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!
In the wake of a sensational snatch case, the spotlight of crime is turned on a grisly death spectacle! Murder and tragedy stalk the desert as the Phantom undertakes one of the most baffling cases in his career.
The Phantom Detective, billed in his stories as the World’s Greatest Sleuth, definitely proved time and again that he was indeed highly skilled in all aspects of criminal investigation, as well as a master of disguise and an excellent escape artist. Never once in the entire twenty-year series did Richard Curtis Van Loan display any sort of heightened senses, ala Doc Savage, or the ability to cloud anyone’s thoughts, as The Shadow could do at times. No, The Phantom Detective, albeit wealthy and highly self-trained, was just a common man with an uncommon drive to fight crime and pursue justice. Also, the majority of the villains featured in the series were essentially street level hooligans, gangsters, and corrupt types. With this in mind, the editors used The Phantom Detective as a soapbox, a platform for highly charged editorialized comments about crime and the need to combat it.
Citing actual crimes and criminals’ actions across the country, the editorial staff behind The Phantom Detective made great use of their forum. They gave their hero as many kidnappings and fraud cases as they did actual murders to solve. They also, in opening blurbs aimed to entice and even incite their readers, discussed allegedly real corruption in various cities and spotlighted crimes of all sorts, always tying it back into the reader having an obligation to fight crime in their own way, much like The Phantom Detective.
‘The Movie Lot Murders’ was originally published in the May 1938 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Table of Contents:
Prologue: Desert Death
Chapter 1: Black Eagle’s Discovery
Chapter 2: “It’s Happened!”
Chapter 3: Send for the Phantom
Chapter 4: Changed Orders
Chapter 5: Trapped!
Chapter 6: Prisoners
Chapter 7: Apache Torture
Chapter 8: A Cup of Water
Chapter 9: Strong Heart
Chapter 10: Another Angle?
Chapter 11: Unrehearsed Drama
Chapter 12: “They All Hate Me”
Chapter 13: The Debt Grows
Chapter 14: Sealed Lips
Chapter 15: Cross Questions
Chapter 16: A Hint From Keefe
Chapter 17: The Note
Chapter 18: Led to Slaughter
Chapter 19: Avarice
