Murder Ink – The Grandmother of Mystery Bookstores For over thirty years the greats lived between 91st and 92nd Streets in New York. Philip Marlowe rubbed shoulders with Nero Wolfe, Mickey Spillane sat beside Dashiell Hammett, and Robert Parker passed the time with Arthur Conan Doyle. This was no boys club, however. Dame Agatha Christy…
Read moreWho was Frank Buck? In the 1920’s, when pulp magazines ruled the planet, stories of larger-than-life characters were their stock in trade. The heroes were steeped in mystery, intrigue, and danger, and were often globe-trotters, found in settings and plots that most of America could only dream of. The world of the 20’s and 30’s…
Read moreThere’s a feeling you get walking into a newsstand or a drugstore and looking at the magazine rack, and sadly, the feeling is disappearing. It’s similar to looking at the departure board of a railroad station or the flight schedule of an airport. When you look at row after row of magazines, comic books, and…
Read moreWho was The Spider? In the early 1930’s, powerhouse pulp publishers Popular Publications began to lose sales to their main rivals, Street and Smith Publications. While Popular Publications continued to produce such titles as Dime Detective, Dime Mysteries, and Ace-High Westerns, the public fell for the king of the radio detectives, the mysterious Shadow. There…
Read more“I shall become a bat….” – Bruce Wayne, Detective Comics #27 The Dark Knight Rises, the newest Batman film, comes to theaters everywhere in a few days, amid speculation as to whether or not it will be the biggest opening ever for a movie, or simply one of the biggest. There is no doubt that…
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