Private Detective Stories, July 1944

PRIVATE DETECTIVE STORIES, [1944] This pulp magazine issue features detective fiction centered on international espionage during World War II. The lead novelette, "Argentina Slay Ride" by George A. McDonald, follows Cupid Cain, a private detective working undercover for a government troubleshooting agency in Washington. When Major Ramon Alvarez, an Argentine flying ace and good-will ambassador, survives an assassination attempt during a parade, Cain investigates by interviewing Alvarez's fiancée Dolores Molinar at the Wardmore Hotel. She collapses and dies—apparently poisoned—before providing useful information, leaving Cain implicated in her death and threatened with arrest by Captain Maguire's police. Additional stories include "Take the Guy Home" by Don James, "Death Buys Black Gas" by Robert Leslie Bellem, and articles on true crime cases.