From 1933–37 pulpsmith extraordinaire Frederick C. Davis chronicled the adventures of the classic pulp hero the Moon Man in the pages of Ten Detective Aces. One of the most unique and compelling characters in the history of the genre, the Moon Man was the Robin Hood of the pulps: He stole from those who profited from the misery of the Depression to help those in need, to balance the scales of justice.
And justice was close to the Moon Man’s heart. For the Moon Man was actually police detective Stephen Thatcher—a dedicated law officer all too familiar with the cracks in the system criminals used to avoid retribution. Donning a black robe and a globe of Argus glass, Thatcher became the Moon Man, a thief who stole from criminals the law could not touch.
Now the Moon Man is hunted by his best friend and partner, reviled by his father and fiancé who all want to see the masked thief pay the ultimate price for his crimes. Stephen Thatcher must walk the razor’s edge of his double life where, every minute, the threat of exposure could shatter his fragile world.
For the first time in decades all 38 of the Moon Man’s exploits have been collected by Altus Press in a seven-volume set. And it includes an all-new introduction by Moon Man expert Andrew Salmon.
- The Dial of Doom: The notorious Moon Man gets caught in Lieutenant McEwen’s law-trap. But the teeth of that trap were filed too sharply; for McEwen found that it was the law itself that blocked him from burning the Moon Man. And the Moon Man stacks his life on a twist of the Dial of Doom.
- The Bleeding Skeleton: The Moon Man had a rival. This newcomer to the realm of robbery threatened to eclipse the spectacular crimes of the Moon Man. But Detective Sergeant Steve Thatcher—the Moon Man—figured that his own cause was just. In the smoke of blasting guns, he learned that a skeleton could bleed. Yet that grim knowledge marked him for death in a killer’s grave.
- The Masked Scourge: Hard-boiled, leather-jawed Detective Lieutenant Gil McEwen lifted a silk dress out of a washbowl of blood-tinted water. “This belongs to the Moon Man’s woman!” he grated. Little did he know that six feet away, behind a secret panel, stood his own daughter. Sue McEwen was stricken with terror lest that silken frock, bought for her honeymoon, would be the net that drew to the electric chair the one she was to marry, Detective Sergeant Steve Thatcher—the Moon Man.
- The Master of Murder River: Lieutenant Gil McEwen had the notorious Moon Man cornered in a deserted tenement. Yet the only one he found there was Detective Sergeant Steve Thatcher—his best friend. That aroused a soul-searing suspicion in the mind of Gil McEwen, for he had promised to send the Moon Man to the electric chair. And that mad night in Hynard’s submarine gambling hell, Steve Thatcher—the Moon Man himself—realized that he was heading for hot-squat doom.
- Counterfeit Corpse: Lieutenant McEwen was about to be broken off the force, for making a murder charge against a man with political pull. And that murder charge threatened to boomerang and head McEwen himself to the death house. Only one man could help him—his daughter’s fiancé, Steve Thatcher—the Moon Man. But over the wires came the startling information—the Moon Man’s lifeless body had just been dragged from the mud of Murder River.
The Complete Adventures of the Moon Man, Volume 5: 1935 by Frederick C. Davis contains the following stories:
- “The Dial of Doom”
- “The Bleeding Skeleton”
- “The Masked Scourge”
- “The Master of Murder River”
- “Counterfeit Corpse”
