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!
The tangled trail of a fiendish killer catapults the Phantom into a maze of mystery involving the biggest financial interests of America! Follow the world’s greatest sleuth to a midnight rendezvous with death!
Somewhat aimless upon his return from the war, Richard Curtis Van Loan confided often in a friend of his father’s, the rather influential Frank Havens, the publisher of the Clarion newspaper. A father figure to Van Loan in many ways since he had been orphaned as a child, Havens provided the advice to the young man that would change his life and the course of Pulp history forever. Noting a particular crime that the city’s police were having trouble solving, Havens challenged Van Loan to try his hand at solving it. Van Loan does just that and in the process discovers his purpose. Not only that, but Van Loan learns of the true level of corruption and crime riddling his city and the world at large. Determined to strike back for justice and ordinary citizens, Van Loan decides to create another identify for himself and take his fight literally to the streets.
Even though the actual Pulp magazine ended in 1953, multiple companies have reprinted the original stories and contributed new stories to the Phantom Detective’s legacy. Even with that, the original wild, almost madcap at times adventures of Thrilling’s one-man mystery solving army against crime capture the charm and intensity of the classic Pulp era better than anything else. Also, they stand as a testament to how a character can shift and change, develop and grow, to become one of the most recognized and longest surviving Pulp characters of the period.
‘The Beast-King Murders’ was originally published in the July 1937 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: Murder Broadcast
Chapter 2: Red Light’s Message
Chapter 3: The Globe Token
Chapter 4: Flaming Guns
Chapter 5: The Missing Secretary
Chapter 6: The Beast Strikes Again
Chapter 7: A Dead Man’s Hideaway
Chapter 8: The End of Larry Wells
Chapter 9: The Return of the Killers
Chapter 10: The Boss’ Hideout
Chapter 11: At the Bank Vault
Chapter 12: Sealed in the Vault
Chapter 13: A Clue from South Africa
Chapter 14: Preparations for Murder
Chapter 15: Police Ambush
Chapter 16: Killer Sets the Stage
Chapter 17: Human Beasts In Action
Chapter 18: Phantom Lions
