories that appeared in Star Western following the cancellation of The Western Raider. Includes “Silver Trent Rides Back to Hell,” “The Law of Silver Trent,” and “Gun-Doctor For the Damned.”
The Spider #43: Scourge of the Yellow Fangs
War gongs clanged in Chinatown—but it was no tong war that tore the great Societies with fear and suspicion and deadly hate. For deeper in evil mystery than their own dark secrets lay the hidden temple of crime that loosed the Scourge of the Yellow Fangs—the menace that erupted in the yellow men’s haunts and overflowed into white men’s lives and threatened white men’s rule. Victims lived long enough to curse the unknown Man From Singapore—who knew the Spider and planned his quick removal from the finish fight… While in a tenuous truce with baffled police, Richard Wentworth, by night the Spider, accepted the top-heavy odds—and gave grim battle!
The Spider #42: Satan’s Workshop
There was no clue to the kidnapping of wealthy, powerful men and beautiful, talented women—until the Man Who Dealt in Death broke into Richard Wentworth’s stroll in the moonlight with the wanton wounding of his own lookout. From that stricken gangster Wentworth obtained the first hint of the devil-brain that was using science and surgery, death and torture and extortion, to enslave the city’s great. And Wentworth, better known as the Spider, answered the challenge of the Laboratory of the Lost—gambling life and more against weird dangers that no man had ever faced before!
Operator 5 #23: Rockets From Hell
Those strange, impassioned orators preached peace and the brotherhood of man—as they tongue-lashed their eager, duped recruits to brutal deeds, bloody violence, and suicide… While dull-witted authorities ridiculed Jimmy Christopher—Operator 5 of the Secret Service—the Dragon Emperor ruthlessly conquered New England… When America seemed altogether doomed—when his loved ones had sacrificed themselves in vain—Operator 5 undertook one last, lone-handed counterattack—from which he could not hope to return alive!