Private Detective Stories, January 1942

This January 1942 issue of *Private Detective Stories* contains a feature novel and five crime novelettes. "Murder with Music" by Roger Torrey is the complete novel, involving a seemingly ordinary detective story complicated by evidence of a girl's innocence based on phrenology. The novelettes include "Death Behind Scenes" by Randolph Barr, where love entangles a man in a husband's murder; "He Whispered of Murder" by John Ryan about a detective choosing between honest and crooked cases; "Top Dog" by Max Neilson in which a man awaits his chance to kill his brother while pursuing a girl; "Killing Is Easy" by Ralph Carle featuring a pickpocket wrongly charged with murder after helping a girl; and "Death's Loudspeaker" by Maxwell Hall, balancing vengeance against romantic feeling. All stories emphasize crime investigation, murder plots, and romantic complications typical of the detective pulp genre.