The Phantom Detective comes to grips with the mysterious, diabolical “Big Shot” of a fiendish criminal gambling ring holding the entire sports world in its sinister thrall! Against the heaviest odds ever faced by any man, Richard Curtis Van Loan, the Phantom Detective, plays a bitter game of life and death in his courageous lone wolf war against rampant criminal forces seeking to undermine the very foundations of civilized society. His casebook contains the most gripping stories of crime ever told, the very words of this adventure beating with the rapid pulse of smashing action and breath-taking excitement. Thrill to this story of a criminal so diabolically clever that he proved one of the most formidable foes in the long career of the Phantom Detective.
As with many Pulp heroes, The Phantom Detective transcended pulp magazines and made his way into comic books as that media gained more and more prominence. Published originally in his own Pulp magazine by Thrilling Publications, the character publisher Ned Pines ushered in as the lead in the second Hero Pulp also had a life as a four-color hero. The Phantom Detective debuted in Thrilling Comics, a title published by Pines under his company’s comic line, usually referred to as Nedor Comics. It is somewhat of a mystery to some fans why The Phantom Detective simply didn’t have his own comic title, based on how well the Pulp magazine appeared to be doing. Even though The Phantom Detective rarely, if ever, wore the fabled top hat and opera cape he sported on his pulp covers in the actual magazine, he did wear this as his standard costume in his comic adventures.
‘Gamblers in Death’ was originally published in the November 1933 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
