Private Detective Stories, August 1944

Catalog Note: *Private Detective Stories* (ca. 1944) This issue features detective and crime fiction centered on wartime and Black Market themes. The lead novelette, "Black Murder" by Roger Torrey, follows Danny, a bar owner forced to close his business due to liquor rationing. When Amos Larkin, a regular customer and grain broker, learns of Danny's predicament, he offers him work as a bodyguard to his dissolute son Sonny in Florida—apparently to keep the boy away from trouble. Their first duty involves identifying Frank Alderdyce, a young acquaintance found murdered (shot five times) near the river, in the morgue. The story explores Danny's conflicting principles: his refusal to enter the Black Market despite hardship, set against his criminal past (rum-running, bookmaking, stolen goods). Additional fiction includes "There Shall Be No Morning" (Edward Ronns), "Stripes for the Sleuth" (Dale Clark), "An Eye for an Ear" (George A. McDonald), and "Ticket to Death" (John Ryan)—all adventure-crime tales. The issue also includes "Expressions May Not Betray Them," a special article.