Fighting to restore Buddhist treasure, the Phantom joins forces with the Lily of Jade to track down a treacherous, evil band of killers and plunderers who defy Occidental justice!
The Phantom Detective’s stories have been described by some as inconsistent, shifting from one style of storytelling to another tale to tale. Although this obviously can be contributed to the ever-changing authors, it also bears to realize that this may have been somewhat intentional on the parts of the editors. Even though he was the second Pulp Hero to debut after The Shadow started the trend, it did indeed become commonplace for other Pulp publishers to follow with their own version of Hero Pulps. Many of these, such as Doc Savage and the Spider, settled into a routine, a basic story structure that, while readers returned issue after issue for some of the characters, never changed from the start to the ending of the series. This was the standard pattern for most Hero Pulps and likely a reason that many such magazines only lasted a handful of issues.
The Phantom Detective stories brought in new writers after the twelfth issue, writers allowed to basically write in their own styles. Over its twenty-year run, the series saw The Phantom Detective take on street level crime and also sometimes tackle monstrous, seemingly supernatural evils, even though these were written more realistically. The fact that the magazine ran two decades shows that readers responded to the shifting tone of storytelling that was standard for the series, always returning never knowing if their hero would be facing a man with a gun…or a monster with a death ray!
The Chinese Puzzle was originally published in the January 1947 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: Eight O’Clock Meeting
Chapter 2: Fangs of the Dragon
Chapter 3: The Phantom!
Chapter 4: The Clue of the Death Clay
Chapter 5: Laboratory
Chapter 6: The Land of Magnificent Illusion
Chapter 7: The Door
Chapter 8: In Shadow
Chapter 9: The Crystal Glade
Chapter 10: Knife Slashed
Chapter 11: Killer Number Two
Chapter 12: Death Notice
Chapter 13: Coat and Sleeves
Chapter 14: Two Calls
Chapter 15: The Pieces Fit
