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!
A torn dollar bill is the Phantom’s passport to the mystery of the Dolphin — a tangled skein of death and vengeance that he must unsnarl with wits and guns! Follow Richard Curtis Van Loan on the trail of an archfiend who hurls defiance at the police and the public!
Even as a one-man army against crime, The Phantom Detective did not live or fight in the world alone. The crimefighter’s identity was known to one man. A friend of his father’s and a man influential in Richard Curtis Van Loan’s raising, Frank Havens was not only the powerful publisher of The Clarion, the city’s newspaper. He was also the only person who knew the Phantom Detective’s identity and he had also suggested Van Loan take on a case to solve that had the police baffled. Havens’ suggestion not only led his young charge to solve the case, but also to become The Phantom Detective!
The connection with Havens would also provide The Phantom Detective with a love interest and, in some stories, somewhat of a partner. Muriel Havens, Frank’s daughter, proved to be a capable ally and much more than a damsel in distress. Another character that Havens provides the connection for is tough guy and sometimes hardboiled Clarion reporter Steve Huston, who proved himself a hero as well.
By 1939, comic books had begun influencing Pulp magazine heroes. For The Phantom Detective, this meant he acquired a sidekick, a boy named Chip Dorlan. Chip would go on to grow into a young man and join Army Intelligence after The United States entered World War II. Another ally that appeared several times was Jerry Lannigan, once Van Loan’s personal mechanic and pilot.
The Phantom’s Murder Money was originally published in the August 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: Dead End Murder
Chapter 2: The Dolphin
Chapter 3: Phantom Strength
Chapter 4: Weird Weapon
Chapter 5: Terror
Chapter 6: Dolphin Returns
Chapter 7: Hidden Bodies
Chapter 8: Sewer Trap
Chapter 9: Smell of Death
Chapter 10: No Escape Now
Chapter 11: Chip Pays His Way
Chapter 12: Refined Torture
Chapter 13: Two Assignments
Chapter 14: Murder Money
Chapter 15: The End of Giles
Chapter 16: Hell To Breakfast
Chapter 17: Terror in the Subway
Chapter 18: Yarn of the Sea
Chapter 19: Baiting the Trap
Chapter 20: The Dolphin Acts Fast
