Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld's masked nightmare!
Waxen manikins leer vicious death threats at the command of a diabolical dealer in murder who employs all his evil arts to war against the keen-witted Phantom, man of a thousand faces!
With the end of his magazine in 1953, The Phantom Detective seemed to drop out of circulation literally and out of the minds of fans, yet his long-lasting impact can't be denied, coming from two conventions within his twenty year run of stories. The only person to know The Phantom Detective's true identity was Frank Havens. Keeper of this knowledge since the first story, Havens, as publisher of the city's newspaper, often assisted The Phantom Detective with his cases, even acting as the one requesting his unique help, often at the behest of law enforcement. To summon the masked man, Havens had a red light installed atop the Clarion Building, one that would shine when the Phantom Detective was needed. This is definitely a precursor and most likely the inspiration for a much more famous signal that debuted in comics years later. It isn't really a leap to connect Batman's Bat Signal to the Phantom's Clarion beacon. Two of the editors in the early days of Batman actually cut their teeth editing The Phantom Detective.
Another impact, one that was more immediate on some of his Pulp counterparts, like The Spider, was the fact that The Phantom Detective carried a calling card of sorts as an identifier. To prove he was in fact the real Phantom Detective, he would show a badge of platinum fashioned into the shape of a domino mask. These seemingly simple concepts show the Phantom Detective's long-term effect on heroic fiction.
'The Dancing Doll Murders' was originally published in the June 1937 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Killers’ Memento
Chapter 2: Death Strikes Again
Chapter 3: Hell’s Beacon
Chapter 4: A Clue For the Phantom
Chapter 5: The Killer Strikes
Chapter 6: Murder Menace
Chapter 7: The Phantom Trapped
Chapter 8: Hell’s Switchboard
Chapter 9: Ambush
Chapter 10: Hidden Clue
Chapter 11: Design for Death
Chapter 12: Master of Murder
Chapter 13: The Chief’s Orders
Chapter 14: Dangerous Disguise
Chapter 15: Depths of Doom
Chapter 16: Murderer’s Exit
Chapter 17: Night Attack
Chapter 18: Death in the Dark
Chapter 19: Showdown
