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!
When innocent lives are the pawns of a grim greed-crazed killer who seeks power and plunder, the Phantom Detective flies to the Mexican border to come to grips with a sinister fiend who hurls a mighty challenge at justice!
Although the magazine was titled The Phantom Detective, the character in the lead story went by two different names in each issue. Born Richard Curtis Van Loan, he was a child of wealth. Orphaned at an early age, Van Loan found a father figure of sorts in newspaper publisher Frank Havens, a relationship that would have a direct impact on his future as The Phantom, what the character was called in the series, never The Phantom Detective.
Not only did Van Loan share his playboy status with characters both before his creation and after it, he also had something in common with many other Pulp heroes, having served in World War One, specifically as a pilot. Returning from the war and struggling to find his purpose, he accepted a challenge from Frank Havens to solve a crime that law enforcement could not. In this, the haggard war veteran and millionaire found his purpose, not something born out of personal tragedy, but out of a need to do good, to help others. Having been a playboy prior to the war, Van Loan knew he would need certain skills to follow his new mission. He taught himself to be a master at disguise, an escape artist, a fighter of multiple styles, and most importantly, an expert in detection and criminology. Once believing himself suitably ready, he donned a domino mask, not the top hat so famously depicted on each of the magazine’s covers and became The Phantom Detective.
The Phantom and the Uniformed Killers was originally published in the May 1940 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: Escorts of Treachery
Chapter 2: In the Grip of Hysteria
Chapter 3: Call for Help
Chapter 4: “Mr. Mercer” Arrives
Chapter 5: The Little Bull
Chapter 6: Rollicking Cowboy
Chapter 7: Boasting Americano
Chapter 8: A Man Out of a Manhole
Chapter 9: Dungeon Rooms
Chapter 10: Swim for Life
Chapter 11: Closing In
Chapter 12: A Nice Fresh Corpse
Chapter 13: Startling Discovery
Chapter 14: His Own Body
Chapter 15: Orders and a Promise
Chapter 16: Death of the Phantom
Chapter 17: Order X
Chapter 18: The Boss Plans Well
Chapter 19: Forgetful Flyer
Chapter 20: The Phantom Explains
